C 4 Oral Project Proposal

Oral Project Proposal (G=0.1)

Prepare the slides for and then deliver a formal, scientific project proposal laying out the rationale and prospects for the bioinspired solution to the problem your group has selected. You are allowed six slides (in addition to the title slide) – the expectation being that you will devote exactly one slide to each of the components of the written problem formuation (C.3.1 – C.3.6). You will be permitted to display an additional prepared detail slide if you both wish to and if you "earn" the right to present it by stimluating a question that this detail slide addresses. However, under all circumstance, you are allowed at most 20 min for your presentation (plus an additional possible 5 min for questions at the end if they arise).

Remarks

You have identified a scientific problem to work on in C.3. You must now convince the potential sponsor (your class peers) to “fund” you to go ahead and carry out the investigation of the hypothesis you have laid out.

Pitching Your Idea to a Sophisticated Audience

This is a “pitch” – an attempt to persuade – but you are pitching to a very sophisticated group of reviewers (your peers) and so your arguments will have to be scientifically convincing. You need to develop a slide show that captures the excitement and social value of the project while keeping enough of the factual scientific motivation in sight that there is no question about the intellectual probity of the ideas.

Crowd Control

Questions are very good – a sign that your audience is engaged. However, questions must be “managed” so they do not derail the timing and coverage of the overall presentation. In particular, note that questions arising during the course of your talk count “against” your 20 minutes. You must aim to be as clear as possible so questions during the presentation are easily “triaged” (brief responses for minor points of clarification; relevant questions requiring broader, longer responses must be “put off” to the end of the talk; questions that are irrelevant or misguided or go far beyond the scope of the presentation must be politely deflected. In contrast, the question period at the end is the “reward” of possible extra “air time” that your presentation may earn for being interesting and generating interesting questions.

Evaluation Rubric

Content of Slides (C.4.a; G=0.5)

C.4.1) Content

All elements of the written problem formulation, C.3.1) – C.3.6), are laid out in telegraphic form on main slides. Supporting details for each element, C.3.1) – C.3.6), are provided on additional slides meant to be used during presentation only when/if audience questions lead to them.

C.4.2) Structure

“Telegraphic” form means bullets with minimal number of words or symbols needed to remind speaker (and cue audience) of a particular idea or concept. The bullets’ outline structure must mirror or represent in some clear manner the logical structure of the ideas.

C.4.3) Notes and Timing Cues

Main slides are organized to keep presentation on focus in allotted time. Speaking notes are prepared that remind presenters what communications goals they have for each slide and how much time will be required for each of the bullets on the slide to achieve each communication goal.

Oral Class Presentation (C.4.b; G=0.5)

C.4.4) Content

Presentation leads audience through brief account of all elements of the written problem formulation, C.3.1) – C.3.6).

C.4.5) Audience Interaction

Questions are solicited, acknowledged and either handled by reference to appropriate detail slide or judiciously deflected as requiring more detail than audience needs to understand the content of the problem statement.

C.4.6) Timing

Presentation fills the time allotted and no more.

C.4.7) Division of Labor

All members of the group participate in some manner and their individual contributions to the group effort are clear to the audience.

Submission=

==Submission of Slides to Class Wiki==
*Mandatory Consultation with EIC-Fellow: 02/15 – 3/01
*Submission of Draft to Class Wiki: 03/01
*Scoring of Mechanics (EIC fellow scores points C.4.1 – C.4.3)
*Scored Draft emailed back: 03/18

Oral Mid-Term Class Presentations

March 1st or 3rd in class