Keystone Symposium

For a sense of the excitement of the day and breadth of projects, please view remarks, poster sessions, and presentations from past symposia.

All Kilachand seniors are required to present at the Keystone Symposium in their senior year and are strongly encouraged to attend the entire Symposium to support their classmates.

Projects can be presented in one of two ways: a poster presentation with a short introduction, or an oral presentation with a Q&A. Seniors will hear from the Student Planning Committee in March who will collect presentation type preferences and develop a presentation schedule for the day.

Presentations are filmed by BU Productions and students are asked to attend the Symposium in business attire.

Oral Presentations

These presentations should be 12 minutes in total, including up to four (4) minutes for Q&A. Presenters are asked to use the Boston University Powerpoint template, which will be distributed by the Student Planning Committee. Presentations should include a title slide that includes the presenter’s name, BU school and major, project title, and Keystone Advisor’s name and title.

You may include media in your presentation, such as video or audio clips, but these should be no longer than four minutes.

Poster Presentations

Poster presentations include two components, a short introduction and a poster.

Presenters are asked to create a horizontal 4×3 research poster. Posters will be printed through Kilachand. If you incur your own printing costs, you can bring your receipt to the Kilachand main office for reimbursement.

Poster session presenters will also give a two-minute oral introduction to their research using one Powerpoint title slide. Presenters are asked to use the Boston University Powerpoint template, which will be distributed by the Student Planning Committee. The title slide should include the presenter’s name, BU school and major, project title, and Keystone Advisor’s name and title.

In rare cases, neither of these presentation methods suits a project. Someone who has written a novel may want to do a short reading, for example. In these cases, please connect with Amy Fish, Chris Rominger, and the Student Planning Committee. 

For questions please email keystone@bu.edu.

Kilachand Honors College invites senior class members to nominate themselves or others to serve on the Keystone Symposium Planning Committee. This committee will be comprised of approximately 10 students and will be chaired by the sitting KLAB seniors. Following nominations, members will be selected by a vote of the senior class (only if necessary). This group will meet throughout the spring semester to plan and execute the Keystone Symposium. Seniors will receive an email in mid-February soliciting nominations.

The Symposium Planning Committee is charged with the following:

Branding & Advertising

• Develop a tagline (ex: Innovation Unlocked: The Fourth Annual Kilachand Keystone Symposium) & graphical element(s) to be used on promotional materials
• Create all promotional materials (graphic & text)
  • Find the full list of items and dimensions here
  • You can acquire official BU logos, fonts, and templates from Megan Kagstrom to be used in all materials
• Create the symposium booklet, including a Welcome, Table of Contents, Presentation Schedule, Abstracts, and Acknowledgements
  • You can acquire a template from Megan Kagstrom
• Distribute flyers and share social media graphics and text across campus to departments, residence halls, venues, etc.
• Draft email invitations for various stakeholders in the BU Community

Communication

• Collect project abstracts from the senior class
• Communicate all pertinent information to the Kilachand administration, senior course instructors, and senior class student body

Technology

• Collect all PowerPoint presentations
• Ensure that there is a title slide for each presentation that includes each students’ name, home school and major, advisor name, and project title on the KHC Keystone BU ppt template.
  • Oral presentations should have a full slide deck
  • Poster pitch presentations should have only the title slide
• Load flashdrives (provided) with all presentations for the day, in order, for each presentation room
• Coordinate with the Kilachand office to secure laptops for use on the day of the symposium

Logistics

• Determine a mechanism to receive students’ preference of presentation type (poster versus oral)
• Determine the order and room assignment for oral presentations, posters session(s), breaks, and meals
• Station throughout the building to greet and direct guests such as:
  • In the lobby before the morning and afternoon sessions begin to direct guests
  • At the entrance to each presentation room to answer questions

Day-of

• Arrive at least an hour in advance to test all technology and run through slides
• Direct poster presenters to their presentation spaces
• Serve as time keepers for oral and pitch presentations
• Moderate the event
• Serve as poised, professional, and enthusiastic representatives of Kilachand

For questions please email keystone@bu.edu.