Call for Honors Conference Presenters
The upcoming annual Honors Conference, March 6-7, 2020, is a great opportunity for Honors students to present their work to BYU’s academic community. Any Honors student who is either currently enrolled in or has successfully completed HNRS 320 is invited to apply, as well as any Honors student with an approved Honors Thesis proposal.
To apply, fill out the submission form here.
The submission deadline is December 21st, 2019. Students will be notified via email of their acceptance by January 18, 2020.
This year, the student council is planning a fun welcome reception with Honors alumni on Friday evening. Conference sessions will be held on Saturday, March 7th from 9 am to 1 pm (times approximate). Presenters should plan to attend the entirety of the conference, as well as arrive a minimum of an hour earlier than the start time to finalize their room set-up and for conference photos.
At the conference, students present their Great Questions Essays and Honors Theses in a TED talk format, providing dynamic and engaging presentations for attendees. Participants improve their public speaking and gain experience presenting academic research to a general audience. Students accepted for their Great Question Essays will give presentations about 6-8 minutes in length. Students accepted for their Honors Thesis will give 13-15 minute presentations.
Due to the unique format, members of the Honors Student Leadership Council will hold 2-3 training sessions to help presenters craft and practice their presentations. The training sessions will be held in February, and presenters will need to attend all training sessions. Presenters will receive final details and dates of trainings in their acceptance email.
Those who participated last year felt this was a rewarding opportunity to present their Honors work (the 2019 presenters are pictured above):
“I loved revisiting my great questions essay and seeing how my thought process had evolved in the year since I wrote it. I also gained additional presentation experience, was forced to express my thought process even more concisely, and learned a lot from the other presenters at the conference!” (Brenna Scadden, 2019 Presenter, “Applying the Disability Label” Great Questions Essay)
"I was thrilled to get to present my Great Questions essay since it was something I'd obsessed over for so long and it felt anti-climactic to hit the submit button at the end of the semester and have that be it. Working with HSLC on my slideshow and condensing my essay allowed me to continue thinking about my topic and looking at my work in a different light. Also, I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty cool to list myself as an Honors Conference presenter on my resume." (Rebekah Pimentel, 2019 Presenter, “Poison in Your Veins: The Human Predisposition for Rage and Violence” Great Questions Essay)
“Presenting my honors thesis at the honors conference helped me to hone my communication skills and feel like a part of a greater community of students working on interesting and engaging research.” (Brian Allen, 2019 Presenter, “Informal Alcohol Production and Consumption in Rural Communities in Malawi” Honors Thesis)
All students interested in presenting are welcome to apply now!