Presentation

Presentation

Presentations in software engineering

• Important in every project phase
  • Marketing to potential clients
  • Reporting progress to senior management
  • Reports and demonstrations to clients
  • Communication with colleagues on dev team
• Important for career growth
  • Unlikely to achieve leadership position if you cannot give decent presentations
• Not everyone is born a great presenter, but everybody can be well-prepared
  • If you are uncomfortable, take every opportunity to gain experience

Presentations in CSC402

• Two required presentations:
  • Midpoint Progress update
  • Final delivery
• Every team member must present a portion of one presentation
  • Less experienced presenters will be more comfortable presenting things they personally worked on
• Audience: your classmates and potentially clients (if they are available)
  • May not be technical (internal projects: client is manager, not developer)
• Course staff will evaluate and provide feedback on presentation contents and technique

Planning for presentations

• Know your purpose, audience, and resources
• What is the presentation meant to achieve?
  • Confirm understanding?
  • Obtain client approval?
  • Propose new feature?
  • Solicit feedback on prototype?
  • Build excitement/buy-in?
  • Request assistance?
  • Report progress?
  • Train users?
• Who must attend the presentation for it to achieve its purpose?
  • Prospective clients?
  • Project management?
  • System users?
  • Other developers?
• How is your presentation constrained?
  • Time available
  • Projector/screen sharing?
  • Internet access?

Time management

• CS402: 25 min for presentation, 10 min for questions
  • Expect interruptions (presentation must serve the audience; is not an end in itself)
• Have an agenda that fulfils the presentation’s purpose
• Rehearse your presentation on the clock!

Remote presentations

• Good audio is essential
  • Make a practice recording with all presenters in their anticipated locations/positions
• Good video needs good lighting
• Client must be able to see all demonstrations and visual aids
  • Screen share
  • Whiteboard/annotations
  • Auxiliary camera
• Beware multiple computers in one room
• In-person presentations preferred (but rooms are hard to book)

Topics

• Topics on agenda should serve purpose of meeting
  • Description of what you have agreed to deliver to your client (shared definition of success)
  • Summary of progress since last presentation/report
  • Unexpected events and risks
  • Overview of remaining plan to complete and deliver project
  • Test plan and test cases
  • Results of user testing
  • Technical hurdles (if client is technical)
• Demonstrations are always welcome
  • Show mock-ups / demonstrations / prototypes before talking about them

CSC402 Topics

• Early-stage topics
  • Confirm agreement on scope and goals “The project will be a success if …”
  • Progress to date “This is our understanding of your requirements…”
  • Mock-ups, prototypes, designs, etc.
  • Schedule and plan “The main risks are…”
  • What has changed since feasibility study?
• Mid-stage topics
  • Demonstration of operational prototype or delivered features
  • Results of user studies

Visual Aids

• Slides
  • Common, but not required (and can be a liability)
  • Keep things simple (purpose is conveying information, not entertainment)
  • Must be legible
• Audience may have poor eyesight, projectors are lower resolution, screens are farther away
• Large fonts (including in figures!) – 20pt minimum
• Dark text on light background
  • Use to facilitate presentation, not as a reference source
• Slides are not controlled documents. Lack version control, hyperlinking
• Handouts
  • Can accommodate more simultaneous detail than a slide
  • Beware potential for distraction
• Distribute handouts ahead of time, or after meeting, or else be explicit about when they should be referenced

Preparations

• Must have a rehearsal
  • Include all demos and visual aids; don’t skip anything
  • Use same laptops as you plan to use later
  • Any unrehearsed changes are a risk – minimize them
  • Time each section
• Plan presenter coordination
  • Option 1: Moderator calls on each presenter
  • Option 2: Each presenter introduces the next
• Test equipment in location if possible
  • Projector connection, network connection, power availability

Presentation behavior

• Presenter (1) should stand; others should sit
• Appoint a recorder
• Briefly introduce each team member
• When asked a question,
  • If presenter knows answer, answer it
  • Presenter may ask another team member to respond
  • Okay to make note and reply later
• Never interrupt your colleagues
  • If you have information to add, raise your hand, allow presenter to decide if/when to call on you

Demonstrations

• Require preparation and practice to be successful
• Technical preparations:
  • Load and configure all software before presentation. Test it, then change nothing
  • If you need test data or accounts, create them in advance
  • If complex commands must be typed, create a cheat sheet or shell script. Ensure they work verbatim
• Prepare a script
  • Include setup, list of examples, task assignments, and cleanup
• Tell audience what they are seeing
  • Production-ready code? Mock-up? Proof-of-concept?

Presentation tips

• Not a lecture!
  • Also not an advertisement
• You are not the audience
  • Try to imagine the client’s perspective
• Not an end in itself
  • Be able to articulate its purpose
• Not a controlled document
  • Should not serve as primary documentation
• Not about showing off
  • Don’t mislead audience or overpromise
• Explain purpose of topics, figures
  • Why should the audience pay attention to this?

Looking ahead: CSC402 final presentation

• Goals
  • Personal & team satisfaction from handing over good work to client
  • Complete course in good style with good grade
  • Clean handover without loose ends
  • A good basis for future involvement with client, team, or project
• Audience interests
  • Client: has invested effort in this project
• Is it ready for production?
• Should they invest more to deploy/maintain it?
• Should this approach be abandoned?
  • Course staff
• What has been accomplished?
• What has been learned?
• Is the client satisfied?
• Are you handing over a maintainable system?

Final presentation components

• Demonstration of operational system
  • Walk through scenario
  • Be honest about gaps, weaknesses
• Presentation
  • Brief review of context, goals
  • Honest summary of achievements and misses
  • Summary of what is being delivered
• Time for discussion
• Must fit within 45 min
  • Cannot walk through everything