The presentation will be attended by your supervisor(s) , the Course Administrator, and other CS4490z/4460z students. The presentation schedule will be advertised to all Computer Science students and faculty, and you are also welcome to invite friends and relatives.
Tactics for presentations will be discussed in a CS4490z lecture in March.
Each of you will have a total of 30 minutes. You should allow 5 minutes for setup, about 20 minutes for your oral presentation, and 5 minutes for questions.
You can prepare your presentation with overhead transparencies and/or using PowerPoint etc. The Department has a data projector in the rooms that will be used for the presentations; you are encouraged to use it with a computer, and to do a demo during your presentation if applicable. However, it is advisable to try out your demo well in advance of your presentation, in case specialized software you need is not available on those systems. You may bring your own laptop if you wish.
The Course Administrator will determine the mark for the presentation, in consultation with the supervisor(s).
·
It takes a lot of
work to prepare an effective presentation!
·
Format:
o
Title and name of
presenter
o
Outline (to give
your audience a feel for the direction your presentation will take)
o
Introduction: give
some necessary background, define the problem
o
Body
o
Conclusions /
Summary
·
How to decide what
to include in your presentation:
o
Decide on the single
main goal, and how to get there.
o
Or, write down all
the points, then select and sequence.
·
The hardest part is
deciding what to leave out; include only what the audience needs to know.
·
Slides:
o
Slides should serve
as a point of focus for the audience.
o
Each slide should
have a heading and be reasonably self-contained.
o
Use point form
rather than long complete sentences.
o
Use diagrams,
examples, etc. (“people retain only 10% of what they hear, but 50% of what they
see”)
·
Rehearse your
presentation to try out the timing.
·
Delivery:
o
Show interest and
enthusiasm.
o
Try not to just read
the slides.
·
Software demo:
o
Should be structured
o
Focus on the purpose
of your software
o
Practise!
There are several books in the library that might help with your presentation: