Presentations

[scottish]

a what?

[Shar]

https://www.reading.ac.uk/internal/s...sta-vivas.aspx

[scottish]

Kinda yeah

You spoke about your research, like your aim, if there was any other related work, what you done what you used, what happened in the end, what can happen in the future, etc

obviously be dif for non comp people as dissertation will be dif as mine was based on programming

[Kardan]

Urgh, meh. It was mixed really.

I thought I spoke well, a bit fast, but I didn't fumble or anything, and this was without notes. Got feedback saying that I was a bit quick through some slides and that I need to take more time explaining, but I got cut off on my last slide as the 10 minute time limit was up. So clearly I need to cut things, but when I asked what to cut to make it fit within the time limit, I was told that everything was good and that I shouldn't cut anything, just expand more on things.

So not entirely sure how I'm supposed to do that. And about the worst thing happened to me really. I was 7th/9th, and all the previous presentations looked pretty crap, and I knew mine looked good. Because I'm on a Maths degree, we have formulas and all sorts everywhere, and I'm not sure if you've attempted to write formulas in office programs, but it's bloody hard, and this is what the others did. I had a plug in for typesetting formulas perfectly and stuff, so I was happy mine would look good.

For some reason, the Lecturer wanted our powerpoints in .PDF format, not .PPT, because apparently she didn't want to waste time with technical hiccups (which was funny because she spent the first 10 minutes trying to connect her laptop to the projector), so we all converted our powerpoints into a PDF and I emailed mine to the lecturer, but either converting to PDF, or emailing the PDF across must have compressed all my images, so all the images were grainy and not very clear - and because literally my whole presentation was formulas and equations, my whole presentation looked pixelated. FML.

I should point out what I'm doing isn't a viva - my dissertation only takes up 10 credits and half a year, whereas usually the dissertation would take up 20 credits and the full year, I opted to do the half dissertation so I could take another maths module, so therefore, I don't have to do a viva, just a class presentation. A viva in my degree at least, is explaining your report in depth for about half an hour to 3 examiners. That sounds a lot worse.

So I can't really tell you what you need to do, but we did get given these guidelines before everyone started:

1. Content (40% of grade)
 Does the talk cover some important concept without being overloaded?
 Is there a clear trajectory to the concepts in the talk?
 Are the motivations from mathematics and/or applications clear?
 Are the key ideas you cover clearly explained?
 Are they illustrated with simple examples and/or diagrams?
 Is the level of the presentation appropriate?
 Can the speaker answer questions on the material after the presentation?

2. Organization (40% of grade)
 Does the introduction provide a compelling motivation?
 Do the main statements and points of the talk come across as such?
 Is the talk clearly structured around them?
 Is the pace of the presentation good?
 Does the speakerfinish in time?

3. Presentation (20% of grade)
 Is the speaker engaging?
 Are the visual aids prepared well?
 Are the visual aids used well?
 Is the presenter audible?
 Is the presentation smooth?

[Phil]

what do u think of presentations
I enjoy them and I'm great at them but I don't like doing group presentations. It's so unfair on my team! I do nothing until like last minute which stresses out my team but I do it with everything! I did 100% for a module a few hours before it was due and got a Distinction. I'm just like "Oh I have loads of time" and then I'm like "OMG IT'S BEEN SIX WEEKS AND IT'S DUE TOMORROW" but I work best under pressure and I always pull it off.

do u usually sit there/stand with ur notes or can u speak easily without needing to
I have notes but it's just keywords. Like I'd have a number and that'll be enough to remember a whole fact like the amount of people with thyroid disease in a certain area after Chernobyl (not random, I did a presentation on Chernobyl lol)

do u get nervous? people always tell me they're nervous then go up and don't seem it
Not really, I'm on stage a lot so used to being in front of people.

what makes presentations better or worse for u eg going up first, doing it do a small class etc
Only think that makes it worse is when I'm not interested in the topic. The amount of people or if I go first/last doesn't bother me although I do like to get it done with.

should i just not go in and feel guilty even tho they aren't helping me out
No go in and do it, you'll be great! You're going to outshine them and it'll be clear you're the one who has worked flawlessly on the presentation and they've been doing nothing! Hopefully they're dark horses like me!

[Sian]

i never really liked doing the, but honestly i was quite good at them all the same. In 3rd year it was a 10 min presentation on your own though, was not fun. And then I'd do a second year module, and it's only 5 mins, and completely go over.

Can't win with presentations.

[Matt]

Whats a dissertation????

[scottish]

Whats a dissertation????

Thesis or final year project.

[Matt]

Thesis or final year project.

Do all Uni courses do them?

[scottish]

Yes, bachelors masters and doctorate degrees use them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thesis