Guidelines
You should plan for your presentation to be about 15 minutes including time
for questions. The whole class will be able to ask you questions, but the
professor will also give you feedback and may highlight issues for the benefit
of the class as a whole. However, you control the presentation and have the
right to cut questions short (including ones from the professor) or defer them
to the end of the presentation
Be prepared that if you run short on time that you may need to omit slides,
or drastically reduce what you say about a slide. You should be able to
summarize the point or significance of any slide in a single sentence if
needed. You should also be able to summarize the key points or significance of
your presentation in just a couple of sentences with just a few select slides.
Each member of your team must speak at least once, for at least 5 minutes
during one of the two presentations for the project over the two semesters.
Everyone on the team receives the same overall mark for the presentation, even
if they do not present, because everyone is expected to participate in the
creation of the presentation which should include at least a couple of practice
sessions. The presentation should be rehearsed so that if flows smoothly, and
everyone who speaks is comfortable and professional in front of an audience.
All groups should show up 5 minutes before class time on the day they
present and make sure their presentation is installed and running properly on
the class computer BEFORE the class begins!
Presentations in general: Consider the following to help improve your
presentations:
- Use PowerPoint or a similar tool.
- Understand the intent of the presentation and get to the
point. Do not take up a lot of time with uninteresting background. You may
have done a lot of work, but focus on a few points about which your audience
will be most interested (leave full details for a written report).
- Make sure font size is at least 32 point for slide
headings and 20 point for other text.
- Make sure no point takes more than 2 lines. Don't expect
readers to read a long sentence - use point form.
- Use diagrams (e.g. UML or pictures of screens) as much as
possible. You can point to these and explain details of them.
- Make sure you proofread your slides so they do not have
spelling or grammar errors.
- Your slides should only highlight key points of what you
will say orally. Make sure you don't 'read' your slides.
- Practice your presentation in advance in front of other
members of your group, plus other friends. Make sure you get the timing
right.
- Practice speaking up and projecting your voice. Try to put
energy into your presentation. Convince your audience that you are
enthusiastic about what you are trying to say.
- Do not "read" your slides. It is not important
to say every last detail (we can all read). Instead, talk to the audience
as if you are carrying on a conversation and focus on making sure the key
points are highlighted and their significance grasped by the audience.
- Make eye contact with your audience and face them at all
times. If you are pointing at something on a diagram either use the mouse
at the keyboard, or stand to the side, facing the audience and point to
the diagram or get one of your team members to point to the slide while
you talk.
- Be aware that videos or live demonstrations may not
display properly through a projector. Be aware that you cannot count on
network connectivity. ALWAYS, have static slides, screenshots and cached
images you can fall back on if your video, live demonstration on network
access fails.