Presentation Resources


About Oral Communication Deliverables

Throughout your design course, you will be asked to present your work and progress in a variety of formats. This document serves to outline the expectations for each of these presentations.

The slides and documents associated with EACH of these presentations should be placed in your team binder and on your team SVN site.

Tips for Delivering all Oral Reports or Presentations

  • Dress professionally
  • Practice body language and delivery techniques that will establish the audience’s trust in your leadership and enthusiasm.
  • Practice presentation enough to be comfortable with it.
  • Remember that YOU control the floor- you should decide when you are finished with the presentation! Do not look at professor or someone else to decide when to end. A good technique is to have a summary planned for AFTER the questions so that you leave the audience with your intended message at the end.
  • Come to class 15 minutes early to load your file on the computer.  Before you start:
  • Don’t “project” until the file is open and the show fills the computer screen
  • Look at the audience and smile BEFORE you start talking


Proposal Presentation

Why you do it

The proposal presentation is used to convince your stakeholders, managers, colleagues, peers, bosses etc. that the problem you are working on is important and that you have:

  • Done adequate research to completely understand your task
  • Developed a good understanding of the important topics relevant to your design project
  • Developed appropriate design goals/ criteria / objectives for your project
  • Developed several possible design solutions to your project and
  • Have a plan for how you will proceed with accomplishing your tasks

How to prepare the proposal presentation

Time: Time will vary by year, ask instructor, Normally: ~10 minutes, 3-4 minutes for questions

Goals

  • To clearly articulate the design problem your team is assigned to address
  • To present the problem you are tackling in context of the medical issue/research issue you are trying to solve
  • To present your measurable design criteria
  • To present 3-4 options for solving your problem
  • Demonstrate some narrowing of your choices for problem solutions with use of quantitative techniques such as decision matrices, concept screening and scoring.
  • To explore any difficulties/uncertainties you’ve encountered so that the class can contribute to resolving them.

Opening

  • Clearly articulate the design problem your team is working on to the audience.
  • Be sure to put the design in context- i.e. why is this design important, what is the existing solution to the problem, what benefit will you design have over existing techniques, who are your intended users?

Design Criteria

  • Describe and justify your measurable design criteria
  • May want to rank or weight your criteria

In the body of presentation, discuss

  • Where you are in the design process
  • Brainstorming - Show 3-4 options for solutions
  • Demonstrate narrowing of these options i.e. decisions matrices, screening and scoring
  • Currently planned approach- r approaches that will continue to be pursued

In the discussion, address these questions and others you find important

  • What are the key technical issues or challenges in this project?
  • What are the benefits of the advances you will make?
  • What are your next steps?
  • Do you have any additional findings/issues/concerns you want to bring to the class’s attention?

Conclusions

  • Summarize
  • Emphasize the benefits of your design

Project Proposal Oral Presentation Rubric


Elevator Pitch

Elevator Pitch The teams will each prepare an elevator pitch about their design project. There will be a lecture in class that describes exactly what components need to be in your pitch. In this presentation you will emphasize the business aspects of your project. This elevator pitch will be no longer than 90 seconds and will be delivered by one member of your team. All team members should participate in developing the text for the pitch.

Team presentation guidelines:
  - Teams should not read their elevator pitch presentation
  - Teams MAY have a “crib sheet” in front of them, but this is NOT encouraged.   Judges will generally
         mark down a presenter that appears to be reading his/her presentation.
  - Teams may have a hand-held “prop”, if it is appropriate and helps demonstrate their project.  However, we don’t encourage the use of a “prop”, because it can be distracting, and take time away from the key messages in the pitch.  
  - Teams may NOT use any PowerPoint slides.
  - Teams will stand behind the podium and must speak into the microphone.   Do not move in front of the podium. We recommending speaking in a strong voice, and keeping 6 to 10 inches from the microphone. Judges will score each team on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1= excellent and 5 = poor.
Judges will consider the following criteria in scoring the teams:

A. Three basic questions
Students should address the three basic questions that the judges will want to know:  the “what”, the “so what”, and the “now what”?

B. Nine specific areas
Students should address the following 9 areas in their elevator pitch.   In a 90 second pitch, each team has roughly 10 seconds to cover each of the 9 areas:
  1. WHO ?    Who are you or who is the team?  Why are you qualified to speak or why is the team presenting?

  2. WHAT ?  What is the problem or pain that the team is addressing? Why was the team put together? Why does the team exist? How big is the market?

  3. HOW ?  How are you solving the problem or addressing the pain?

  4. BETTER ?  How is your solution better than the alternatives?  Is it better enough? How or why are you unique?
    (Remember, sometimes even if there is no other technology solution to solve the problem, you are still competing against the “status quo”, and you must convince the judges that people would be willing to adopt your solution)

  5. SO WHAT ?   Does it really matter? Why should I care? How will my life be better because of it?

  6. WHAT NOW ?  What is the status of your solution?

  7. WISHING ?  What do you want the listener to think about you and the team and the idea or product?  What is the listener’s view of the value proposition?

  8. WHAT NEXT ?  What do you want the listener to do next?  What are the steps ahead?

  9. WOW !   Provide a memorable tag line or WOW statement or some mantra about your team or the product.
Teams should convince the judges that they are working on a real problem or real need that people care about, and that if the product or design or process is successful, then people would buy or utilize this product, and therefore, there is a market for this product.    Further, teams should give some evidence that this product is significantly better than what exists today.    Teams should give a sense for where the product design is today, what’s next in the product development, and what you need or would like from the judges.

The Ask:  The teams need to ask for something.  This is not necessarily an investor or venture capital pitch.  Teams do not need to be asking for funding.   Teams may ask for support, collaboration, money, votes – something. 

Scoring: Teams will be scored on the basis of the 9 components described above and how well they do tell their story.  Teams are scored from 1 to 5, with 1 being a poor job of hitting clearly and concisely the points above and 5 being a excellent job of hitting the points.  
     In order to provide an even playing field, teams should NOT be scored on the basis of the size of the market or the attractiveness of the investment opportunity.   Teams may have a design project that has a large market or a narrow market.   Some teams designs may be further along and ready for early stage investment, while others may be in the early stages of developing the technology.
     However, a team that does not do a good job of communicating the need or problem being addressed, or convincing judges of the existence of a market for the product/service/process, and how their product is better than others, should not be scored as highly as others.  Further, teams should express their pitch with enthusiasm, energy, confidence, and credibility.    It is a “plus”, if teams can communicate their project in a way that translates something that is potentially very complex into something that is easily understood and/or memorable, especially in the opening or closing of their elevator pitch.

Networking Tips with Judges
Although it can be uncomfortable to talk to business people that you do not know, we highly recommend that students go out of their way to introduce themselves to the judges at the event.   All of these judges are here at Rice to help and provide advice to the students.   Many of the judges are Rice alums and/or have other connections to Rice.   All judges would welcome students approaching them to tell them more about their student project or to share information about the judges’ companies.  
You will also find that many judges are equally uncomfortable initiating a discussion with students.  So we encourage students to “break the ice” and introduce themselves to the judges.   These judges may have job openings, contacts with other companies, and be able to offer advice in several areas (career advice, job advice, project advice, etc.).

Communication Tips
Stand behind the podium and refrain from moving (so that your voice will be picked up adequately through the microphone.  Speak loudly.   Look at the audience when you talk. Avoid “ums”.  Practice.  Videotape or record yourself in advance, and look for nervous movement, “ums”, etc.    Try to remember the key points you want to make, versus trying to memorize your talk word-for-word.   If you happen to forget where you are, just keep going….the audience will not know that didn’t present your pitch exactly the way that you had rehearsed it.   Don’t feel like you have to use up every one of the 90 seconds….it is okay to finish a few seconds early….and your talk will usually be more successful.





Design Review Defense Presentation

Why you do it
The design review is used to convince your stakeholders, managers, colleagues, peers, bosses etc. that your project has value and that you are on track to successfully addressing the problem. The purpose is to

  • Demonstrate that you have an effective design plan
  • Receive technical feedback on your design plan
  • Demonstrate that you are on track to meet your project deliverables
  • Receive direction from your management regarding this project

How to prepare the design review

Time: Time will vary by year, ask instructor, generally: ~18-20 minutes, 5-7 minutes for questions (25 minutes TOTAL)

Goals

  • To clearly articulate the design problem your team is addressing
  • To clearly present your solution to this problem
  • Demonstrate that your solution meets your design criteria
  • Demonstrate a proof of concept for your design
  • Justify your design choices

Opening

  • Clearly articulate the design problem your team is working on to the audience with an effective hook.
  • Be sure to put the design in context- i.e. why is this design important, what benefit will it have over existing techniques, who are your intended users, what is the market size?

Design Criteria

  • Describe your measurable design criteria and how you intend to test them

In the body of your presentation discuss

  • Present a concrete solution to your design problem including specific components
  • Demonstrate and explain your design solution and results from proof of concept prototype
  • Demonstrate how your design solution will meet your design goals

In the discussion address these questions and others you find important

  • Discuss surprises and unexpected issues you have faced
  • What are the remaining technical and scheduling challenges you are facing?

Conclusions

Summarize what you have done

    • Emphasize the benefits of your design
    • Give a realistic assessment of where you will be by April 15th

 Design Review Defense Rubric

 

Design Poster

Why you do it

Posters are an alternative to oral presentation for presenting your work to a wide audience. One of the challenges of effective poster presentations is that you must prepare a poster AS WELL AS a concise oral explanation of your work. A poster presentation is a chance to interact with your audience one-on-one.

How to prepare the poster

A lecture is given in class to explain the details and provide examples of design posters. Design posters will be different from a standard research poster, however some features remain the same. Posters must:

    • Typically stand alone
    • Audience comes and goes at different times
    • If you are standing with your poster you need to engage audience and have a concise explanation prepared to draw in the audience.
    • Posters must get the point across simply and easily

 
Important features of a good design poster:

    • Select  1o message
    • What is the problem? Overall objective?
    • How did you solve it?
    • Convincing results/conclusions
    • Pictures and graphs are extremely important. You may want to have a high quality image of your design as the anchor of your poster.
    • Use NO paragraph form text other than perhaps the abstract or introduction, use bulleted ideas/concepts
    • Emphasize key concepts
    • Draw attention to important pictures
    • Make the poster easy to read and understand
    • Reader should be able to stand a distance away- 3 + feet and easily read poster
    • Use a simple font (Sans Serif)
    • Explain images/ figures at the image
    • Be SURE to include ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS section
      • Funding from School of Engineering, Texas Space Grant consortium, HHMI BTB Program, CBEN, etc.
      • Significant helpers, mentors
    • Be SURE to include REFERENCES section
    • Be SURE to include contact information

You can also find many examples of design posters online at the BIOE 451-2 course website (http://www.clear.rice.edu/bioe451/Past_projects.html).

Preparing the oral presentation to accompany your poster

Posters are a unique form of presenting your work because you will also often need to speak to interested viewers at your poster in addition to having the appropriate layout and visual poster created. The following are some key points to keep in mind when planning the oral presentation to accompany a poster:

    • Prepare a 30 second, 1 minute and 2 minute presentation. Let your audience indicate if they want you to delve into more detail.
    • Do not expect a viewer to want to or be able to spend 10 minutes at your poster- be succinct, clear and explain our work with minimal jargon.
    • Use your poster to help you tell the story- point to pictures and graphs while speaking.
    • Avoid ‘presenting’ or talking at viewer…. Present your work in a conversational tone.
    • Engage new viewers as they walk up- this can be a challenge as you may be in the middle of explaining something to another viewer. Do not be afraid to allow a viewer to study the poster for a while.

Design Poster Rubric

Final Design Presentation

Why you do it

The final presentation is the opportunity to present the final design to your boss, peers, mentors, and faculty. It should be made in a very positive and confident manner.

How to prepare the final design presentation

Time: Time will vary by year, ask instructor, normally ~15 minutes, 3-5 minutes for questions

Goals

    • To clearly articulate the design problem your team addressed
    • To clearly present your solution to this problem
    • Demonstrate that your solution meets your design criteria
    • To clearly present evidence of how your device works and your test results
    • To put your design in perspective of future work, needed improvements, etc.

Opening

    • Clearly articulate the design problem your team is working on to the audience with an effective hook.
    • Be sure to put the design in context- i.e. why is this design important, what benefit will it have over existing techniques, who are your intended users.

Design Criteria

    • Describe your measurable design criteria

In the body of your presentation discuss

    • Present a concrete solution to your design problem
    • Demonstrate and explain your design solution
    • Demonstrate how your design solution meets your design goals with test data

In the discussion address these questions and others you find important

    • What are the benefits of the advances you’ve made?
    • What are future improvements that are needed?
    • What are the plans for the future for your device?


Conclusions

    • Summarize
    • Emphasize the benefits of your design

 Final Design Oral Presentation Rubric

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