Guidelines for oral & visual presentations

Overview of Oral Presentations 1.Purpose 2.Structure 3.Your responsibility 4.Pro tips

Purpose Quick overview of information Opportunity for interaction Suggestions Questions Answers

Structure Groups of 2 or 3 students will present to one or more judges. Judges are from former and current flight test pilots and engineers working for Boeing, AeroTec, FAA, armed services, etc. Total time: 25 minutes Presentation: 10 – 15 minutes Q & A: 3 – 5 minutes Informal interactions: remainder

Your responsibility Know your audience. Engage your audience. What do they already know? What questions do they care about? What details matter most to them? Tell a compelling story: hook, action, conclusion Help make them smarter, happier, better, richer, or…

Oral presentation format Introduction Body Q & A ~3-5 minutes Parameter A results & analysis: ~3 minutes Parameter B results & analysis: ~3 minutes Next steps: ~1 minute Introductions, context, procedure: ~3 minutes

Keep in mind… Body language matters Stand like Wonder Woman Make direct eye contact Offer a firm handshake Confidence matters Dress the part: If you look good, you feel good. If you feel good, you do good. Rehearse enough so that you don’t need note cards… but bring them just in case. Anticipate and be prepared to answer your audience’s questions.

Keep in mind… Teamwork matters Give credit where credit is due. Now is NOT the time to argue with or complain about teammates… save it for later. Humility matters Acknowledge that you have more to learn. Have sincere questions for your judges.

Visual presentations 1. Eye-catching 2. Effective use of design elements  Crisp  Well-balanced White space Pictures w/ captions Legible text  2-3 consistent fonts  Complementary color palette  Unifying theme

Visual presentations 3. Mind-grabbing 4. Polished  Elements combine to tell a story  Logical flow  Know your audience  Obvious attention to detail  Free from grammatical errors

Elements to include: Purpose Procedure Results Caption Physics of Flight Analysis Next steps Name 1, Name 2, Name 3, Name 4 Aircraft details Parameter 1 Parameter 2 Parameter 3 Parameter 4

Keep in mind… Our brains are wired to make sense of visual patterns.  Include graphs Consider putting tables behind graphs Visual presentations are intended to pique interest.  Include only most relevant details  Use large fonts  Can be supplemented with animations played on computers, smaller boards containing key information, etc.