This project deliverable addresses presentation skills - an important part of the communication that's central to software engineering.

No presentation can be successful if its authors do not consider who the audience is. What can you assume they know? What can you tell them in the time you have that they can absorb and remember? What do you want them to come away with? How can you make sure they stay awake? I'm sure you've attended many lectures where you wish the instructor had asked him or herself these questions. Now you have a chance to do it right.

Your audience is the rest of the class, who will pretend to be foundation executives you would like to persuade to fund your project. You should assume they nothing about your project, but that they know as much as you do about software engineering - so, for example, you can count on their knowing what a three tier application is, or what agile development processes entail. Any term you use that's unfamiliar they will ask about.

You need to explain your project, convince them that it is useful and interesting, and that you have a schedule and a development strategy that will allow you to finish it by the end of the Spring semester. You do not need to convince them that you have a money-making proposition - they are foundation executives interested in the public good, not venture capitalists out to make a profit.

Each team will prepare a single presentation. Two team members will participate in delivering it. Make sure the presentation is consistent in style - don't have each person prepare the slides for his or her section. Perhaps after you have written the slides you should each practice delivering the whole thing, so that you could do any part of it when the time comes. (The rest of the team will get a chance to present later in the year.)

Haven't yet decided whether to have half hour or 15 minute presentations - one class or two? This is what I did when I taught 681/2 together. If I find outsiders to attend I may squeeze presentations into one class.

The four presentations will fit in the two class periods on one day. I'll decide on the order by lot, at the last minute. Your presentation should take between 25 minutes and half an hour. Be prepared to answer questions, both during and after. The audience will be prepared to ask them.

You must use powerpoint, and may access the web during the presentation if you wish. But be warned - fumbling with the keyboard and mouse and finding broken links does not create a good impression. Live demos are dangerous. Powerpoint is a professional necessity these days - but using it well is an art. You might want to look at Edward Tufte's PowerPoint Is Evil diatribe and some of the discussion about it on the web.

I will prepare a questionnaire each of you will fill out (anonymously) for each of the three presentations from the other teams. Take a look at what Paul English has to say about looking for venture capital. Some of that is very relevant to our projects. The financial parts aren't. Our questionnaire will cover things like

• Is the team organized? competent? confident? believable? prepared to work as hard as necessary? having fun?
• Have they done their homework - what software is out there that compares to what they are planning to write? (If this were a profit making venture that would be crucial research.)
• Is the project doable in the time allotted? Is their schedule reasonable? Flexible? Is their customer likely to get something he can really use? Maintain?
• Is the presentation professionally done? Slides interesting, readable, offering just the right level of detail?
• Are the speakers clear? Can you take good notes to augment what's on the slides?
• Can the team answer questions well (directly, taking just the right amount of time, not too little, not too much)? (To find that out you will have to ask some good questions!)

Here's the actual evaluation form; I will bring copies to class for you to fill out.

From: Ethan Bolker 
To: cs682-1@cs.umb.edu
CC: eb@cs.umb.edu
Subject: last few presentation tips
Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2007 14:08:06 -0500 (EST)

You should have your presentation slides posted on your web site, and
also on a flash drive (what if the web connection from the classroom
is down?)

Remember that part of your responsibility is to be a good audience for
each others' presentations. Get into the role playing.

It's professional and polite when you're one of many presenters at a
session to ad lib an occasional reference to some of the presentations
that came before yours. It's a way to connect the presentations for
the audience, and a way to prove that you were actually listening to
someone else rather than just rehearsing your own talk while they were
speaking.

Back to the cs682 home page.