1. Presentation Skills (for Senior Division oral presentations)

2. Overview What to do first Starting a conversation
The Pitch: What to talk about
Target Audiences
Dressing for success
Display Tips
How to practice
Building confidence
What Judges Look For

3. What to do first Make a plan Make sure you understand your project
Write things down
Choose proper attire

4. Starting a conversation
Learn how to start a conversation
Write some opening lines
Practice, practice, practice
Memorize these
Make the opening natural and easy to speak
Make it short and to the point
Introduce yourself, then your project

5. The Pitch: What to talk about
Start with a verbal abstract
Make a list of questions and answers
Provide more detail
Be prepared to discuss any aspect of the project
Not every judge has the same background or interest
Review questions with parents, mentors and teachers

6. Target Audiences Judges Teachers and Mentors Students and Parents
Select award winners
Engineering and scientific backgrounds
Start simple but be prepared to go into depth
Teachers and Mentors
Grade your projects for class
Have followed your progress
Students and Parents
Unfamiliar with project and terms
Simplified explanations

7. Dressing for success Professional attire Use for future interviews
Do not wear
Jeans
Flip flops
Sneakers

8. Display Tips Utilize the entire space 30 inches deep Avoid “Clutter”
48 inches wide
108 inches high (from floor to top of project)
Avoid “Clutter”

9. Display Extras Too much stuff Pictures are better Minimal is good
One item is best

10. Items Not Allowed at Project or in Booth
Living organisms, including plants
Taxidermy specimens or parts
Preserved vertebrate or invertebrate animals
Human or animal food
Human/animal parts (e.g teeth) or body fluids (e.g. blood, urine)
Plant materials (living, dead, or preserved) which are in their raw, unprocessed, or non-manufactured state (Exception: manufactured construction materials used in building the project or display)

11. Items Not Allowed at Project or in Booth
Laboratory/household chemicals including water (Exception: water integral to an enclosed apparatus or water supplied by the Display and Safety Committee)
Poisons, drugs, controlled substances, hazardous substances or devices (e.g. firearms, weapons, ammunition, reloading devices)
Dry ice or other sublimating solids
Sharp items (e.g. syringes, needles, pipettes, knives)
Flames or highly flammable materials
Batteries with open-top cells
Awards, metals, business cards, flags, endorsements and/or acknowledgements (graphic or written)

12. Items Not Allowed at Project or in Booth
Photographs or other visual presentations depicting vertebrate animals in surgical techniques, dissections, necropsies, or other lab procedures
Active Internet or connections as part of displaying or operating the project
Glass or glass objects unless deemed by Display and Safety Committee to be an integral and necessary part of the project (Exception: glass that is an integral part of a commercial product such as a computer screen)

13. Items Not Allowed at Project or in Booth
Any apparatus deemed unsafe by the Scientific Review Committee, the Display and Safety Committee, (or Science Service at INTEL) (e.g. large vacuum tubes or dangerous ray-generating devices, empty tanks that previously contained combustible liquids or gases, pressurized tanks, etc.)

14. Audio/video Presentations I
Designed to augment oral and board presentations
Use AV presentation when explaining related aspect of the project
Types of video presentations
Video clips
Animated sequences
Examples of tools
Powerpoint
Windows Media Player

15. Audio/video Presentations II
Practice answering questions using AV presentation – similar to using your board in the oral presentation
Keep audio aspects to minimum so it does not interrupt oral presentation or neighbors
AV presentation used to show
Video clips that show non-standard procedures or results
Animations that would take too many static images
Very large or small objects

16. How to practice Oral presentation practice must be spoken, not read
Start by speaking to a mirror
Move onto speaking to individuals: parents, teachers, students
Practice in front of a class

17. What Judges Look For
Student’s understanding of the project, its results and techniques employed in experimentation
Quality of research, planning, construction, execution and presentation
How well the student presents the project (Senior division)
How well the board presents the project
What did you learn
Who did the work
Future plans

18. Getting Students Involved
Get students to critique presenters
Students learn how to listen
Students learn how to write evaluations
Write short paragraph summarizing presentation
Grade critiques for extra credit
Is the critique constructive?
Did the critique miss key items presented?
Did the critique point out areas that are unclear?
KISS
Have non-science fair students present on topics of their choice

19. Summary Start with a good project and results Dress for success
Start a conversation –Introduce yourself
Extemporize don’t memorize
Practice, practice, practice
Explain your project as many times as possible to as many people as possible