John Bandler—Three Minute Thesis

John Bandler is active in artistic, literary, academic, competitive presentations, theatrical endeavors and film-making. See Bandler’s non-technical bio. In 2015 he directed his attention to the Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition.

In 2015, he delivered workshops to candidates for McMaster University’s Three Minute Thesis and Falling Walls Competitions. Since then, he has given many workshops and has been active in mentoring and coaching students and researchers from all disciplines in the art of scripting, creating and delivering presentations for the Three Minute Thesis and various other speaking and pitching competitions.

He also assisted in the production of competitive video presentations. See, for example, Jennifer Heisz, Michelle Ogrodnik, Megan Vierhout and Emily Wood.

In 2017, he delivered “Clear, Brief, Engaging: Your Thesis in Three Minutes,” a workshop with Ana Kovacevic for candidates of the 2017 McMaster University Three Minute Thesis Competition. Watch “Clear, Brief, Engaging: Your Thesis in Three Minutes.” An IEEE MTT-S Webinar on “The Art of Effectively Communicating Complex, Highly Technical Work in Three Minutes” was held on March 28, 2017.

In 2018, with Michelle Ogrodnik and Daniel Tajik, he delivered “Clear, Brief, Engaging: Your Thesis in Three Minutes.” Watch “Clear, Brief, Engaging: Your Thesis in Three Minutes.” An IEEE MTT-S Webinar on “Communicating Your Highly Technical Work to Non-Specialists in Three Short Minutes” was held on March 13, 2018.

In 2019, with Michelle Ogrodnik and Daniel Tajik, he delivered “Authentic, Engaging, Clear: Your Thesis in 3 Short Minutes.” An IEEE MTT-S Webinar on “Engaging Your Non-specialist, Non-technical Listener in Just Three Minutes” was held on March 26, 2019.

See Bandler’s Lifetime Publications for further relevant articles and more links to videos of recent workshops, seminars, and webinars.

In 2016, with Erin Kiley, he initiated the inaugural Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition for the 2017 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium (IMS) open to students and young professionals. The competition took place in Honolulu, Hawaii, in June 2017.

You can find selected videos on the MTT-S IMS YouTube channel. Click here for the playlist. In particular, watch Daniel Tajik, “Microwave Holography: The Future of Medical Imaging,” First Place Winner and Audience Choice Winner; Shirin Montazeri, “Low-power Electronics for Future Telescopes,” Second Place Winner; Sandamali Devadithya, “Fast Radar Imaging: Shorter Queues at Airport Security,” Third Place Winner; Farhan Abdul Ghaffar, “Don’t Talk Back!” Honorable Mention.

Co-chaired/co-organized with Erin Kiley, the Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition continued at the IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium (IMS) for its second year in Philadelphia (2018), third year (2019) in Boston, fourth and fifth years (2020, 2021) virtually. You can find selected videos on the MTT-S IMS YouTube channel. Participation in 2020 and 2021 included the collocated RFIC and ARFTG conferences (Microwave Week). Aline Eid and Daniel Tajik joined the 3MT team in 2021. For playlists click 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022.  

In 2018, with Ian Bruce, Bandler spearheaded the first ever McMaster University Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering 3MT®. Videos hosted by the School of Graduate Studies include the awards video. 3MT presentations have since become a requirement for all graduate students in the department. For 2019 3MT® videos hosted by the Faculty of Engineering click here. For 3MT® videos hosted by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering from 2020 click here.

See Bandler’s YouTube channel for workshops and videos relevant to presentations in general and 3MT in particular. See Bandler’s Lifetime Publications for references to recent, relevant articles and links to videos of workshops and webinars.