Schieffer Showcase

The Schieffer Research and Professional Development Committee will select the following awards among participants, with the exception of the People’s Choice Award, which is determined by popular vote. Individuals contributing to each award winning project will be given a certificate and a $100 gift, the latter to be shared among all project contributors.

• Best undergraduate research project
• Best undergraduate creative production
• Best graduate strategic communication project
• Best graduate communication studies project
• Best DEI project
• People’s choice award for favorite project or presentation by an individual
• People’s choice award for favorite project or presentation by a team

• Prepare to speak for no more than 3 minutes. Practice your presentation. Don’t read a script to your listeners; speak naturally from notes.  Stand up straight, be confident, speak clearly and be as professional as you can.
• Dress professionally.  Look at people and smile.  Use your appearance and your demeanor to invite people to step toward you and hear about your project.  When they do, introduce yourselves and then speak clearly and compellingly.  After all, you could win an award, bestowed by the faculty research and creative activity committee for excellence at the showcase!
• If you will be presenting with a partner or small group, decide how you’ll split the speaking duties.  Are you going to take alternate turns making your short remarks?  If that’s what you decide, when you are asked a question, will the other person (who didn’t present) answer it?  Your goal is that both of you participate in the conversation about your project.
• Do not leave early.  If there’s a lull in attendance, one member of your pair at a time can step away from your poster and check out other projects being presented at the showcase. You can vote on the people’s choice award and have a cookie or whatever refreshments are being served.

Size and software

• Your poster should be 24 by 32 inches. The orientation can be vertical or horizontal. You can print it at no charge at TCU’s Fab Lab.
• Design your poster with a program such as PowerPoint or Canva or using this template.  No one program is required, but you will want to ensure the Fab Lab can print from your program.

Use good written and visual communication

• Remember you’re designing on a big scale. A poster is not a research paper. A poster should be bold and visually inviting. Use color and visual elements to gain attention. Then balance those elements with text that demonstrates your conclusions, so you show your audience there is substance to the project.
• Consider short and to-the-point bullet points with key findings in 24-point text. Remember that your audience cannot read long paragraphs of 12-point body text on a poster, especially if they’re standing several feet away from the poster.
• Include a short main headline or title for your project. You may add a sub-heading. Try for something more insightful than “Ethical profile project: An interview with Such-And-So.” Reflect the substance of your interview findings about ethics.
• Include your name and those of your group members, your majors and the title of the course.
• Organize the content of a horizontal poster from left to right and the content of a vertical poster from top to bottom, in the same way you’d organize a page for a reader. Think about whether organizing the content in boxes or columns would help.
• Summarize your work: One of those boxes or columns should summarize how you gathered the information you’re presenting. Another of those boxes or columns should summarize what you learned. Another should summarize why it matters what you learned.

Visual elements

• Use high-resolution visual elements in your design in ways that invite attention. Remember that if they’re not high-resolution images, photos or graphics may become grainy when they’re enlarged to poster size.
• Use correct logos. Learn how to properly use TCU logos at TCU Brand Central. You can download digital TCU 150th anniversary graphics at 150.tcu.edu.
• Use copyrighted and trademarked photos, logos and graphics correctly. Be sure you understand the legal principle of one-time fair use of trademarks and copyrights.

• Video presentations should include a scoped clip of the completed work that is no longer than two minutes.  For audio only presentations, consider creating a visual soundbite to accompany the audio file.
• Download your file and don’t rely on streaming in order to play back your clip in case there are any Wi-Fi connection issues.
• Presenters are responsible for providing all materials needed for screening their video and/or audio clips on a laptop or tablet device.  Bring your laptop and any necessary cable cords/adapters to the event. Students may provide headphones. We will have tables available for you to display your presentation.
• Ensure your display is playing back at full brightness, in order to provide the best viewing experience.
• Be sure to introduce your presentation and provide context as to what the viewer is seeing or hearing, prior to inviting them to play your clip.