John Bandler—Non-Technical Bio

John Bandler is active in various artistic, literary, academic, speaking and theatrical endeavors. Most recently, he has directed his attention to the Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition. See John Bandler—Three Minute Thesis.

His fiction includes short stories, a novel, a screenplay, and nine stage plays. His novel, his screenplay, and one of his plays are about Cyprus’s 1950’s historical struggle for liberation. Another of his plays refers to the 1974 invasion of Cyprus by Turkish armed forces.

He was inspired by novelist-playwright Polychronis Koutsakis (a former colleague at McMaster University) towards the stage and screen. He attended Robert McKee’s “Story” and “Genre” seminars in New York and Los Angeles, and later revised his screenplay following an extensive consultation with McKee in New York. He also attended McKee’s Story in Business seminar.

Bandler’s play Jahzara’s Triangle (see promo video) received public readings at the Players Guild of Hamilton in July 2009 and at the Dundas Little Theatre in August 2013. He is author and executive producer of Christmas Eve at the Julibee Motel (Michael Anania, Director) performed at The Hamilton Fringe Festival, July 2010. He is author and executive producer of 59 Minutes in the Maxwell Suite (Tom Mackan, Director) performed at The Hamilton Fringe Festival, July 2011. He is author, director and executive producer of That The Multitude May Live performed at The Hamilton Fringe Festival, July 2012. He is author and executive producer of The Trial of Naomi Verne (Tom Mackan, Director) performed at The Hamilton Fringe Festival, July 2014. He is author and executive producer of Christmas Eve at the Julibee Motel (Tom Mackan, Director) perfomed at The Hamilton Fringe Festival, July 2016.

Bandler was a member of Hamilton’s Theatre Aquarius Playwrights’ Circle (2010-12). In 2011 the Circle organized a fractured adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. Bandler’s Romeo and Juliet—Part 3 received a public reading on World Theatre Day at Theatre Aquarius, Hamilton, March 27, 2011. Under the banner Script Happens, public readings of his play The Oath were held at Theatre Aquarius on November 10 and 12, 2011.

His seminar, “The first impression is a lasting impression: observations on life, competition, and professional advancement,” McMaster University, April 26, 2011, led to an invitation to deliver a rump session on “Human Aspects of Communication and Persuasion: First Impressions and Subtext,” at the IEEE International Microwave Symposium, Montreal, June 19, 2012—the only rump session planned for the symposium. His talk is available on IEEE.tv.

On April 26, 2012 he spoke at Reykjavik University on “Routes to Success in Academic Research: A Personal Perspective.” He also spoke on this topic at the University of Waterloo, September 14 in their Distinguished Lecture Series, at Carleton University on October 3, and at École Polytechnique de Montréal on October 4, 2012. On October 17, at the University of Toronto, he addressed the IEEE Women in Engineering Chapter on “Aspects of persuasion: confirmation bias, first impressions and subtext.”

On September 19, 2012, he delivered a talk to the IEEE Hamilton Section based on his IEEE Canada McNaughton Award Lecture “Have You Ever Wondered About The Engineer’s Mysterious “Feel” For A Problem?” On October 25, he spoke on “The essence of space mapping: do less, get more” at Freescale Semiconductor Inc. in Tempe, AZ; then, at Arizona State University, he delivered a talk to the IEEE Phoenix Waves and Devices Chapter on “Space mapping: an engineering design technology that mimics common sense.”

In 2014, he spoke at TEDx McMaster U; and at McMaster University’s Cafe X. He spoke at Tianjin University, at South University of Science and Technology of China, Shenzhen, and at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He delivered keynote speeches on creativity organized in California and Florida by the IEEE MTT-S Women in Microwaves.

In 2015, he delivered workshops to candidates for McMaster’s Three Minute Thesis and Falling Walls competitions. Since then he has delivered several seminars and workshops on the Three Minute Thesis and other competitions. See John Bandler—Three Minute Thesis for details.

In 2015, he delivered the keynote speech, “Don’t dodge ethics on your route to success,” at the IEEE Montreal Section Awards Banquet.

In 2016, he delivered a short course at the 2016 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium (IMS) in San Franciso with George Ponchak of NASA: “to write your paper, get it accepted, then effectively present it at a conference.” His talk: “Effective Presentations.”

In 2016, with Erin Kiley, he initiated a Three Minute Thesis Competition for the 2017 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium (IMS) in Honolulu. This competiton has since been continued in Philadelphia in 2018, in Boston in 2019, and went virtual in 2020 (Los Angeles) and 2021 (Atlanta). See John Bandler—Three Minute Thesis for details, related competitions, and links to video playlists.

Bandler has engaged in production and publicity-related tasks for the Dundas Little Theatre and Theatre Burlington. He contributed to Theatre Burlington’s 2010 multiple-award-winning story of Alan Turing, namely, Breaking the Code. For this play, Tom Mackan was named Theatre Ontario’s 2010 outstanding director, while Bandler received the Western Ontario Drama League adjudicator’s special award for (his Greek language) dialect coaching. Bandler served as a dialect coach for The Miracle Worker, directed by Sondra Learn, Theatre Burlington, 2011. He was creative consultant, Time and the Conways, directed by Brian Morton, Dundas Little Theatre, 2011. His photographs document Theatre Burlington’s 2012 production of The Imaginary Invalid, directed by Tom Mackan.

In 2013 and 2015, he served as a reviewer for Hamilton Fringe Festival plays.

His 19-minute film The Caffeine Rabbit Hole (writer, producer, director), available on demand July 15-25, 2021 through The Hamilton Fringe Festival.

See also Bandler’s YouTube channel, in particular, for a complete videos of That The Multitude May Live, The Trial of Naomi Verne and Christmas Eve at the Julibee Motel.