In celebration of its 10-year anniversary, Grad Slam is getting a revamp!
Now renamed the Grad Slam Showcase, this annual event will continue to bring our campus community together and spotlight the amazing research being done by our graduate students. Some things will remain the same. Graduate students will present their research in 3-minute talks that are clear, direct, and engaging to diverse audiences. We will give away over $20,000 in cash prizes to participants. Our campus champion will represent UCSB in the system-wide competition.
But we've got exciting changes in store as well. Here are some highlights:
Expanded Professional Development Opportunities. These workshops will focus on key public speaking skills such as content development, stage presence, visuals, and adapting to different audiences and mediums. We'll also be offering practice sessions so that participants can get feedback on their talks from Graduate Division staff as well as Grad Slam alum.
Divisional Competitions. We've assigned each department to a specific divisional preliminary round. These groupings are organized so as to provide roughly the same number of enrolled students per group and to increase disciplinary representation in the Final Round. You can view a preview of the groupings here.
Reconfigured Judging and Scoring. We will no longer have restrictions on the number and content of slides that presenters can use. We have redone the scoring rubric. And we are changing up the composition of our judging panels to include members of the student body.
We hope that these changes will make Grad Slam an event that all of our graduate students feel included in and can benefit from.
Click below to find out more:
Questions?
Contact Shawn Warner, Director of Graduate Student Professional Development at UCSB.