Final Project Presentations

In order to publicly share your Final Projects, each group will give an 15 minute in-class, oral presentation on its research, arguments, deliverables, process, and conclusions (synthesizing and thinking critically about the data/research it has compiled). This presentation is worth 10% of your overall course grade. This is a collaborative grade: all group members will receive the same grade for this assignment, and each member should speak during the presentation. You will be graded on the quality of both your oral presentation and your multimedia presentation (PowerPoint, Prezi, etc.).
Each group’s presentation should be uploaded to Dropbox before class begins on W 12/17.

A few things to keep in mind as you prepare your presentation:
  • Your presentation should present the main points from your research project, including an overview of the project/relevant background info., a discussion/analysis of your data (particularly your local fieldwork), and your conclusions/deliverables/recommendations (they should be presented in detail, with realistic plans for implementation).
  • Since each group only has 15 minutes to present, it will not be able to cover all the details discussed in the Final Project Write-Up (and, of course, in 12-15 pages, this  Report can’t cover all the information groups found in their weeks-long research project). Choosing what details/data/info. to include/exclude and how to present that information in an engaging, concise manner is an important part of the presentation.
  • 15 minutes will go by very quickly, so make sure to practice giving your presentation before the official presentation, and time yourself as you go (I also suggest videoing it, if possible, to see/hear how the presentation comes across to an audience).
  • Your group is responsible for creating an engaging presentation for your classmates, so while you can bring note cards to help you remember certain points, you shouldn’t read directly from your notes/write-up (this will prevent you from making eye contact with your audience).
  • You should dress professionally for your presentation.
  • Each presentation should include some multimedia aspect (using presentation software, such as PowerPoint, Prezi, etc.), which should help your classmates and I to follow along in your discussion. You may want to consider using these slides to: provide bullet points of key talking points, list the data/sources/quotes – with the relevant citations – that you will refer to, provide images/video clip, pose questions for further discussion, etc. You should think back to our readings/discussions on PowerPoint/Prezi earlier in the semester when creating your presentations.
  • Remember to provide a “Works Cited” for the sources (including images, music, etc.) you use within your presentation (this can be your last slide).
  • Refer to Markel, Chapter 21: Making Oral Presentations (pp. 605-633) for more help preparing your presentations. [please e-mail me if you would like to see this material]
  • I am happy to look over your presentation drafts, if you wish, and provide feedback ahead of time. Please schedule a group conference with me if you wish to do so.
All five groups will present during our last class, on Wednesday, 12/17. I will announce the order of the presentations at the beginning of class. All groups should make sure to have their presentations loaded/open on the main classroom computer before class begins, as we will have to move quickly from one presentation to the next. Any group that does not have its presentation ready to go on the main computer a few minutes before class begins will receive no credit for the presentation. Therefore, all groups/students should arrive to class early to load their presentations.
*We will also have a little end-of-the-semester party that day (yay!) I will bring in some goodies for the class, and I encourage you to do the same (you should bring enough for 18 people). You can leave a “comment” at the bottom of the page stating what you will bring in (drinks, chips, cookies, etc. … things like paper plates, napkins, cups are good too!), so we don’t overlap too much with what we chose to bring.