Presenting your Proposal

Introduction Communication is key to sell the merits of your project Communication skills required – Oral presentations – Written proposals

Oral Presentation

Potential Outline Introduction Knowledge Management – in general Knowledge Management – specific bit Organisation / Experiment What I will measure and how What I think this will tell me Other bits

Oral Presentation: Know your audience Clearly identify the audience’s depth of knowledge – Do not derive semiconductor physics to investment bankers – Do show fundamental understanding of KM to whoever is giving the grades ! Clearly identify the audience’s interests – Your lecturers want to make sure you understand KM – Everyone likes to be entertained!

FOCUS What is the point? Why am I here? – oral presentations For long talk, can lose audience easy – Avoid lengthy text/notation – A picture is worth a thousand words – NOT, a picture with a thousand words Too Many Details for most talks

Focus Remind audience of important points. Detailed Technical figures may be unavoidable in some presentations If a detailed picture is absolutely necessary, emphasize important details visually Conditions Important! T=25C

Organization Easy for audience to lose big picture Get lost in details Useful tip: redisplay the talk outline for each topic Highlight present topic Remind audience the organization of the talk

Organization: Basic Structure Start with Introduction – Motivations – Why is this interesting Provide outline of the talk – Can be redisplayed to show topic progression Background material as needed Your new ideas – New and better ways to do …….ship2ship communications, make $$$$, lose weight, etc Defend your ideas – Examples are helpful Conclusion

Organization Powerpoint Rules – Keep it simple Cut clutter At the most two font families No more than one or two charts or figures per slide – 666 rule 6 words per bullet 6 bullets per page 6 word slides in a row – Be consistent

Organization Powerpoint Sins (Joseph Sommerville, ) – Slide Transitions and Sound Effects – Standard clipart – Presentation templates – Text-Heavy slides – Text and images are too small – Reading the slides – Faith in technology

Organization Powerpoint Sins (Joseph Sommerville, ) – Slide Transitions and Sound Effects – Standard clipart – Presentation templates – Text-Heavy slides – Text and images are too small – Reading the slides – Faith in technology

Faith in Technology If you are showing software working, please do screen captures of it working and have it ready on PPT as a backup Make backups regularly Have a camera with you a lot to take pictures of interesting things – paper-based designs, signs you have hung up around the office, people interacting with your software.

Talk to the audience Obtain and maintain interest – Make eye contact with people in different parts of the room – Practice with your teddy bear collection at home – or Post-its on the wall with eyes to look at

Talk to the audience Obtain and maintain interest – Use examples – “We will build an optical communication network using dense wavelength division multiplexing with polarization division multiplexing to transmit Terabit bandwidth telecommunication signals” – BORING! – “ Doesn’t it drive you nuts when it takes you 20 minutes to download the Lord of the Rings box set torrent ? We will build a network that will download it in 10 seconds using optical fiber! ”

Humour Be appropriate! People are more awake if they’re laughing BUT humour maybe misconstrued as not taking the task seriously

Time Management First rule of presentations – KNOW HOW MUCH TIME YOU HAVE!!! – Nothing irritates an audience more than a presentation that runs long - especially if its boring Keep a watch or clock easily visible Know ahead of time which slides you can skip if you are running long – Skip implementation details – Show results - that’s what impresses people Good rule of thumb - 1 to 2 minutes per slide

Answering Questions Don’t panic if people ask you questions Try an listen to it, and ask for clarification if you are unsure. If you still can’t figure it out, ask them nicely to give you an example please Explain your position clearly, but don’t be argumentative If someone is insisting that you should think about Topic X, they probably have a good reason, so accept their advice and say “I’ll definitely add that in”.

Answering Questions If they point out an area of research that they feel that should be incorporated into your proposal, please – Don’t say “well that’s not relevant because…” – Do say “thank you for that I’ll certainly look into that and see to what extent it can be incorporated into my research.

Answering Questions You will be asked; – “So where’s the KM in this?” So please have an answer ready. First explain what aspect of KM you see this project is covering and then be specific about how it is relevant

Conclusion Oral presentations; – know your audience, – organize and focus, and – talk to your audience.