Office of Undergraduate Research

Summer Symposium Guidelines

The 2023 Summer Symposium will be a hybrid conference. The Office of Undergraduate Research is committed to providing students with a valuable opportunity to present their research and allow all Purdue faculty, staff, and students to view the presentations with in-person and virtual opportunities.

Information for In-Person Presenters

  • In-person presentations will occur on July 27, 2023:
    • Morning Poster Symposium: 10am-11:30am in the Purdue Memorial Union Ballrooms
    • Afternoon Poster Symposium: 1pm-2:30pm in the Purdue Memorial Union Ballrooms
    • Research Talks: 9am-5pm in Grissom Hall - final schedule to be determined closer to the event based on presenters' availability
  • You should consider at least business casual for your presentation. We will have photographers at the event.

Poster Presentations

  • Posters should be no more than 4' wide and 3' tall.
  • You should bring your printed poster with you during the poster symposium check-in which starts 30 minutes before the session begins.
  • The poster boards are magnetic and require magnets to be held. These will be provided - do not bring push pins to attach your poster.
  • Poster presentation rubric to self-evaluate your presentation: Poster presentation rubric.
  • Although you are selected to present in-person, we recommend recording a virtual component of your poster presentation. Information on how to create and upload a presentation with a voiceover can be found below. Submit using the Qualtrics link by July 24. This is for a few reasons:
    1. If you are unable to present that day due to any reason and need to present the work virtually.
    2. You can submit your virtual presentation to be included in the virtual conference. This presentation will be available for more people to view your work beyond those who attend in person.

Research Talks

  • In-person research talks are allotted 15 minutes for their presentation including Q&A.
  • Update: You will bring your presentation on a flashdrive/thumbdrive at the time of your presentation. You will not submit your presentation to the OUR ahead of time. You must submit your PowerPoint presentation (or PDF of slides) to jjsadler@purdue.edu by July 25 at 5pm EST. No changes can be accepted after this time.
    • It is important to consider the fonts and the images you have when opening your presentation on a Purdue computer. Using a PDF of your slides may be better to retain what it should look like.
  • Oral presentation rubric to self-evaluate your presentation: Oral presentation rubric.
  • Although you are selected to present in-person, we recommend recording a virtual component of your presentation. Information on how to create and upload a presentation with a voiceover can be found below. Submit using the Qualtrics link by July 24. This is for a few reasons:
    1. If you are unable to present that day due to any reason and need to present the work virtually.
    2. You can submit your virtual presentation to be included in the virtual conference. This presentation will be available for more people to view your work beyond those who attend in person.

Information for Virtual Presenters

  • Information for presentations
    • The goal for your final video is to have a 1920x1080 video. For those using screen capture to create the video for submission, the resolution of your screen may not exactly match the 1920x1080 resolution noted above. This is fine, please submit your recording with a resolution that is as good as possible.
    • After recording, review your video recording for audio quality. Listen for background noises, popping sounds, etc. If these are present please try to remove these and re-record your presentation.
    • Recording options
  • Virtual presentation logistics 
  • Students should submit a YouTube link of their presentation via this Qualtrics link by July 24.
    • For group projects, it is recommended that students work together to generate the content and the script but designate one person to conduct the voiceover and mention the group effort. This is a suggestion, not a requirement.
    • Students must “unlist” the presentation to allow the presentation to be viewable only with the direct link and not searchable, but they should turn on comments to allow for asynchronous dialogue.
    • Links to the YouTube presentations will be behind a Purdue login for faculty, staff, and students to view for a week and provide feedback to the presentations using a Qualtrics form as if they would face-to-face and ask questions in the comments section. You may receive permission from your research mentor to share your presentation with family, friends, and additional colleagues.

Student researchers must confirm with their research mentors if they are able to upload their research presentations in this virtual format. Research mentors will be asked to confirm the presentation may be uploaded. Students will not be included in the list of presentations if the research mentor has not approved the presentation being uploaded in a virtual format. Students will be notified if they are not approved.

Unlisting and placing the links behind a Purdue login are ways to prevent the sharing of presentations to others outside Purdue, but the links could be shared. If a researcher or research mentor is concerned about sharing the work virtually, consider if removing or providing less-specific information could make it appropriate for online dissemination. Following the Conference, students can delete the presentation or make the video private to ensure if a link was shared that it cannot be viewed in the future. Presenters should take down the presentation or make them private at the conclusion of the Conference if the research mentor does not provide approval for keeping it up.

If a student decides to withdraw their submission or has any questions, they should contact UGresearch@purdue.edu.

(Updated: June 2023)