from Rami Bahsoon reply-to r.bahsoon@cs.bham.ac.uk to msc cs , msc csec , msc ise , msc iss cc teaching-staff@cs.bham.ac.uk, Julie Heathcote , research-staff@cs.bham.ac.uk date Thu, Aug 27, 2009 at 1:37 PM subject [MSc Projects 2009]: Demo format and preparations tips! Dear MSc students, Appended, please find some information about your demos. I am also including some tips, which could be helpful in preparing for your demos. Venue: ******** Expect to meet a team of two academics for 30 minutes. The meetings will be held in the basement labs. Please identify yourself to the team at your allocated slot. Be free to use one of the computers in the lab or bring your own laptop. Meeting structure: ********************* It would be a good idea to follow the below structure (i.e. for guidance only) - You may start with a five minutes Powerpoint presentation (say 3 slides - as a warm up - this will simplify the way you communicate your results). In your presentation, you can highlight the major objectives, motivation, and the major approach/results/achievements/challenges of your project. Please be precise and direct. Rehearse and time your presentation. - Devote another 15 minutes for your project demo. During this time, you will run your demo showing the most important, striking, and challenging features of your system. Prepare for your demo and avoid prompting it - perhaps, you may prepare for an interesting scenario of use that may help the inspectors to comprehend the objectives, the use, and the most interesting features of your system in 15 minutes. Use the analogy of a "sale person", who wishes to attract the attention of the buyer and stimulate her/his appetite to learn more about the product in limited time. Your inspectors will learn more about your approach and results by probing for clarifications during the demo. It is important to get your inspectors excited about your work so they can remember your work while reading your dissertation. Note - inspectors have loads of dissertations to read! Be creative but follow your own style in the way you demonstrate. - 10 minutes: Questions/Answers/demo probing. Note - many inspectors often interrupt and ask questions during your presentation and demo. In case your project has a substantial research element (i.e. if you don't have "classical"product to report), you may then need to spend more time on the presentation but make sure you link your presentation to the relevant implementations and/or results. Speak to your supervisor for guidance. You may present the objectives, motivation, approach, results, comparison to closely related work, and pointers for your future work. Be concise and precise. Rehearse. More about handling questions: ************************************ I found the following online quote interesting on handling difficult questions during a meeting. We all fear questions - fearing is a healthy sign - Don't worry! "...... * If you don't understand the question, ask for clarification. Paraphrase the question in your own words and say, "is this what you mean?" State your assumptions. *Treat vague questions as invitations to tell the examiners that you know your work... Try to link the question to the questions you have anticipated and their stock answers. * If they have a misconception about your work, try to pin it down and explain it. * If you think the question is irrelevant, explain why you think it is irrelevant (it may be that you need to be more broad-minded). * If you really can't answer a question: - Be honest. - If you have any idea at all, say it. - Say, "I can't answer this on the spot, but I should be able to work it out in my own time. - If it's about limitation of your work, thank the examiner and ask for pointers for future work....." The inspecting team wishes you a smooth demonstration, friendly questions, and fruitful completion! Best wishes and good luck, Rami -- --- Dr. Rami Bahsoon Lecturer in Software Engineering School of Computer Science, The University of Birmingham Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~rzb