Students

Student Registration is now open! Registration will stay open only for a short time given this year's time crunch, so you need to be absolutely ready with your resume, abstract, "elevator pitch" and short research presentation, if you want to submit one. Read the tips below repeatedly and ACT***

​

​

Student registration is free. Student participants will have access to multiple events and activities on “first come first served” basis.​ The goal of this year’s Expo is to provide the most interactive virtual experience for students and recruiters alike.

​

​

​

​

​Events & Activities

  1. Networking sessions: HGS Trivia (Pre-Expo, Oct 8), Virtual coffee hours and happy hours. See Event Details. HGS Trivia requires separate registration. See link in next section below.

  2. Student resume, “elevator pitch” video, and research presentation video distribution to recruiters

  3. Awards for best “elevator pitch” and research presentation

  4. Seminars on career development, soft skills, and technical topics:

  5. Technical crash courses and speakers from various industries: TBA​

​​

​

​

Expo Preparation

  1. Update your resume

  2. Update your abstract

  3. Register for the HGS Trivia Night​

  4. Create a LinkedIn profile

    • Need individual URL for registration

    • Make sure your LinkedIn and resume are consistent and professional

  5. Prepare for your elevator pitch video

    • Private LinkedIn group has been made for students to submit 1 to 2-minute introductions

    • Invitation and instructions will follow registration

    • Prepare to discuss 2-3 skills to highlight your experience

    • Define what makes you the best candidate

  6.  Prepare for your research presentation video

    • Private LinkedIn group has been made for students to submit 3 to 5-minute poster presentations

    • Invitation and instructions will follow registration

    • 2 presentation options

      • Virtual Poster – upload poster to USB and film presentation via TV and camera

      • PowerPoint Presentation (limit 5 slides, excludes title slide) – Record talk via Teams, Zoom, etc.

  7.  We will use Zoom as our meeting platform. Update your Zoom Profile today

​

​

​

Post Registration Expectations

  1. Accept LinkedIn connection from ‘Amanda Johnston’

  2. Accept LinkedIn invitation to the private group ‘Houston Student Expo Video Submission Group’

  3. Read the Group Description or About section for the video recording and upload directions. Please adhere to video uploading instructions so recruiters can find your video(s).

    • Hashtags will be used to differentiate elevator and poster pitches

  4. Have a question? Please ask us in the first post of our LinkedIn group. Also search #FAQ for other helpful videos

    • Microsoft Teams and/or free video conference accounts are great resources for video recording your talk

    • Example, Zoom allows to create your own meeting (no attendee required) and record your speech with PowerPoint and/or stand up poster

​

Registration is now closed. Keep an eye here for updates on schedule events!

Student registration is now closed.

Students, prepare your elevator pitches and research presentations. Deadline to upload is October 4th.

No upcoming events at the moment
 
 
 
 

Resume Guideline

Résumé and abstract must be submitted by September 30th, 2020!

​

  • Use a font that is standard on both Mac and PC and no smaller than 10-pt.

  • 8.5" x 11" page size.

  • Do not include a cover letter with your résumé.

  • PROOFREAD your résumé.

  • Please use the following naming convention on your résumé file:
    Lastname_Firstname_Specialty (i.e., Yilmaz_Oz_Geophysics; Bouma_Arnold_Geology).

  • Make sure to remove all ‘track changes’ and show ‘No Markup’ from word file before converting to PDF for submission.

  • PDF only.

​

Tips for a Good Résumé

  • Include only information that is relevant to attaining a job, such as relevant course work, research, or geoscience employment.

  • Place education and relevant experience near the top of your résumé.

  • Highlight skills and abilities that benefit the company.

  • Be concise; use "action" verbs to quickly describe your past experiences.

  • Do not use personal pronouns.

  • Avoid general or flowery objective statements.

  • Make sure to take advantage of the many resources available online and through your school to create a professional résumé.

​

 

Abstract Guideline

Résumé and abstract must be submitted by September 30th, 2020!

 

Please submit your abstract as soon as possible in PDF format. Abstracts will appear exactly as submitted. All students may submit an abstract that will be visible to the recruiters.

​

Please proofread your abstract!

​

Please Note:

  • Abstracts must be related to geoscience. Although an abstract may have multiple authors, we will only accept one presenter per abstract for the pre-recorded video presentations and only one presentation per presenter; all others will be rejected.

​

Abstract Format:

  • General: 8.5" x 11" page size, 11-pt Calibri or Arial font, single-spaced lines.

  • Title: Bold upper and lowercase, left margin alignment, one blank line following title.

  • Authors: Last name, first name, and initial in uppercase font, followed by affiliated university/employer in normal font; primary author first, followed by secondary authors; place an asterisk (*) after speaker's name; one blank line following author listing.

  • Abstract Body: 250 word limit, no illustrations, no references, no abbreviations, no bold font, full justification paragraph alignment, indent first line of each paragraph.

  • Abstracts must be saved in PDF format.

 

Short Research Presentation Guideline

New in 2020: Virtual pre-recorded short (3-5 in) presentation!

​

Caution: Needs a lot of preparation and planning to draw attention of a recruiter and judge at the critical matter of your pitch.

​

Purpose

  • Convey an idea and achievement to a group of people in an informal setting.

  • Create interest in your overall abilities, technical and soft-skills, e.g., communication skills

​

Goals

You have two primary goals in your poster presentation:

  • Communicate your technical knowledge and achievements of your work.

  • Communicate the skills you would bring to an employment opportunity.


Creating an Effective Presentation

Know your audience

Don't underestimate or overestimate the intelligence, knowledge and interest of your audience. Capture their interest and their attention.

​

Identify your objective

What is the purpose of your presentation? Write out your objectives and summary FIRST until it is concise and clear, then keep it before you and relate all material to it.

​

Unify the presentation

Address a single problem, issue or question and support the solution, premise or proposition with examples of data. The degree to which a presentation favorably impresses an audience is often inversely proportional to the number of points covered.


Know your purpose

Any oral presentation to augment your abstract should be made in 5 minutes or less.


Illustrations should be simple correct and self-explanatory.

​

Organize the material

Displays should flow logically, figures and tables should be simple and apt for a brief presentation not copied from an elaborate presentation. If an abrupt transition is necessary, explain why and make sure it is clear to your audience.


Stand in the audience

Detach yourself from your intimate knowledge of the subject and consider the following:

  • Are the points clear without detailed explanation?

  • Is all the material relevant to the central theme?

  • Do the illustrations clarify the point or obscure it?

  • Does the material flow logically?

  • Is it self-explanatory without oral presentation?

  • Rehearse your presentation with colleagues unfamiliar with your work. Solicit their feedback on the clarity and how well you are communicating visually and orally.

  • Pre-record and play it back. Listen carefully! and record again.

​

Some final tips

  • Displays should lead your audience into active participation and greater focus on your message.

  • Audiences generally understand approximately 25-30% of what they hear, but 60-75% of what they see.

  • Oral delivery should be supplemental in nature.

  • Each graphic should communicate your message, be as simple as possible, be read and understood from a distance of 2-3 feet from a large monitor (or 1-2 ft from a laptop screen), flow logically, and be in appropriate sequence.

  • Fonts should be simple and quickly legible.

  • Captions and legends should be minimized.

  • Illustrations should be simple, large and clearly labeled.

  • Use color effectively, but don't get too busy. Confine yourself to main 2 colors, and extra 2 more colors to only highlight minimally.

  • Approximate time taken for each slide is 1 min by an experienced presenter, so limit your slides to the time limit of 5 min.

 

©2020 by Houston Student Expo. Proudly created with Wix.com