The 3-Minute Sprint: When an Undergrad Student Tries to Compress a 15-Minute Presentation
⏱️ 3MT: The Ultimate Academic Challenge
Imagine someone telling you: “Take your 20-page research paper and condense it into a tweet-sized explanation, and you only get three minutes!” — That’s essentially what the 3MT competition is all about.
Sound easy? That’s what I thought too! After all, three minutes isn’t even enough time for me to explain to my mon “What exactly am I researching at school?” . But compressing research is harder than compressing files — at least compressed files don’t protest that they’re too important to be deleted!
The real challenge: How do I explain research in 180 seconds when even my classmates need a translator to understand my academic jargon? How do I explain complex concepts without using any technical terms? How do I ensure the judges don’t enter the “smile and nod” mode after the first minute? These are the true challenges.
Just one slide - every element had to be carefully considered and chosen
🤔 Why Take On This “Trial by Fire”?
If you’ve read my iGEM adventure story (if not, I highly recommend it!), you’ll know I’ve presented on an international stage before. Sounds impressive, right? In reality, that experience made me realize my presentation skills were as “unique” as my art projects — with plenty of “room for improvement.”
In academia, avoiding presentations is like trying to stay dry in a rainstorm — practically impossible. So I made the perfectly reasonable decision: if I fear public speaking, I should do more of it! (Sounds like treating a burn with more fire, but in academia, this makes perfect sense.)
My ultimate goal is to participate in the 2025 Falling Walls Lab Taipei and earn a ticket to Germany. The 3MT was my “warm-up match” — like playing a community soccer game before the World Cup.
🏆 The Unexpected Result
On competition day, my heartbeat was probably louder than the microphone. But once I started speaking, all the nervousness transformed into a strange focus — what I imagine is the legendary “battle mode”!
The final result? I won second place! This news surprised me more than winning a small lottery (okay, maybe not that dramatic, but still unexpected). The first-place winner was a dentist whose stage presence and natural delivery made me wonder if he had secretly hired a speaking coach. Losing to such a competitor, I could only make a mental note: “Need to level up for next time.”
The smile of receiving an award, with anticipation for greater challenges ahead
🚀 Next Stop: Bigger Challenges
This 3MT experience gave me an important revelation: I can actually explain my research without using any jargon! That’s practically a small miracle in academia.
The next goal is Falling Walls Lab Taipei. If 3MT was like wading in warm water, then Falling Walls will be like diving into boiling water — I’m already gathering experience to prepare for the greater challenge ahead!
