The point of it
Forcing a dissertation into three jargon-free minutes is the single best preparation for a job talk, a grant elevator pitch, or explaining your work to a relative. Judges score for clarity and engagement, not technical depth.
How to enter
Open to any graduate student past the proposal stage; the Graduate School runs a coaching session on structure and delivery before the heats, and past finalists usually help.
In and around Porter Falls
Porter's eight graduate programs are small and applied — most students are working in the Valley while they study — and the Graduate School office in Millwright Hall keeps the handbooks and funding notices in one place.
The practical details
When: Heats in February, final in March. Rules: One static slide, no props, three minutes, a general audience. Prizes: Cash awards and a spot at the regional competition. Anything time-sensitive — an accommodation, a booking, a deadline — is worth confirming directly before you rely on it, because the specifics here can change from term to term.
If you have a question
The office behind this is Graduate School (Millwright Hall, Room 320). Call (715) 555–0225 or email gradschool@uwporterfalls.edu during the fall and spring terms, or sign in to MyPorter to send a message or book a time. If it turns out another office owns the question, they will route it rather than send you back to the start.
Fictional information
UW–Porter Falls is a work of parody. Every office, person, building, phone number and statistic on this page is invented; nothing here describes a real institution or a service you can actually contact.