Oral Presentations

This handout will review some notes you should remember for your oral presentations.

Submission: Make sure that by your presentation date, you have uploaded your presentation into the appropriate "Presentation" folder in the EEE dropbox. You should upload either a powerpoint file or a PDF.

Title slide: In addition to your presentation title, your title slide should have your name and e-mail address so that students can directly send comments to you (CC-ing me).

Evaluation: We will be grading primarily on your presentation preparation, including the quality of your slides. We will not grade down significantly for speaking style or loudness of voice or oratorical polish, though we do expect that you will try to address your intended audience appropriately. We will not grade down at all for nervousness (though we hope that will abate as the quarter progresses) or English pronunciation or the speaker's personality. We will use the following rubric as a guide:

Performance Element Distinguished (4 pts) Proficient (3 pts) Apprentice (2 pts) Novice (1 pts) Pts
Awareness of Audience
Significantly increases audience understanding and knowledge of topic;

Effectively convinces an audience to recognize the validity of a point of view.

Raises audience understanding and awareness of most points;

Clear point of view, but development or support is inconclusive and incomplete.

Raises audience understanding and knowledge of some points;

Point of view may be clear, but lacks development or support.

Fails to increase audience understanding or knowledge of topic.

Fails to effectively convince the audience.

Strength of Material, Organization
Clear purpose and subject;

Pertinent examples, facts, and/or statistics;

Conclusions/ideas are supported by evidence;

Major ideas summariezed and audience left with full understanding of presenter's position.

Has some success defining purpose and subject;

Some examples, facts, and/or statistics support the subject;

Includes some data or evidence which supports conclusions or ideas;

May need to refine summary or final idea.

Attempts to define purpose and subject;

Weak examples, facts, and/or statistics, which do not adequately support the subject;

Includes very thin data or evidence in support of ideas or conclusions;

Major ideas may need to be summarized or audience is left with vague idea to remember.

Subject and purpose are not clearly defined;

Very weak or no support of subject through use of examples, facts, and/or statistics;

Totally insufficient support for ideas or conclusions. Major ideas left unclear, audience left with no new ideas.

Delivery
Relaxed, self-confident;

Builds trust and holds attention by direct eye contact with all parts of audience;

Fluctuation in volume and inflection help to maintain audience interest and emphasize key points;

Quick recovery from minor mistakes;

Fairly consistent use of direct eye contact with audience;

Satisfactory variation of volume and inflection.

Some tension or indifference apparent;

Occasional but unsustained eye contact with audience;

Uneven volume with little or no inflection.

Nervous tension obvious:

No effort to make eye contact with audience;

Low volume and/or monotonous tone cause audience to disengage.

Student critique: Each student will be required to send an e-mail critiquing one presentation each day of presentations. You will send a mail directly to the student CCing me. You will not report a numerical score, but rather report one positive and negative point about the presentation using the above as a guide.

Performance Element	Distinguished (4 pts)	Proficient (3 pts)	Apprentice (2 pts)	Novice (1 pts)	Pts
Awareness of Audience	Significantly increases audience understanding and knowledge of topic; Effectively convinces an audience to recognize the validity of a point of view.	Raises audience understanding and awareness of most points; Clear point of view, but development or support is inconclusive and incomplete.	Raises audience understanding and knowledge of some points; Point of view may be clear, but lacks development or support.	Fails to increase audience understanding or knowledge of topic. Fails to effectively convince the audience.
Strength of Material, Organization	Clear purpose and subject; Pertinent examples, facts, and/or statistics; Conclusions/ideas are supported by evidence; Major ideas summariezed and audience left with full understanding of presenter's position.	Has some success defining purpose and subject; Some examples, facts, and/or statistics support the subject; Includes some data or evidence which supports conclusions or ideas; May need to refine summary or final idea.	Attempts to define purpose and subject; Weak examples, facts, and/or statistics, which do not adequately support the subject; Includes very thin data or evidence in support of ideas or conclusions; Major ideas may need to be summarized or audience is left with vague idea to remember.	Subject and purpose are not clearly defined; Very weak or no support of subject through use of examples, facts, and/or statistics; Totally insufficient support for ideas or conclusions. Major ideas left unclear, audience left with no new ideas.
Delivery	Relaxed, self-confident; Builds trust and holds attention by direct eye contact with all parts of audience; Fluctuation in volume and inflection help to maintain audience interest and emphasize key points;	Quick recovery from minor mistakes; Fairly consistent use of direct eye contact with audience; Satisfactory variation of volume and inflection.	Some tension or indifference apparent; Occasional but unsustained eye contact with audience; Uneven volume with little or no inflection.	Nervous tension obvious: No effort to make eye contact with audience; Low volume and/or monotonous tone cause audience to disengage.