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.

Imagine that your audience is a group of foundation executives you would like to persuade to fund your team. You should assume they know nothing about your project, but that they know about successful 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 or three 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.)

The three presentations will fit into one class period (since Professor Suzuki has offered us some time at the start of his cs680). Your presentation should take about (and no more than) 25 minutes, including the time needed to answer questions, both during and after. The audience will be prepared to ask them. That will leave time between presentations for the audience to write down conclusions and the next team to set up.

I'll decide on the order by lot, at the last minute.

You must use powerpoint (awful as it can be). Powerpoint is a professional necessity these days - 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.

You may access the web during the presentation if you wish. But be warned - live demos can be exciting, but they're risky. Fumbling with the keyboard and mouse and finding broken links does not create a good impression.

I have prepared an evaluation form for members of the audience to fill out for each of the three presentations (yours anonymously for the other two teams). It addresses issues 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!)

Take a look at what Paul English has to say about looking for venture capital. Some of that is very relevant to our projects.

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.

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