Prof. Dr. Thorsten Jungmann (last updated 2026-10-21)
Relates to FTS-03 Weighing up, citing and designing your poster
Task
In FTS-04, you present your poster in an elevator talk while the poster is shown on the projector. Your elevator talk has five parts: your question, your own answer, the scientific answer, the answer of the artificial intelligence (AI) and your insight (FTS-03, 5.1). In this exercise, you first improve an elevator talk on our example question, ‘Does hydrogen make steel production climate-neutral?’, and then prepare your own. Work through the two tasks one after the other; below the first task, you find the solution, below the second a step-by-step guide.
1 An elevator talk to improve
A student gives the following elevator talk, based on the article by Vogl et al. (2018):
An elevator talk on the hydrogen question
‘My question was: does hydrogen make steel production climate-neutral? The AI service I asked came to a similar result. Vogl et al. 2018, page 736: H-DR needs 3.48 MWh per tLS, and with renewable electricity, its emissions are essentially zero. Vogl et al. 2018, page 740: carbon dioxide remains from lime calcination and from the carbon in the steel. Thank you.’
Which of the five parts are missing? What else would you change so that your listeners can follow?
Solution
Missing parts: your own answer and your insight. The talk ends without an answer to the question; it should end with the balanced, reflective answer and what the student takes away from the exercise (FTS-03, 5.1).
Order: The AI answer comes after the scientific answer, because the listeners can only understand how it fits in once they know what the sources say (FTS-03, 5.1).
Sources in words: Instead of reading out the short references, the student names the source in words, for example ‘a study by Vogl and colleagues from 2018 shows …’ (FTS-03, 5.2).
Plain language: The abbreviations ‘H-DR’ and ‘tLS’ and the term ‘lime calcination’ are jargon from the article. Plain words such as ‘steelmaking with hydrogen’, ‘a tonne of liquid steel’ and ‘making lime’ help listeners from outside the field to follow: Caromile et al. (2024, pp. 3, 5), who call such a talk an elevator pitch, advise simple language without jargon.
A possible answer is the example of an elevator talk in FTS-03, 5.2.
2 Prepare your own elevator talk
Prepare your elevator talk on your question and your balanced, reflective answer. Your talk takes 60 to 90 seconds, and the example in FTS-03, 5.2 shows what a complete elevator talk can sound like.
Step by step
- Write one or two sentences for each of the five parts, as Caromile et al. (2024, p. 5) advise: your question, your own answer, the scientific answer, the AI answer and your insight – your balanced, reflective answer and what you take away from the exercise.
- Name your sources in words, for example ‘a study by <author> and colleagues from <year> shows …’, instead of reading out the short references.
- Use plain language without jargon (ibid., p. 5).
- Say your talk aloud several times: it is meant to be heard, not read (ibid., p. 6).
- Ask others for feedback on your talk (ibid., p. 6).
- In FTS-04, guide your listeners through your poster on the projector, but do not read it off (Gundogan et al. 2016, p. 71).
Bibliography
- CAROMILE, Leslie A., JHA, Ankita, GARDINER, Jaye C., DILEK, Ozlem, OHI, Ryoma and LIGON, Lee, 2024. How to construct and deliver an elevator pitch: a formula for the research scientist. BMC Proceedings [online]. 18(Suppl 1), 27. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12919-024-00312-2 [viewed 2026-10-19].
- GUNDOGAN, Buket, KOSHY, Kiron, KURAR, Langhit and WHITEHURST, Katharine, 2016. How to make an academic poster. Annals of Medicine and Surgery [online]. 11, 69–71. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amsu.2016.09.001 [viewed 2026-10-19].
- VOGL, Valentin, ÅHMAN, Max and NILSSON, Lars J., 2018. Assessment of hydrogen direct reduction for fossil-free steelmaking. Journal of Cleaner Production [online]. 203, 736–745. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.08.279 [viewed 2026-10-19].