Presentation Tips

Presentation Tips #

Time Management #

Sticking to the 10-minute total time limit for your team is crucial.

During the prototype presentation (6 minutes presentation + 4 minutes Q&A/feedback), we will be slightly flexible as you get used to the classroom equipment, but please try to stay within the limit to ensure there is time for feedback.

During the final presentation (8 minutes presentation + 2 minutes Q&A), the time limit is strict and exceeding it will result in point deductions.

Preparation before the presentation #

  • Do practice talks: rehearse your entire presentation, including the demo, and time it.
  • Prepare the accounts and data for demonstration; creating accounts on the spot is not a wise usage of the limited time compared to showing more interesting features.
  • Test out your equipment at the classroom beforehand (e.g., 5-10 minutes before the session starts or after other lectures).
  • Right before your presentation, get your demonstration device prepared, e.g., have Android Studio + emulator or phone opened, have the app installed (avoid running gradle build on the spot), have backend services running.

During the presentation #

  • There is a 2-minute buffer between presentations: the previous team can use that time to finalize the remaining Q&As, meanwhile the next team can come to the front of the classroom and setup their equipment.
  • Please speak up loudly so that the audience can hear you clearly.
  • The instructor will give you a hint (e.g., by standing up) when you have 1 minute left in your assigned slot.
  • In case some unexpected issues arise during the presentation (e.g., network failure, third-party services failure) and do not quickly resolve, please try to skip the problematic part and finish the rest of the presentation.

Equipment & Connection #

Below I will describe the standard equipments that you can expect in all University of Waterloo classrooms. While the equipments and connectors are standard, the specific classroom layout may vary, so please do test out your equipments at the classroom beforehand.

Projecting from laptops #

  • The projector in the classroom has an HDMI input, and if your laptop has an HDMI output port, please directly connect them.
  • The instructor will bring a USB-C to HDMI adapter in case you don’t have one.

Projecting from phones #

Using physical Android phones for demonstration is preferable because emulators can be slow. There are several options for projecting your phone screen during the demonstration:

  • (Recommended) Connect your phone to your presentation laptop via USB, then use the Android Studio to mirror your phone screen; this can be done by enabling USB debugging on your phone and clicking the “Mirror Device” button in the “Running Devices” window.

Android Studio Mirror Device

  • Alternatively, you can also use other phone screen mirroring apps (such as Windows Phone Link, or setup video conferencing and share phone screen).

  • There is also a document camera on the podium, which can live stream your demonstrations if you operate your phone under the camera; but note that the camera is optimized for capturing handwritings and not ideal for phone screens (e.g., white text on light green/blue background becomes invisible under the camera).

Audio: microphone & speaker #

  • If your demo involves playing some audio (either from the app or from a member presenting remotely), please make sure to test and adjust the audio volume before the session starts. Sometimes the volume from the classroom speakers can be very low, in that case, try the speaker on your laptop/phone.
  • The classroom does have a microphone, which is usable as long as (hopefully) it is properly charged. Please let the instructor know if you need to use the microphone.

Remote presentation vs. pre-recording #

In-person participation (as presenters and audience) is highly recommended. If you have to miss the presentation due to unforeseen reasons, you can consider joining the presentation online or pre-recording part of your presentation.

  • Remote presentation: please setup video conferencing yourselves; consider using a different laptop than your demonstration device (if using emulator) to avoid latency issues; please also check the reliability of network connection (both in the classroom and at the presenter’s side).
  • Pre-recording: this option is preferable if the network connection is unreliable or the remote presenter won’t be available during the assigned slot.
    • The team member recording the video: keep the recording short so that the entire presentation can be done within the time limit; please record with high microphone volume if possible.
    • Other members playing the recording: please test out the volume before the session starts; be prepared to take over the presentation if the recording fails.