SENG 531: Labs TA: Brad Cossette Office Hours: Monday, Wednesday 3-4pm ICT 524

Labs This Week: Monday  Reading Academic Papers Wednesday  Presenting your Academic Paper

Presenting your Paper 1. Basic Points to Remember 2. Structuring/Creating Your Presentation 3. Delivery

Basic Points to Remember Your goal when presenting is to make your audience understand your paper  Figure the paper takes a few hours to understand  Your presentation is 9-10 minutes

Basic Points to Remember(2) Remember from Monday’s talk:  Don’t get bogged down in details  Balance your presentation for Rob & the class You have to demonstrate to Rob you grasp the hard stuff You want to still hold onto the attention of your peers

Basic Points to Remember(3) Please remember that you’re the future audience  Gold Rule for Class Presentations  Be aware that you can do a lot of things to unnerve your presenter Do your best to give them your attention Asking questions shows interest Use body language to show attentiveness

Creating your Presentation Remember the 3 questions: 1. What’s the problem? 2. How do they solve it? 3. What do I think of their solution?

Creating your Presentation(2) You have 9-10 minutes to address all 3. One suggestion: 1. What’s the problem? 2-3 minutes 2. How do they solve it? 4-5 minutes 3. What do I think of their solution? 1-3 minutes

Creating your Presentation(3) The hard part is up to you – what content do you present?  The only right or wrong answer comes at the end when everyone has to hear it.  Be self-critical – if you presented what you have to yourself, would it make sense? Would you start doing pencil tattoos?

Structuring your Presentation Suggestion for an outline: 1. Introduction 2. Motivation or Background 3. Solution 4. Evaluation 5. Critique 6. Conclusion

Structuring your Presentation(2) Don’t bother with an outline slide Rule of thumb: 1-2 minutes per slide.  So no more then 10 slides if you can help it Don’t end on a Questions slide or Blank  Pet peeve of Rob

Structuring your Presentation(3) Outline what you want to say before you create your slides  Make sure your points are reasonable in the time allowed  Chop off stuff that just takes too long to explain Pictures, Diagrams, Charts  They will help you maintain attention

Structuring your Presentation(4) Rule  10 slides  20 minutes Obviously doesn’t apply here  Nothing less then 30 pt. font Your slides will not be notes, they’re guides  Don’t put the paper on your slides

Delivery: The Basics Be presentable  Guys: shave. Shower. Do your laundry. Make us want to listen  Be confident Comes with preparation or self-delusion  Command attention in your demeanour Show enthusiasm about your paper Opening scene in Patton

Delivery: The Basics(2) Be prepared  Any problems in setup or getting started will rob you of your chutzpah. Speech: Slowly and Clearly  You will tend to speak fast nervousness running out of time

Delivery: The Basics(3) Practice  To finish bang on 9-10 minutes, you will need to rehearse.  If you need to look at the slides or notes to remember what to say, you lose attention.

Delivery: What not to do Slides  Don’t write full paragraphs  Don’t put on your slides exactly what you’re going to say  Don’t look at the screen during your talk!

Delivery: What not to do(2) Slides Slides –Use (without ABUSING) color –Don’t animate or have running animations during your talk Your slides are a backup to your talk They should not be taking the attention off of you or on what you’re saying

Delivery: What not to do(3) Delivery  Don’t hide behind the podium Gripping the podium is even worse  Avoid laser pointers whenever possible  Don’t turn your back on your audience No matter how good you think your humps are

Delivery: What to do Delivery  Pace yourself Keep a watch on hand you can look at Make a conscious effort to slow down.  Don’t be distracted by your audience  Don’t be distracted by Rob He may look like you said something wrong … but he just remembered he didn’t get his change back at Tim Horton’s.

Delivery: What to do(2) Delivery  Know what you want to say Write your complete speech out Have a backup for brain-farts  Be confident You will likely be the only one in the know  Have fun Showing enthusiasm is a good thing  Even if you have to fake it

Grading This is NOT official, but: Rob will likely mark you on three things  Content  Delivery  Polish

Grading(2) Content  The three questions  What does the class take home? Delivery  Did your presentation hurt or help your cause? Polish  The “Daaaaamn!” factor

Labs Next Week: Monday  Demos Wednesday  Demos After next week, there will be no more labs in the course