Presentations

ON-SITE PRESENTATION AT SPONSOR

During Week 11, all project teams are required to give an on-site presentation at the Sponsor's facility. This is intended to bring all parties up to speed with the progress of the project and clarify any unanswered questions or ambiguities in the project. Make preparations with your Sponsor at least 3 weeks before your presentation to allow for scheduling of necessary personnel to attend the meeting. You should help decide who should attend the meeting. Think about all the features of your project and how far reaching your results may be. You must eliminate any technical or other unknown obstacles to acceptance of your project solution by the sponsor. Consider inviting personnel such as:

• CEO
• CFO
• CIO
• Engineering
• Manufacturing
• Quality Control
• Maintenance
• Information Technology
• Environmental
• Marketing
• Sales
• Warranty claims
• Field Service
• Distribution
• Shipping
• Receiving
• Line Supervisors
• Setup Personnel
• Tool Room
• Machine Operators
• Human Resources

Because this presentation will immediately follow the 2nd Subgroup presentation, you should have all of your presentation materials prepared in MS PowerPoint. Check with your Sponsor about the presentation equipment at their facility. You may need to prepare transparencies for their overhead projector. Plan for the meeting to last about an hour or so, including your presentation, questions, discussion, etc.

You may decrease the amount of introductory material in your presentation, for obvious reasons, but be clear about the problem statement, objectives, and the remainder of the talk. Feel free to put much more technical detail into your talk than you had time for in your subgroup presentation. Your sponsor will be interested in every bit of detail because they will be the ones implementing your ideas. Keep in mind that the Sponsor wants emphasis on project results, conclusions, prototypes, drawings, and recommendations. Give special emphasis to the economic analysis and clearly show how your recommendations will improve profitability.

Keep in mind that this presentation is scheduled about 4-5 weeks before the end of the semester to give you time to incorporate company feedback into your project.

Make sure you are well rehearsed for your presentation. You should be able to present with no notes or other prompts. Make sure you have a good understanding of the jargon used in your Sponsor's operation.

Remember there is no 15 minute time limit on this presentation, so don't rush through your presentation materials. The sponsor may ask highly detailed questions about project specifics. Allow your sponsor to interact with you during the presentation if they wish, and be prepared to think on your feet. Also, make sure that all of the ideas you present are clearly understood by the sponsor. Because the timing of this presentation is open ended, you will have plenty of time for additional questions and answers. Have several additional slides prepared in your "war-chest" for answering questions. (see Chapter 6)

Ask for complete and candid feedback from the sponsor. Make sure you understand any and all concerns that the sponsor has for the remainder of the project to bring it to completion.

Review "Some Presentation Guidelines" in Chapter 6 and "Common Pitfalls" in Chapter 11 of your handbook.

FINAL ORAL PRESENTATION

The final oral presentation will be held on the date specified on the course calendar. You should plan to devote the entire morning and early afternoon to attending the presentations and the luncheon meeting with your sponsor. Make sure that you invite your sponsor to the presentations and find out how many sponsor personnel will be attending, so we can plan the luncheon properly. Know their arrival time so that you can greet them at the Transportation Building. Remember that your sponsor is your guest for the day; be available to have coffee with them and discuss their interests. Besides giving your own presentation, you are expected to attend and evaluate your colleagues' presentations as well. The only exception is when your sponsor needs to meet you while other presentations are ongoing.

The Final Oral Presentation should be at a level commensurate with that expected of a practicing engineer in industry. This includes high quality visual aids, exhibits, demonstrations, well-rehearsed delivery and proper business dress.

Each team will have 20 minutes to present, followed by 8 minutes of audience questions. The time limit will be adhered to strictly since sponsors want to move from room to room to see other presentations of interest. The oral presentations will be evaluated by all in attendance; this will assist in the determination of your final 494 grade.

Note: a Subgroup Meeting Brief is NOT required for the Final Presentation

Any visual or demonstrative aids may be used. The bulk of your presentation should be prepared through MS PowerPoint. Videotapes of experiments or processes may be used as well. There is also visualization software available to enable graphical depiction from mounds of data. If your presentation has special needs that are not available in the scheduled room, advise GE 494 Chairman in writing as far in advance as possible and then follow up with him to make arrangements for the equipment you need. Check with personnel in 117 TB to obtain additional projectors, extension cords and screens. You may need to speak to Debi Hilligossfor other computer needs.

Review "Some Presentation Guidelines" in Chapter 6. Also review the recordings of your earlier subgroup presentations.

COMMON PITFALLS

• Not practicing your presentation sufficiently so that you do not use your time budget effectively.
• Reading from a card or page instead of speaking to the audience.
• Playing or fumbling with a pointer instead of using it effectively to direct audience attention.
• Failing to give a thorough but brief problem introduction for those in the audience who are completely unfamiliar with your project.
• Passing samples around the room during the presentation. This causes loss of audience attention.
• Trying to show a small or medium-sized object to the audience by holding it up for them to see. Instead, take close-up photos and project your photos on the screen where all can see easily. Use videos if action or movement is important.
• Showing demonstrations that fail due to inadequate preparation.
• Using slides that are too wordy and make the presenter redundant as the audience tries to read every word on the slide.
• Using diagrams that are too busy or fonts that are too small.
• Introducing material to the audience with several slides without integrating that material into the logical flow of the presentation. In other words, wasting time with extraneous information that goes nowhere.
• Showing a critical graph without explaining the axes, legend, and the overall meaning of the graph.
• "Pulling an all-nighter" to prepare the presentation and then attempting to present material and answer questions when in an exhausted, sleep-deprived, brain-dead state. Plan ahead and use your other two subgroup presentations to build your final presentation over a period of time.
• Not speaking loudly or clearly enough for all to hear. This demonstrates a lack of concern for the audience.
• Lacking enthusiasm in your presentation. The audience will have no more enthusiasm about your project than you do. So, fill the room with energy and enthusiasm as you present. Keep in mind that this is your last chance to make a splash as a GE undergraduate. Make your presentation memorable to your sponsor and show that you are excited about the work you have done and the recommendations you are making.
• Trying to make answers to questions long and complex. If the answer is simple, state it. If you don't know the answer, just say so. Don't try to "tap dance" to hide the fact that you don't know.
• Being defensive during the Q&A sessions. The common goal of all should be to bring out concepts that are useful in the solution to the problem. Do not be defensive if a weakness is shown in your arguments. Use this insight to make your solution better.