Project Review tips

This post is mainly aimed at those in academics (mainly students, research scholars). It has some do's and dont's which you should always keep in mind while making a presentation. May come in handy, so read on:

A. General tips:

1. Never, ever blame the software - its just a tool, it does what you want. So the comments like ' software produced this result, i don't know how' are unacceptable.

2. Never, ever try to bluff your way out. If you do not know something, say so.

3. Avoid the use of words like 'maybe', 'etc.' and so on. It conveys an impression that you are not sure of what you are saying.

4. Dress for the occasion and reach the venue well in advance and be prepared to present your presentation at a moments notice. Please keep in mind that the reviewers are busy people and they have better things to do than wait endlessly for you to show up at your own leisure.

5. Always show the ppts to your guide / PI before you come for the project reviews. They will be very busy most of the time, hence, take an appointment well in advance.

6. Don't use flowery language. The reviewers are not going to be impressed just by your language.

7. Avoid confrontations with the reviewers. If you feel that they are wrong, try to convey the correct idea without offending them.

8. Avoid talking too much or too fast. You may end up saying something that you are not sure of, and if the reviewers latch on to that, it could damage all the good work done upto that point.


B. Power point tips:

1. Finish your presentation within the allotted time. You will have to do this if you want to convey a sense of professionalism.

2. The ppts should consist mainly of data, presented in a way, which can be understood at a glance.

3. Avoid long sentences in the ppt.

4. Do not put too much of graphics and special effects in the ppts.

5. Use fonts which are large and easily readable.

6. All the graphs,wherever possible, should have similar scales and must be clearly visible.

7. If you have equations in your ppt, do not copy and paste them, use an equation editor to type it. This makes the ppt look a lot more 'neat'.

8. rehearse your presentation very thoroughly, there should not be a situation during the presentation when two members of the group give two totally different answers to the same question, at the same time.

9. The references should be provided in a separate slide and must follow the standard pattern (eg. IEEE reference style or the one prescribed by the institution).

10. Also make sure that wherever you take materials from a reference material, you acknowledge it on that slide itself.

11. Do not read from the slides.

12. Upload the ppt into a common computer which can then be used for presentation by all the participants. Do this well before the presentation starts. People fumbling about with their pen-drives trying to upload their ppts while they should be actually presenting it, reflects carelessness and unpreparedness.