MA 5: Conference Presentation

In this assignment, you will work to translate the previous assignment (RFP) into a 10-12 minute conference presentation. You will create a PowerPoint presentation and record audio of yourself presenting your PowerPoint.

Sequence of Steps

Step 1: Analyze your situation: gather research, reflect on your style, find conferences

The good thing about your final project for this course is that you are not required to develop any new content or ideas, so the first step is to simply gather all that you completed for the RFP assignment. Then, spend some time reflecting on your presentation style. Are you comfortable speaking extemporaneously? Will you need a script to follow, or just note cards to keep you on track? Presentation technology now allows you to time each slide to keep you on track and to read off of presentation notes right on your screen – will that help you?

Step 2: Outline your talk

Your next step will be to create an outline for your conference presentation. You can do this using a few different methods: you can create the skeleton of your presentation in PowerPoint and jot down some notes on each slide; you can create a storyboard that helps visualize what you want to talk about in each “section” of the talk; or you can create a reverse outline of your RFP and use it as the basis of your talk. Whatever you choose to do, you should make sure that you include an introductory statement introducing your topic and the research questions you aim to answer, briefly go over literature, describe your methods, and conclude with your intended goals of the research, what you hope to accomplish or find. In most conference settings, you would report on your findings and then discuss their implications, but for now, you will end on the significance of the project.

Step 3: Draft your presentation

Now that you have a good idea of how the presentation will look, you can start drafting. Create a PowerPoint and, if necessary, a script to follow. Your PowerPoint should follow CRAP principles of design (contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity) and should be simple, visually engaging, and should only provide bulleted talking points, not an entire script for your talk. Also be sure to include any models, graphs, or figures that are important to your project. Be sure to include the title of your talk, your name, institution, and the presentation information on the title slide of your presentation, as well as a References slide at the end.

Use CRAP Designs for Great Slides

Step 4: Practice and record your presentation

The final step in this project is to record your presentation with your narration. Take some time to practice breathing as you speak, standing in particular ways that make you feel comfortable and confident, and practice your speech a few times before you record.

AUDIENCE

Your audience is the specific conference community that you researched in Step 1. This means that while your presentation will be a translation of the RFP into an oral/visual mode, you will be expected to pay attention to the ways your particular topic speaks in an oral/visual mode.

RUBRIC OBJECTIVES

Rhetorical Awareness – 30 pts.

  • Tailors the presentation to a specific conference and conference theme
  • Considers the specific affordances/constraints of visual/oral modes
  • Demonstrates professionalism in presentation

Content – 25 pts.

  • Translates RFP assignment into visual/oral medium
  • Includes introduction, literature, methods, and concluding statements
  • Uses visuals to demonstrate concepts and figures

Organization & Structure – 25 pts.

  • Dedicates one or two slides to each topic/section
  • Transitions seamlessly from one topic to another

Formatting & Design – 10 pts.

  • Follows CRAP principles of design
  • Uses visuals to engage audience in concepts and figures

Mechanics & Conventions – 10 pts. 

  • Presentation contains few spelling and grammatical errors and no patterns of error
  • Voice is projected well and clear