EFFECTIVE MASTER PROJECT (MP) PRESENTATON FOR ENGINEERING BUSINESS MANAGEMENT STUDENTS By: Abd. Rahman Abdul Rahim UTM Razak School of Engineering and Advanced Technology Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur 1.0 Introduction The purpose of this paper is to give overall guidelines for MP presentation which is compulsory for all students without any exception under any circumstances. If, for some valid reasons the student is not able to do a presentation, then the MP committee will arrange a special session just for the student. Always remember that you are only given 20 minutes to present the work that you have done in one semester. Only highlight the important things during the presentation. The presentation is a formal presentation and it has to be treated as one. The material for presentation must be professionally prepared. If there is model or computer software that the student wants to show, an early and proper arrangement must be made prior to the presentation. The purpose of the presentation is to convey the results of the work carried out and to defend your idea, result, proposal, suggestion and finding. MP presentation is part of the overall evaluation of the MP. For MP I the weightage is 25% and for MP II the weightage is 20%. The MP presentation will test on your presentation skill, communication skill, level of confidence, ability to respond to questions and knowledge of subject matter. 2.0 Physical Appearance Physical appearance is important during the presentation. For male students, the hair must be clean cut, trimmed and short. All facial hair should either be clean shaved or properly trimmed. The dressing must be formal dressing and it should be one level higher than the audience. Ironed long sleeve shirt, tie, polished dark colored shoes and slack with belts should be the attire for the presentation. Plain light colored shirts and dark pants is the preferred color. Adjust the length of the tie so that the bottom of the tie is at your waist or belt. It should not be too long or too short and avoid wearing fancy ties. For ladies, conservative dressing should be observed. Avoid wearing something which is too bright or revealing. Do not color your hair as well. 3.0 Voice and Body Language The voice should be twice as loud as the normal spoken voice. You must speak at steady pace with clear voice. Do not mumble and do not speak too fast. It is better to speak slowly word-by-word so that is easy for the audience to understand. Avoid the use of non words such as laa, maa, apa nama, OK, err, uumph, alright, etc. Use simple words and avoid jargons or clichés. Be specific of the meaning of the words that you use and avoid vagueness. Since you are required to do your presentation in English, you must practice the
pronunciation of certain difficult to ay words. Intonation of your sentences should be appropriate. Louder voice should be used when you are emphasizing something. Use proper body language or gesture in your presentation because this can make your presentation more interesting. The use of hand, head and body posture can help to deliver effective messages. Move around and don t just stay in one place like a statue. Do not block the screen at any time. Use laser pointer to show certain points on the slide. 4.0 Rehearsal A good presentation must be well choreographed. It is normal to rehearse out loud so that you can hear your own voice. It is a good idea to rehearse in front of friends. Do not talk to mirror because during the real presentation, you will not be seeing yourself but other people. After the practice go through mental rehearsal a few more times so that you will be fully prepared. Maintain eye contact with audience at all times. Do not stare at the floor, wall or ceiling. Do not talk to the screen. You must face the audience at all times. Do not read directly from prepared scripts and do not memorize the presentation word by word. Memorizing can be disastrous when you forget certain words or phrases which lead you to forget everything else. Do not pause for too long because the audience is waiting to hear what you want to say. 5.0 Visual Aids and Hand Out The number of slides should be enough to cover the 20 minutes presentation. Too many slides will make your presentation longer than the allocated 20 minutes. Use physical models or mock up model if one is available. Familiar with the visual aids that you will be using in the presentation. Combine texts with diagrams, charts, photos, video clips or animation for a better presentation. Choose appropriate font size and color so that persons sitting at the back can see clearly. Wordings must not be too small. Use sentences which are clear, concise and simple. Do not cramp too much information in one slide. The spelling must be correct because incorrect spelling indicate your sloppiness and poor preparation. If the diagrams or figures are too small you may give handouts to the audience. Another occasion when you can give handouts is when there are too many results and you have time constraint to describe everything. The handouts must be printed in sufficient quantity and legible. 6.0 Time Management The time for the presentation is 20 minutes and another 10 minutes is for Q & A. You must rehearse repeatedly to suit the time. The chairperson for the presentation will not allow you to exceed the 15 minutes as this will interrupt the schedule for other sessions. Highlight only significant results of your work. 7.0 Other Tips Be familiar with the presentation room so that you will be psychologically prepared to face the day. You can have a mental picture of the big day and this will help you relax when the actual presentation come. Come early and never be late. Get enough sleep the night before the presentation and wake up early. You can use checklist to avoid missing anything. Take your breakfast because empty stomach can cause you to faint. It is normal to be nervousness
or have butterfly in your stomach. Take a deep breath and just do it. No person has ever die from doing the presentation. 8.0 Recommended Slides for MP I Presentation The slide number is just to show the flow of the presentation. You can use more than one slide for the topic in the actual presentation. Slide 1 Title of MP, name, supervisor s name Slide 2 Presentation outline or agenda. List in point form the presentation outline in order of presentation. Slide 3 Objectives and scope Objective must be something measurable, what you expect to achieve at the end of the project Scope is the boundary of your work Slide 4 Literature review or theoretical aspect of the project If you have time constraint, it is a good idea to just list all references that you use in the project write up. Slide 5 Methodology Methodology is methods or steps that you apply or use while carrying out the project. It is best to show the methodology in the form of flow chart. Slide 6 Introduction or project background You may want to include the justification, benefits or importance of your project. Slide 7 Data collection Describe briefly the case study company, the survey or the experiment that you want to do. Then proceed with data collection either qualitative or quantitative data. Show tables, charts, design, photograph, survey questionnaire, layout, block diagram, workstation design, operation process flow or any evidence of data collection. Slide 8 Data analysis and problem identification Analyze the data using statistical analysis, bar chart, graphs, QFD, fish bone diagram, FMEA, FTA, risk matrix. Slide 9 Initial proposed solution
You must have at least two initial proposed solutions. You must also described how you come up with the idea. It just does not drop from the sky. Slide 10 Conclusion - repeat the key points Slide 11 Work in MP II - show the Gantt chart for MP II 9.0 Recommended Slides for MP II Presentation Slide 1 Title of MP, name, supervisor s name Slide 2 Presentation outline or agenda. List in point form the presentation outline in order of presentation. Slide 3 Objectives and scope Objective must be something measurable, what you expect to achieve at the end of the project Scope is the boundary of your work The description must be brief without lengthy elaboration. You can alter the objective and scope to suit the final outcome of the project with the advise of your supervisor. Slide 4 Literature review or theoretical aspect of the project Just list all references that you use in the project write up. Slide 5 Methodology Show the methodology flow chart. Slide 6 Introduction or project background Brief introduction to the project. Slide 7 Data collection Brief description of data collection. Highlight the significant one. Slide 8 Data analysis and problem identification Brief description. Slide 9 Proposed solution Describe the proposed solution and use matrix for selection of the final proposed solutions.
Slide 10 Final proposed solution. This slide describes the output of the project computer program, experimental results, design and analysis, fabrication, documentation, mathematical model. Slide 11 Analysis of proposed solutions The proposed solutions must be analyzed in terms of design analysis, failure analysis (e.g. finite element analysis), cost estimation, statistical analysis. Comparison must also be made before and after the proposed solutions. Use graphs, bar charts, simulation results etc for the analysis. Slide 12 Validation How do you validate or verify that your results can actually work? An expert validation can be used. Slide 13 Conclusion Wrap up work in MP I and MP II. Compare objective and results. Slide 14 Recommendation for future works 10.0 Question and Answer Session 10.1 General This is the toughest part of the presentation when you have to face questions for the expert, i.e. the lecturers. Do not panic and answer the questions slowly. Take a deep breath and think. You can refer to your draft report if you are not sure of certain facts. Politely ask the lecturer to repeat the question if you do not understand the question. Do not be too defensive in defending your ideas and openly accept all comments or recommendations. You may need to take notes for certain comments. Do not use any provoking answer and do not bluff if you don t know the answer. Be honest in answering all questions. 10.2 Type of Questions There are generally a few types of questions that can be asked by the lecturers: i) Test this type of question is to test your knowledge. The questioner already knows the answer. ii) Curiosity or inquisitive the questioner genuinely did not know the real answer or have a sketchy idea of the answer and seek your explanation. iii) Clarification this question require you to clarify certain facts that might not be clearly explained during the presentation. iv) Opinion this question seeks your opinion on certain issues. v) Probing / investigative the questioner seeks to investigate certain issues in more details. For example, the questioner may ask you on how do you run the experiments, software or DOE. vi) Leading this type of question will lead the answer to a certain situation. The questioner sometimes wants to lead you to certain important issues.
11.0 Conclusions This paper has discussed general guidelines in MP presentation. The most important tips in any presentation are prepare, prepare and prepare.