If you are a graduate student, you are probably conducting research on some topic. And students and researchers often share their findings in conferences. Last year I found this competition which graduate students can participate and “pitch” their research to a panel of judges under three minutes and try to win.
If you are a graduate student, you are probably conducting research on some topic. And students and researchers often share their findings in conferences. Last year I found this competition which graduate students can participate and “pitch” their research to a panel of judges under three minutes and try to win.
I have participated in speech competitions from a young age. Yet speaking and explaining the interesting aspects of my own research was new to me. Almost every student first struggles to explain their research to a non-academic audience. Some research topics are relatively harder to explain even to a scientist from the same field. Because of this it was a good opportunity for me to push me forward and step-up my presentation and communication skills. And another interesting thing was that this competition was fully in Japanese. Because of this I had to try to explain my research topic in Japanese for a non-academic audience and graduate students from other fields.
Initial selection stage
The initial selection stage was conducted via Zoom. There were four first-round selections. I participated in the 3rd one, which was in November. Before the selection round, the organising committee checked my slides and guided me with some practice rounds. This was something unique about this competition that I found. Even before selections, they explain how to make your pitch interesting to the viewers. With their help with the slides, I explained few fundamental concepts about quantum computing and my future dream. It took me a little more than three minutes to explain it all. Yet I managed to win second place and advance to the finals.
From there, it was just constantly thinking about how to explain certain quantum computing topics in the final day. I understood that it should not be too much scientific and should not be too simplified. After some thinking, I managed to create my presentation. I included several topics such as quantum hardware and optimisation to the talk.
The Finals in Tokyo (nervousness has reached the peak-level)
(by the way my sister said I look like a joker here)
The final was in Muromachi Mitsui Hall in Tokyo. Before our finals, there was a pitch competition for start-ups. It was an interesting event. When the time came, we were taken backstage. Then the event officials explained how to go on the stage and where to stand and where to look, etc. No one in our finalists group knew that this event was going to be this much of a massive one. There were four finalists joining via Zoom and four finalists joining in person. We joked about if we attended via Zoom, we may have been saved from this nervous experience. Then one by one we went on the stage and delivered our speeches. When my turn came, I swear it was the peak of my level of nervousness that I have ever reached to this day. I do not know how but I somehow went on the stage and started my speech. A photographer was taking pictures, and everyone was listening and looking at me. It took me slightly more than three minutes to finish my talk, yet I managed to deliver it fully.
Awarding Ceremony! Did I win?
Then came the awarding ceremony. And three friends of mine won the first, second and third places. Honestly, I knew that there was no chance that I could have won the contest. There are several reasons for that. One is that I took more than three minutes, and my explanation was not clear (I understood this because I kind of had problems getting the correct Japanese word). Second, I could not talk about my own research due to an NDA. So, I had to talk about some topics in quantum computing, and my friends talked about their own research. And third is that my friends had some good presentation skills. I was amazed to see how good everyone was at communicating and presenting their research.
My thoughts on the whole experience
Even though I did not win, it was an amazing experience. I learnt a lot. And I understood how important communication and presentation skills are. It is not just about presenting your findings. It should be clear, have consistency, and convey information in an interesting manner. I believe participating in this competition was one of the best decisions I have ever made because it took me out of my comfort zone of explaining scientific things in English, as this time, I had to explain everything in Japanese. I made a bunch of friends from other universities, research institutions and met some wonderful people. It was in a way a fun networking event for me, and I am glad that I attended in-person because it gave me the experience of speaking in front of a crowd. No matter how many times you have done speeches in front of a crowd, you always get nervous. The trick is how good you can control that and focus on the speech. It was a wonderful experience.
After participating in this competition, I became one of the committee members of the organizing committee. Application for 2022 is now open!
References
BEAST (Organising Body): https://sci-beast.jp/
All the selection rounds: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGSB7peVBCVs-U7Wi8rUaZg/videos
