1. DOE Vehicle Technologies Office Presentation Instructions and Examples
2015 U.S. DOE HYDROGEN and FUEL CELLS PROGRAM and VEHICLE TECHNOLOGIES OFFICE ANNUAL MERIT REVIEW AND PEER EVALUATION MEETING
June 8-12, 2015
DOE Vehicle Technologies Office
DEPLOYMENT PROJECTS
Presentation Instructions and Examples

2. Presentation Due Dates and Delivery Information
Your presentation is due to Alliance Technical Services at by April 10, Please put your Project ID in the Subject Line of your .
If your presentation is too large to , contact Rich Bechtold ) for alternative delivery options. A PowerPoint file (saved as a 2010 file or earlier version) of your presentation is required; a PDF version in addition is helpful but not sufficient by itself.
Reviewers will be receiving your presentation prior to the meeting to supply adequate time to review your material beforehand.

3. Delivery Information (con’t)
Please name your electronic PowerPoint presentation file using the file name supplied to you in your presentation request .
If your presentation includes videos, please submit two versions – one with the videos embedded and one without them. The version without the videos will be used to make the pdf file. You should include images where the videos are in the non-video version. Since presentations with embedded videos are large, we will work with you to get them transmitted to us.
Before sending your file, please do a “save as” – this will minimize the file size.

4. Questions?
Contact:
Rich Bechtold at (443) or
Melissa Laffen at (301)

5. General Instructions

6. VERY IMPORTANT!
Your presentation is public and will be posted to the DOE Vehicle Technologies (VT) Office website. You must include the phrase “This presentation does not contain any proprietary, confidential, or otherwise restricted information” on at least the first slide (you may put on all slides if you wish).
Do not include any proprietary or confidential information. It is your responsibility to ensure that any subcontractor information is not proprietary or confidential.
Your presentation may not include any slide that has “Official Use Only” or “Sensitive” or any similar wording, or information that your organization might construe as being in such categories.

7. VERY IMPORTANT!
Do not use any copyrighted information or graphics or intellectual property – if you use such information, it must be properly attributed. Do not assume subcontractor information may be used without their approval. Do not assume that information or images published on a website can be used without permission. If you use copyrighted graphics (including copyrighted photos), you must provide written permission along with your submitted file for it to be accepted by the DOE for the purposes of the Review. Intellectual property includes copyrighted material, including documents, logos, photos, scripts, software, and videos or animations of any type; trademarks; service marks; patents; and proprietary, or confidential information. Also see the indemnification statement on the next slide.

8. INDEMNIFICATION – do not include in your presentation
By submitting a presentation file to Alliance Technical Services, Inc. for use at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Program and Vehicle Technologies Office Annual Merit Review Meeting, and to be provided as hand-out materials, and posting on the DOE’s website, except for employees of the Federal Government and DOE laboratory managing and operating contractors, the presentation authors and the organizations they represent agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless Alliance Technical Services, Inc., its officers, employees, consultants and subcontractors; the National Renewable Energy Laboratory; the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, Managing and Operating Contractor of the DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory; and the DOE from and against any and all claims, losses, liabilities or expenses which may arise, in whole or in part, from the improper use, misuse, unauthorized use or disclosure, or misrepresentation of any intellectual property claimed by others. Such intellectual property includes copyrighted material, including documents, logos, photos, scripts, software, and videos or animations of any type; trademarks; service marks; patents; and proprietary, or confidential information. Employees of Federal Government agencies and DOE laboratory managing and operating contractors collectively represent and warrant that they have acquired the rights and/or permission for use of all intellectual property, as listed above and claimed by others, that is needed for developing and submitting a presentation file to Alliance Technical Services, Inc. for use at the DOE’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Program and Vehicle Technologies Office Annual Merit Review Meeting, and to be provided as hand-out materials, and posted on the DOE’s website.

9. Preparation Instructions
Oral presenters will be allowed 30 minutes – 20 minutes for the prepared presentation and 10 minutes for questions – time limits will be strictly enforced. Thus, oral presentations should contain a maximum of presented slides.
Except for the time and number of slides requirements, these instructions and examples apply to Poster presentations as well as Oral presentations.
Evaluation and weighting criteria should be considered when planning and organizing your presentation!

10. Preparation Instructions
Poster presentations should use these instructions so that the reviewers have a common basis of comparison to the oral presentations – just bring print-outs of your slides to put on poster boards (except for the Reviewer-Only slides), or you may prepare a large one-sheet poster that includes this information. Note, however, that a regular PowerPoint presentation (saved as a 2010 file or earlier version), with slides sized for viewing on a computer screen, is required to be submitted, even if you plan to present a one-sheet poster.
While oral presentations are time limited, poster presentations are space limited. The poster boards are approximately 4 feet vertical by 8 feet horizontal. Push pins will be provided for you to display your poster.

11. Presentation Files
The PowerPoint file (save as a 2010 file or earlier version) you submit will be used for presentation at the AMR through a PDF interface (minus the Reviewer-Only slides).
All the PowerPoint presentations are converted to PDF files for the reviewers, for the handout DVD, and for posting to the Web.
The PDF files will not include PowerPoint animations or linked videos.

12. Color Choice and Font Size
Use high-contrast, dark colors for both oral and poster presentations. The oral presentation screens are generally as large as the rooms allow. For posters, the rooms used generally do not have strong lighting and light colors will be difficult to see.
The following template slides are a good guide to font sizes that should have good readability.
Do not use proprietary fonts. The pdf conversion process will substitute a similar font, but often with unsatisfactory results.

13. DOE Logo/Seal
Do not use the DOE logo/seal – it is reserved for use by the Secretary

14. Guidelines for Number of Slides
The primary presentation should contain a maximum of presented slides.
You may include up to five technical back-up slides for reference purposes and for the reviewers. They may be presented as time permits or referenced during the Q&A period. These slides must be placed after the primary presentation and separated from the primary presentation using a divider slide titled “Technical Back-Up Slides”.
Except for the time and number of slides requirements, these instructions and examples apply to Poster presentations as well as Oral presentations.
(See next page for further guidelines.)

15. Guidelines for Number of Slides (continued)
Additional slides for reviewers only must be provided in a separate section following back-up slides. There is no limit to the number of reviewer-only slides that may be included, but only essential information should be included so as not to overwhelm the reviewers. A divider slide titled “Reviewer-Only Slides” should be used to separate this section from the technical back-up slides. These slides will be provided to reviewers prior to the AMR but will be deleted from the PowerPoint file that is to be presented during the AMR, as well as from the PDF that will be posted on DOE’s website following the AMR.

16. Evaluation Criteria
Relevance 20%
Project Approach 20%
Project Accomplishments and Progress 40%
Collaboration and Coordination among Project Team 10%
Alternative Fuel Market Expansion and/or Petroleum Reduction Potential 10%
These criteria and weights should be considered when planning and putting together your presentation!

17. (i.e., Project Objectives - Relevance)
Slide Titles
Except for the mandatory Title, Overview, and Summary slides, all slide titles/headings should relate directly to the evaluation criteria!
(i.e., Project Objectives - Relevance)

18. Specific Instructions
The following guidelines provide specific information on mandatory slides and the type of information expected within the criteria guidelines.
Your presentation should include:
the mandatory Title slide
mandatory Overview slide
one or more slides as appropriate for each review criterion
mandatory Summary slide
optional Technical Back-Up slides
optional Reviewer-Only slides
Illustrative example slides follow

19. Mandatory Title Slide
Please format your Title slide per the following slide, appropriately inserting your project title, the name of the principal investigator, the name of the presenter if different from the principal investigator, organization, and project ID# (which will be provided to you by Alliance Technical Services).

20. 2015 DOE Vehicle Technologies Office Review Presentation Template (replace with your title)
P.I. Name (always include)
Presenter Name (if not the P.I.)
Organization
Date
Project ID #
(this will be provided to you)
This presentation does not contain any proprietary, confidential, or otherwise restricted information

21. Mandatory Overview Slide
Please prepare an Overview slide formatted and containing the information per the following slide:
Timeline – focus on fiscal year allocation (please confirm dates with your DOE HQ/NETL manager(s))
Budget (please confirm values with your DOE HQ/NETL manager(s))
Barriers (please list up to 3 technical barriers and technical targets from the VT Office Multi-Year Program Plan addressed by your project to be found at
Team Members

22. Overview Timeline Barriers Budget Team Members Project start date
Project end date
Percent complete (only for projects that are not on-going efforts)
Barriers
Barriers addressed
(List up to 3 technical barriers and technical targets from the VT Program Multi-Year Program Plan addressed by your project (if you do not have them, go to to obtain them))
Budget
Total project funding:
FOA Projects:
DOE share
Contractor share, if applicable
Percentage of Funds Spent to Date
Lab Projects:
Budget Category (Tech/Problem Solving Assistance, Consumer Info, Education and Outreach, Local Coalition Support and Partnership Building, Etc.)
% of Annual Allocation for Budget Category
Recommended time for this slide: <2 min
The purpose of this slide is to provide some context for evaluating your project and especially your accomplishments.
The information in the left column describes the magnitude and timing of the investment in your project. The information in the right column describes the players and the issues that are to be overcome. Note that the example includes the Technical Targets the project is addressing. This is acceptable if it can be done in a concise manner as shown.
For projects that include multiple partners, please discuss the roles of each and how the overall project is being managed.
Team Members
Interactions/ collaborations
Project lead

23. Example 1 - Overview Slide

24. Example 2 - Overview Slide

25. Relevance Relevance counts for 20% of your total project score.
The title of these slides should make it clear that they count toward your project’s relevance!
Information to include:
Objectives: Describe the objective of your project and what you were to achieve in the time period covered by your presentation, i.e., the objective of your work over the past fiscal year (Oct 1 – Sept 30).
Your objectives should make it clear what the relevance of your project is to the VT Office (more information on the VT Office can be found through this Web site and its contained links:
The impact your project has on addressing the barriers identified in the Overview slide and other specific targets and milestones.
Recommended time for Objectives slide(s): 1 min
Purpose: The objectives should describe what you are trying to do, both over the life of the project and during the current project year.
Relevance to the VT Program includes contribution to achievement of specific targets and milestones.
(View the PowerPoint “Notes” page for additional instructions)

26. Example 1 - Relevance Slide

27. Example 2 - Relevance Slide

28. Project Approach
Project Approach counts for 20% of your total project score.
The title of these slides should make it clear that they count toward your project’s Approach!
Describe overall Approach to Deployment of Petroleum Reduction Technologies and Practices, Alternative Fuel Vehicles, Infrastructure and Related Efforts:
Describe what your project is intended to accomplish
Describe the overall approach for your project (phases of work, etc.)
List project objectives, including tasks from your Statement of Project Objectives and/or Annual Operating Plan
Emphasize unique aspects of your work
Describe how your project is integrated with other research or deployment projects within the VT Program and/or other federal agencies (if applicable)
Use simple statements so that others who are not experts in your area can readily understand the explanation of your approach.
Include the planned milestones and go/no-go decisions for FY14 and FY15 and current status toward them, as applicable.
Recommended time for Approach slide(s): 2 min
Purpose: Describe the general approach being used to meet the objectives. Emphasize the unique aspects of the approach, and describe how the approach represents an improvement over past efforts, if applicable.
Unless your objectives include developing instrumentation or test methods, limit the discussion of the instruments being used; save time for discussing the details of the results.
(View the PowerPoint “Notes” page for additional instructions)

29. Example 1 - Approach Slide

30. Example 2 - Approach Slide

31. Template -- Milestones
Include milestones and go/no-go’s for FY14 and FY15, as applicable.

32. Example 1 - Milestone Slide

33. Example 2 - Milestone Slide

34. Example 3 - Milestone Slide

35. Project Accomplishments and Progress
Project Accomplishments and Progress count for 40% of your total project score.
The title of these slides should make it clear that they count toward your project’s accomplishments and progress!
Each slide should include a summary (“Take-Home”) message, especially those that contain data.
Describe the most important accomplishments achieved during this reporting period and their significance (from the project’s last review to date for existing projects, or progress to date for new projects).
Include relevant data to support your accomplishments.
Relate the accomplishments to project milestones, barriers, objectives, and deployment targets!
Benchmark the progress versus FY14 results, if applicable.
Recommended time for the Accomplishments slide(s): min
Purpose: Describe the most important technical accomplishments and results obtained in the last year.
Whenever possible, describe the significance of the accomplishments by relating the results to the appropriate VT targets and milestones from the Multi-Year Program Plan.
(View the PowerPoint “Notes” page for additional instructions)

36. Project Accomplishments and Progress (cont.)
Include no more than 1 slide on previous accomplishments and CLEARLY indicate work previously presented versus new work!
To assist the reviewers evaluating your work, please include bullet comments of the key points on each slide.
Include sufficient slides to explain what was done leading to the project’s accomplishments.
However, please limit your slides to the time you have available – the 20-minute presentation time will be STRICTLY enforced!
Though your presentation will be in color, it is best to choose colors and data symbols that can be easily distinguished in black and white for those reviewers using hardcopies

37. Example 1 - Project Accomplishments Slide

38. Example 2 – Project Accomplishments Slide

39. Example 3 - Project Accomplishments Slide

40. Example 4 - Project Accomplishments Slide

41. Collaboration and Coordination Among Project Team
Collaboration and Coordination with Project Team counts for 10% of your total project score.
The title of these slides should make it clear that they count toward your Collaboration and Coordination Among Project Team!
List your project collaborators, indicating:
Relationship (i.e., prime, sub, etc.)
Industry, university, Federal laboratory, Community stakeholder
Within or outside the VT Program
Extent of the collaboration.
Describe the mix of expertise among team members and its impact on your project
Describe the contact/interaction/coordination/communication among project partners
Describe contact/interaction/coordination/communication with sponsoring VT organization

42. Example - Collaboration Slide

43. Example - Collaboration Slide

44. Example - Collaboration Slide

45. Alternative Fuel Market Expansion and/or Petroleum Reduction Potential
Alternative Fuel Market Expansion and Petroleum Reduction Potential counts for 10% of your total project score.
The title of these slides should make it clear that they count toward your Alternative Fuel Market Expansion and Petroleum Reduction Potential!
Explain what you plan to do during the rest of this year (FY15) and next year (FY16). Provide justification for future plans.
Highlight the key remaining challenges and barriers to meeting the project objectives.
Be as specific as possible; avoid blanket statements.
Highlight how the project has already contributed to a sustainable alternative fuel market, alternative fuel market expansion and/or reduced petroleum dependence in the transportation sector and how it may do so in the future.
If applicable, discuss how your project idea could be replicated in other geographic areas or with other technologies.
Recommended time for this slide: 1 min
Purpose: Describe what will be done in the remainder of this year and in the coming year.
(View the PowerPoint “Notes” page for additional instructions)

46. Example 1 – Alt Fuel Market Expansion and/or Petroleum Reduction Potential Slide

47. Example 2 – Alt Fuel Market Expansion and/or Petroleum Reduction Potential Slide

48. Example 3 – Alt Fuel Market Expansion and/or Petroleum Reduction Potential Slide

49. Mandatory Summary Slide
Summarize the key points you wish the reviewers and the audience to take away from your presentation.

50. Example 1 - Summary Slide

51. Example 2 - Summary Slide

52. Technical Back-Up Slides
(Note: please include this “separator” slide if you are including back-up technical slides (maximum of five technical back-up slides). These back-up technical slides will be available for your presentation and will be included in the DVD and Web PDF files released to the public.)

53. Reviewer-Only Slides
(Note: please include this “separator” slide between those to be presented and the “Reviewer-Only” slides. These slides will be removed from the presentation file and the DVD and Web PDF files.)
Be aware that if you do not submit Reviewer-Only slides, your Merit Review score will likely be reduced.

54. Instructions for Reviewer-Only Slides (Not a template slide – for information purposes only)
The following slides are to be included in your submission for Peer Evaluation purposes, but will not be part of your Oral presentation – they will be provided to reviewers only.
If you have a Poster presentation, submit the Reviewer-Only slides with your presentation to Alliance Technical Services but do not include them in your presented Poster.

55. Publications and Presentations
List any publications and presentations that have resulted from work on this project.
Use at least 12-point font.
Note: This slide is for the use of the Peer Reviewers only – it is not to be presented as part of your Oral or Poster presentation. These Reviewer-Only slides will be included in the copy of your presentation that will be made available to the Reviewers.

56. Example Publication List

57. Critical Assumptions and Issues
Address 3-5 of the critical assumptions and/or problems affecting the outcome of your project. Briefly describe the problem as well as potential solutions, both within and beyond the scope of the project.
Exclude funding issues.
Note: This slide is for the use of the Peer Reviewers only – it is not to be presented as part of your Oral or Poster presentation. These Reviewer-Only slides will be included in the copy of your presentation that will be made available to the Reviewers.

58. Example Critical Assumptions and Issues

59. Example Critical Assumptions and Issues

60. Questions?
Contact:
Rich Bechtold at (443) or
Melissa Laffen at (301)