Module 6: Week 13 / Soneral – Wyse
Tax Dollars at Work
Supplement 14
Purpose and Introduction
Learning Objective: To assemble a coherent, succinct, and appropriate presentation that convinces an audience to fund BIO399 research proposal
In this presentation, you will have the opportunity to give an “elevator pitch” of your research proposal. The goal is to convince your audience, in as few words as possible to fund your project. You are limited to the format of Pecha Kucha a 6-7-minute presentation that sells your project idea and hooks your audience. In Pecha Kucha format you are limited to 20 slides/20 seconds per slide. Your main objective is to convince your audience (here reviewers from a funding agency) to give you money for your proposal.
Note that this is a slightly different objective compared to that of the 12-minute research presentation in other courses (e.g. BIO499 symposium). Nonetheless excellent slide design and the basic principles of giving a good presentation are still applicable and will be transferable to your future endeavors.
As you take on this assignment, remember that effectively hooking the audience + selling the science = $$$$$ Due in class during Week 15, we will be hosting our own Pecha Kucha “event”. Food and beverages provided!
Instructions
1. Create slides using Powerpoint, Keynote, Prezi, etc. paying careful attention to follow excellent aesthetics. Think visual, not verbal. Set your parameters to automatically advance the slides every 20 seconds.
2. Present live on 12/9 or narrate the slides using one of the following strategies a) Powerpoint – Slide Show – Record Narration, or b) Jing screencast, or c) any other
I love using and highly recommend Jing. It is easy to use, easy to upload the final screencast, and is free for download at http://www.techsmith.com/download/jing/
Required Elements – Content Checklist (45 points total; 3 points each)
Title Slide
_____Names, Departmental Affiliation, Date
_____A descriptive title that clearly describes the relationship between the independent and dependent variable
Background and Significance
_____Hook – answers why should audience listen to you?
_____Sells the idea and the science, convinces the audience of the significance of the research question and proposal
Teaches the audience the science:
_____Provides purposeful scientific facts about the field of study, with up-to-date information about what is currently known about your research topic.
_____Provides background information on any methods needed to answer the research question,
_____Provides a clear description of the significance of the research question, explaining how this experiment will contribute to the scientific community.
_____Provides a specific and well articulated hypothesis and null hypothesis (predicts the influence of the independent variable on the dependent variable)
Experimental Design and Methods
Teaches the audience the science:
_____Provides a clear description of the methods proposed to collect/observe data.
_____Provides a clear description of how the data will be analyzed and displayed.
Sells the idea and the science – convinces the audience that the experiments will give the desired outcomes and are worthy of funding.
_____Provides a plan for relevant controls, sampling and repeated trials, algebraic and statistical treatments
_____Provides a plan for alternative approaches, demonstrates awareness of possible shortcomings of the design
Budget
_____Outlines a realistic cost for the proposed study
References
_____Provides a list of only those references cited within the oral presentation
Style Checklist (30 points total; 3 points each)
Note- for these criteria to make sense, you must listen to the podcasts linked through the Week 11 block, Moodle
Avoids common “presenter mistakes”
_____ Avoids saying too much
_____ Avoids overfilling slides; slides are simple and uncluttered
_____Avoids overloading audience’s short-term memory
_____Avoids jargon that the audience does not understand; and avoids “dumbing down” the presentation
Applies “pearls of presenter wisdom”
_____Uses an adequate amount of visual stimuli
_____All content on slides are visible
_____Overall talk has a “take home message” or “hook”
_____Each slide has a central message or purpose
_____Presentation follows a logical pattern, coherent structure
_____Choice of words is clear and spoken with confidence
Each required element above will be graded using a 3 point system, where:3 pts / Distinguished. Fully synthesized, accurate and complete, with no missing elements or improvements needed.
2 pts / Proficient. Mostly synthesized or accurate with some incomplete elements and/or improvement suggested.
1 pt / Basic. Somewhat synthesized or accurate. Missing important elements and improvements are necessary.
0 pt / Unacceptable. Element(s) are missing or not addressed
75 points total