ELEC/TELE/PHTN 3117:
Electrical Engineering Design
Oral Presentation

Week 12 Seminar: Process
• Absolute quiet in the laboratory!!
• Speak/demonstrate for 10 minutes max
– typically 5 minutes for each team member
– penalties for going over time
• Questions for 2 to 3 minutes
– keep your answers short!!
– marked by myself & lab demonstrators
– marks not necessarily equal for each team member
• Setup & get going in less than 1 minute!

Week 12 Seminar: Equipment
• Portable projector screen
• Overhead and Data projector
– Consider how much you use the data projector, in
view of the strict time limit
– Be prepared to write on the whiteboard, issue
handouts and/or use overhead transparencies in case
of technical difficulties

Week 12 Seminar: Scenario
• Presentation to management
– Summarise important points
– Highlight particularly novel/creative aspects
• Briefly point out any special circuit features, as you see fit
• But, usually no point in showing PCB layout
– Demonstrate prototype
• Briefly discuss performance attributes or specifications
– these might be deduced from testing your prototype
• Remember to tie everything back to user requirements
– Build case to proceed with development
– Even if outcome was not good
• There may be a positive message or ideas for going forward
with a related product. You must have learned something.

Week 12 Seminar: Marking
• Combined Marks
– Technical content (____/4)
– Demonstration effectiveness (____/4)
– Marketing & Decision to Proceed (____/4)
– Within time (____/1)
• Individual Marks
– Communication effectiveness (____/4)
– Demonstrated understanding (____/3)
• Contribution
– Student 1 percentage of combined marks (____%)
– Student 2 percentage of combined marks (____%)
– Student 3 percentage of combined marks (____%)

Spoken Versus Written English
• Speak naturally
– Use ordinary not literary English
– Try to avoid reading your presentation
• Sign-posting
– Order of presentation is important
• Rhetorical questions
– Answer your own questions
• Analogies
– Relate it to what the audience knows

Things to do
• Use overheads or powerpoint
– Diagrams to aid explanation; picture tells a thousand
words
– Keywords: headings to guide your talk
• Practice your talk
– Is it within time?
• Use ~1 slide per 1 to 2 minutes of talking
– Don’t just read it! Talk around the topic on the slide.
– Studies show:
• If audio & visual aids are redundant, communication is less
effective than if you just used one medium.
• More effective only if they are complementary.
• Practice your talk
– To get feedback
– To know what your going to say

Things to do
• Look at and talk to the audience
• Be animated, relax, breathe
• Know the topic very well!!
– Lack of confidence is usually obvious
• Keep explanations clear and brief
– Use examples and analogies
– Do not bore the listener – you have no time to waste
anyway
• Ensure your prototype works!

Things NOT to do
• Don’t put so much on a slide that the audience is
distracted trying to read it all.
– You don’t want to try to put everything you are going
to say on the slide.
• Don’t use such a small font the audience has
trouble reading it!
• Don’t be late for your presentation!

Things NOT to do
• Read from a script
• Go over the allotted time
• Fail to demonstrate your project
• Stand in front of the projector/screen
– Or the marker
• Argue when questions are asked
• Take too long to answer a question
– There are probably more to come; if you don’t have
time to answer them, your mark may hurt