Jump to Instructions and Tips (Below)
(Page updated significantly on Jan 31 2026 morning. Please read carefully as several instructions have changed.)
Presentations: Student-led presentations start 2/6/2026.
All students must sign up for a presentation slot. NO EXCEPTIONS.
Once you have signed up for a slot, you have to do fulfill your responsibilities, even if you decide to drop the class.
By January 30, 2026, 5.30 pm, use the posted form to specify your preferences for a presentation slot (from below, on the dates starting 2/6/2026): Each slot will have 2 presenters (and some will have 1 scriber). When you specify preferences, you're doing so for a session, not for a role (role will be assigned based on several factors including when you responded). Responsibilities below. If there is no scriber assigned to your slot, the 2 presenters are responsible for together fulfilling all scriber responsibilities (which are described below).
Presenters present one paper each from the ''Main Papers'' (Do a coordinated presentation please!). If you have time you can also cover a few of the ''Additional Readings''. The 2 Presenters for a session must coordinate to decide who presents which paper (if you can't agree, the first presenter listed gets Paper 1, and the second presenter gets Paper 2).
Scriber must summarize Piazza questions, add their own questions/discussion points, lead
discussion on both papers, and write 1 page summary of discussion on
Piazza and in class. (Needless to say, scriber needs to read both papers ahead of class).
To sign up for a presentation slot, please use the Google form to specify your preferred sessions (you don't need to specify presenter or scribe). We will assign the roles in a FIFO way (you will get your most preferable session that is still available). Please note that papers for each session were selected carefully, and thus the selections are non-negotiable!
Reviews:
Reviews are due starting 2/6/2026 only. Reviews are due at 5 PM the day BEFORE the class session (so Tue night or Thu night). This will give sufficient time to the session scriber to summarize discussion questions, and be prepared for it. Unless you are a presenter/scriber for a session, you MUST submit reviews for BOTH ''Main Papers''
papers in class.
DO NOT skip reviews for a session unless you are already signed up for a presentation or scribe for that session. Each session (lecture) review must be comprised of reviews for the two Main Papers.
O Tips for Presentations and Reviews
Tips for Preparing a Presentation (Do improvise!): Typically, 15 slides per paper. 2-3 slides on motivation and background. 5-7 slides on core ideas of the paper. 3-5 slides on experimental data. 2-3 slides on your thoughts/criticisms/questions/discussion points about the paper.
DO NOT REUSE slides from authors' or others' presentations. You can reproduce at most one image from original slides -- if you do, please acknowledge this on your slides.
DO NOT USE LLMs to create slides or write reviews. Presenters need to understand a paper in greater depth (e.g., subtleties) than an LLM can. Please don't use LLM as a crutch for reading papers---it hinders learning how to read papers quickly.
You can reuse material from the paper (e.g., plots) but please annotate them, and be judicious (see below).
As the presenter, you are the expert on the paper. This means you are expected to know all details in the paper, and details about any work the paper references or cites. This does not mean you need to defend everything (especially if you disagree) but when asked, you must know it. Inability to do so will be penalized as Indy asks questions during your talk, probing these.
Use examples - the more and the earlier, the better. It improves clarity.
Use pictures - the more, the better. It improves clarity. Use animation, but not too much.
Write concrete bullet points that make sense and are to the point - don't be vague or general.
Remind the audience of definitions of basic terms before you use them in your presentation. Define before use.
It is ok to reuse figures from the original paper/presentation by the authors of a paper. It is NOT ok to reproduce entire slides or slide bullets - the presentation outline and execution should be original. Do feel free to reproduce ideas and questions (e.g., from the student reviews) though, as long as these are in your own words.
When presenting experimental plots, make sure you state what the experiment was exactly, and what the parameter values were (best if on the slide itself). An experimental plot is meaningless without a description of the experiment!
Use text only where absolutely necessary - it puts folks to sleep and makes them ask more nasty questions.
Jump into the "meat" of the paper as quickly as possible - within the first 3 slides is best.
Anticipate questions that you're likely to get - better still, prepare slides that have answers (or non-answers) to these questions.
Since the paper being presented is not yours, try to do justice to the authors' contribution (be positive about their contributions and effort, and don't denigrate either), but also make sure you state alongside what your technical critique and personal/research opinion is about each of the authors' design decisions (this can pre-empt questions, esp. if the design decision is questionable).
Keep track of time, because it is the only thing guaranteed to increase monotonically.
Please come to class at least 10 minutes ahead of your presentation time, start up the projector, and check if your laptop or the in-room computer correctly displays your slides. You should start on time!
Your presentation will be evaluated equally along 3 metrics: 1) Quality of Presentation, 2) Quality of Understanding of Paper, 3) Quality of Discussion and Q and A.
You can use either the computer in the classroom (put your presentation online before) or your own laptop.
After the presentation, within 24 hours: Please email your slides to Indy (both pdf and original/ppt), so that he can post them on the website. Please name your files as ``CS525.SP26.MM.DD.ppt/pptx/pdf'' (where MM is the month like 02, 03, 04; and DD is the date like 01, 13, etc.).
Tips for Writing a Review (Do improvise!): 2 pages max (total), where each page is about 400 words. For each paper, 1 paragraph on the core idea of the paper, followed by list of pros and cons of the approach, your thoughts on how the paper can be further developed, and any questions/criticisms/thoughts/doubts/wanderings about the paper.
Please DO NOT comment on the English/Grammar/typos in the paper. We are interested only in criticism of the material, problem, ideas, algorithm, approach, experiments, and methodology in the paper. Please constructively criticize the work not the diction. After all, the paper has been accepted, and we're trying to understand why it was (or why it shouldn't have been) technically.
DO NOT USE LLMs to create slides or write reviews. Presenters need to understand a paper in greater depth (e.g., subtleties) than an LLM can. Please don't use LLM as a crutch for reading papers---it hinders learning how to read papers quickly.
It is ok to comment on experiments the authors ought to have done.
O What to Do for Each Class (after student presentations start)
Instructions for presentation sessions (discussed in class):
Each Group of Presenters: The two presenters (and scriber) are a team, so work as a team! Your presentation is an offering by both of you together (rather than one individually followed by another) Based on the "Main Papers" (Paper 1 and Paper 2) for your session, prepare a 45 minute presentation and a short list of topics for class discussion. The presentation should cover the "Main Papers" (Paper 1 and Paper 2) marked for that session.
(Important!) Before the Presentation: Email your slides to Indy at least 24 hours before the presentation time (i.e., by 11.00 AM on the day before the class session)! Indy will give you feedback via email.
Preparing for and During the Presentation:
Papers in each session are related by a few common threads. One thread is evident from the topic name of the session. See if you can discover the other common threads as you read along.
Since the papers in each session are related, they will take a short time to present together. Your presentation need not cover everything in every paper, but neither should it be superficial.
Presenters should not write reviews for their session.
Please feel free to improvise on how to structure your presentation. It is suggested that you have (1) a few opening slides where you introduce the basics of the topic (perhaps even repeating basic stuff that has been discussed earlier in the course), (2) then you present the papers themselves, and (3) for each paper, have a slide or two of discussion points.
The goal of your presentation is to initiate and encourage discussion amongst the students about the topic at hand. The more intense the discussion is, the better will be your grade for the presentation.
Each of your presentations will be graded based on 3 criteria: Presentation quality (slides + speaking), Understanding of content (understanding + ability to explain), and Questions/Discussion (ability to answer questions + ability to generate discussion in class).
Remember - during your presentation session, you are the lecturer and you are in charge. So, it is your responsibility to stick to time limits, keep the discussion in line, and keep the discussion positive.
Coordinate with the scriber(s) for your session on questions you would like to bring up for discussion. If there is no scriber for your session, please read the scriber instructions on this page, and follow them for your presented paper.
After the Presentation: After the presentation, within 24 hours: Please email your slides to Indy (both pdf and original/ppt), so that he can post them on the website. Please name your files as ``CS525.SP26.MM.DD.ppt/pptx/pdf'' (where MM is the month like 02, 03, 04; and DD is the date like 01, 13, etc.).
Others (non-presenters/non-scribers): Write a 1 to 2 page review of the TWO of the "Main Papers" for that session (unless otherwise mentioned). Your review should be at most 2 pages total, not per paper (a page is about 400 words). Review should contain brief summary/findings from the "Main Papers" for the session, your comments and criticisms (try to be professional while writing the latter), and any ideas for further work. Post your review on Piazza as a reply to the TAs starter post. Please remember that course ethics rules do not allow you to read/copy others' reviews, or to use LLMs to understand the paper or to generate your review (we will check!). Reviews must be written individually and not in groups.
Although reviews will not be graded, we will give feedback on some selective reviews (either very good ones, or very poor ones). The main purpose of reviews is to start you thinking about the paper(s) critically and creatively. As you read along, it might help to write footnotes about new principles and design techniques that you are learning.
Reviews are due at 5 pm the day before the class. This is a HARD DEADLINE as the scriber needs your reviews to prepare for the discussion. Reviews submitted more than 1 hour after the above deadline elapses will not be counted as submitted.
Note: Some papers may be accessible from only inside the UIUC campus (or UIUC VPN).
Your work (presentations and reviews) should be original and independent. We highly recommend you create your own slides. It is ok to reuse an occassional slide or two-- if you reuse slides from someone else's presentation, please acknowledge them on that slide itself. The standard university policies on original work, cheating and attribution apply to these presentations. LLMs cannot be used, unless explicitly stated (e.g., scribers generate summaries from Piazza posts is the only allowed use of LLMs in this class).
A final note to all: Read ahead not only the main papers but also the Optional papers in each session. As a tip, some of the more interesting topics occur in the second half of the course. Finally, there are many sessions which we are unable to cover due to the limited time - these topics are listed at the bottom of the Course Schedule page, typically prefixed with a "Leftover" tag - these are all great project areas!
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