RICE Symposium

• Provide an opportunity for students to present their rigorous, sustained, mentored scholarship in a professional manner to the wider campus community.

• Celebrate the high-quality, mentored scholarship completed by Centre students.

• Improve the oral communication skills of student presenters through feedback from mentors and audience members.

• Model appropriate behavior at academic conferences for both presenters and non-presenters.

• Inspire non-presenting students to seek opportunities to participate in mentored scholarship.

• ORAL/PAPER SESSION — Students planning to present their work in an ORAL/PAPER SESSION (oral/podium/paper presentation) will give a 15-minute talk on their research, internship, or creative endeavor.
 
• POSTER SESSION — Students planning to present their work in the POSTER SESSION (oral poster presentation) will need to fit their work on a 3’ x 4’ (portrait format) powerpoint slide for printing or uploading.
 
• PERFORMANCE PIECE — Students planning to give a MUSICAL or THEATRICAL PERFORMANCE will be given 12 minutes to enact their work or a segment of their work in a classroom, studio, or performance hall setting as appropriate.
 
• ART WORK — Students planning to present their ARTWORK(S) will be given space to perform or display their work as appropriate. NOTE: To submit a proposal for the art exhibit, contact Professor Judith Keiser at judith.keiser@centre.edu

Each student participant will need to submit a 150-word (maximum) abstract. An abstract is a brief, informative summary of the research paper, internship experience, exhibit, or performance. A research abstract should describe the purpose of the work, data source, methods of analysis, and findings. An internship abstract mentions the company or organization’s name, location, and purpose, as well as the internship position and responsibilities. A creative works abstract should describe the medium, theme, and/or the source(s) of inspiration.
 
The abstract should be written in clear and simple language that someone without a background in the discipline can understand. Your abstract will be published online and printed in the program EXACTLY AS IT IS SUBMITTED. Thus, before submitting the abstract, PLEASE PROOFREAD IT CAREFULLY for grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors. Students are encouraged to consult with their faculty mentors on drafting and finalizing their abstracts.

RICE presentations should be professional, polished, and accessible to an interdisciplinary audience. Practice is essential! Be sure to consult with your advisor who can provide suggestions and feedback as you’re putting your presentation together. Below are some articles that include several tips and “tricks of the trade” for putting together an impressive and persuasive academic presentation.

(NOTE: Even though the following articles talk about political science presentations, the suggestions are widely applicable to a variety of different disciplines.)
 
• Verbal Sticks and Rhetorical Stones: Improving Conference Presentations (PDF)
• Cheating Death-by-Powerpoint: Effective Use of Visual Aids at Professional Conferences (PDF)