TC 4 (team) -- Proposal presentation
Worth: 35 points
Assigned: 16 February 2015
Due: 12 March 2015 or 13 March 2015
Little Toy Blue
1 Varsity Drive
Suite 1973
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108
To: |
All Educational Toy Division engineers |
From: |
Nikola Tesla, Vice President for Innovation |
Subject: |
Team educational toy project proposals |
Date: |
16 February 2015 |
Background
As you know, our company is interested in developing new educational toys.
Each engineer has already written a preliminary proposal for a new toy. Next,
you will consult with your project manager and team
members to decide on the particular product your team will propose. Each
team will then present a formal proposal to management on 12 March 2015 or 13
March 2015. The purpose of this memo is to lay out the guidelines for this
presentation.
Deliverable
You have been asked to propose a product and build a prototype of that
product. The purpose of your proposal is to describe and justify your
product idea, and to lay out how you plan to build your prototype.
Refer to the memo of 28 January 2015 for details.
Your proposal will be in the form of an presentation with projected
slides in front of your colleagues and a team of evaluators.
You must speak without written notes. Your team will have
12 minutes for your presentation, plus three minutes for questions and
suggestions. Every team member should do a roughly equal part of the
presentation. See below for guidelines for the presentation.
There will also be one required rehearsal for each team in the days
preceding the presentation. We will start scheduling these soon. Each team
should be prepared to deliver a preliminary version of their presentation
at that time, and we will provide feedback and suggestions to make the actual
presentation as successful as possible.
Your team should bring a laptop with VGA output to show your presentation,
both to the rehearsal and to the actual presentation. Let us know if this
poses a problem for your team. Your team should also bring a paper
copy of your slides for the evaluators (three-per-page format is OK).
You can use the structure below as a starting point for structuring your
presentation. We will be giving you more information on the format of the
presentation and on how to deliver presentations.
- Overview (2-3 slides)
- Little Toy Blue's objectives/needs
- Proposed device
- Agenda for today's presentation
- Project description (approximately 7-10 slides)
- Background (statement of need or opportunity)
- High-level functionality (and justification)
- Proposed prototype
- Work plan (1-2 slides)
- Summary slide
Feel free to contact Dr. Hildinger with questions.
How to submit your work
After your team presentation, one member of the team should
submit your PowerPoint slides
here.
Presentation evaluation notes
We will be looking at content, structure, presentation and visuals. Here
are some issues we will be concerned with--use this list as a guide as you
develop your presentation.
Technical content and argumentation
- All the sections asked for are present, clear and of high quality
(background, function, prototype, work plan)
- Clear explanations and arguments, plausible claims, good supporting
evidence
- Balanced amount of information (not too much or too little on any
given topic)
- Credible answers to questions from the audience; receptive to
audience concerns
Design and organization of the presentation
- Effectively introduced (overview) and concluded (main points reinforced)
- Background of project and purpose of presentation are clear
- Technical discussion is clearly arranged, focused on the purpose
of the presentation
Design and use of visuals
- Visuals are well designed, legible, consistent and appropriate for
the purpose (see "slide design")
- Slides cover all important points
- Visuals are used effectively, with a good balance between talk and
visual information
Delivery (preparation and presentation)
- Speakers prepared, able to speak without notes in an orderly and
clear manner
- Presentation is within time constraints
- Effective personal contact is established with audience (audibility,
good eye contact and rapport)
- Good screen work (point specifically, stand by screen, don't
block audience's view)
- Introductions, handoffs and summaries handled well
- Everyone contributes, everyone is involved and attentive
Slide design: some goals
Key slides
- Title slide (with title, team name, team member names, occasion, date)
- Overview slide (lays out problem statement/motivation for project
and proposed solution)
- Agenda slide (lays out structure of talk or main content areas)
- Summary slide (reminds audience of main claims/"takeaway")
Other guidelines
- Useful slide titles (think of these as being like section
headings--they help speakers navigate through the presentation)
- Non-distracting backgrounds and colors
- Not too much text (no long prose passages); not too little text
(cryptic, one-word bullet points)
- Amount of info appropriate for 30-60 seconds per slide (so roughly 3
to 6 slides per speaker--but this will vary a lot)
- Text must contrast enough and be big enough to be legible (at least
18-20 points, if not bigger)
- Text must be in grammatically parallel structures
- Absolute consistency of style and format--make your team look like a team
REHEARSE: This will take longer than you think. You
need to be very concise.
TALK LOUDLY: Louder than you think--you may think you're
speaking loudly, but you're probably not.