Students

ASM/NZMS Student SPEAKER Award 

For the NZMS 2023 Annual Conference (Nov 20-23) eligible students will take part in a 3-minute thesis style competition. The top contestants will then be selected to have their 15-minute talks judged by our panel of experts.

The prize for the best presentation is funding for their attendance at the American Society for Microbiology Conference, in May or June 2025!!  


How to compete

Eligible students (see criteria below) will automatically be entered into our quick-fire student competition! On Monday November 20th, students will provide a three-minute talk on the same subject as their full conference presentation.

The very best three-minute student presentations will then have their full conference talks assessed by our panel during the conference, using he criteria below.


Criteria for Competition Entry

  1. Only New Zealand university-registered Honours, Masters or PhD students are eligible for this competition.
  2. Competition entrants must be NZMS student members and have been a member for the six months preceding the respective NZMS Annual Conference to which they are attending.
  3. They must not have submitted their thesis for examination prior to the NZMS Annual Conference at which they are presenting their research.
  4. Success of the award will also be conditional on ASM accepting the submitted Abstract for some form of presentation.
  5. On completion of the trip and within 21 days, the recipient shall present a 500-800 word written report of their trip to both the webmaster and newsletter editor

Assessment Criteria for 3-minute Presentations

  1. Legible - not over-crowded
  2. Good use of pictures and graphs in preference to text
  3. Clear structure
  4. Reasonable number of slides (not too many)
  5. Clear and reasonable use of text per slide
  6. Grammar and spelling correct

Scientific content (mark out of 10)

  1. Adequate background, demonstrating clear knowledge of related science publications/approaches
  2. Clear research questions/rationale provided
  3. Methodology is clear
  4. Key results clearly highlighted and interpreted
  5. Significance of the study is clear

Presentation style (mark out of 10)

  1. Logical flow and structure
  2. Confidence in presentation and clear communication
  3. Engaging the audience (eye contact, gestures, voice modulation)
  4. Pace and cadence 

Timing and Clarity (mark out of 5)

  1. Aware of time
  2. Not racing to finish and missing slides to do so
  3. Within +/- 30s for 3 min presentation

Abstract (mark out of 5)

  1. Students abstract is appropriate and clear
  2. The presentation accurately reflects details presented in the abstract

Please Contact Dr Gavin Lear (g.lear@auckland.ac.nz) with any questions.