Suggestions for presentations

First presentation:

• Distribute/display outline for paper
• Teach foundational doctrine
• State your thesis
• Elicit reactions to thesis
• Identify research challenges
• Get research suggestions

Second presentation

• Distribute/display conclusion section of draft paper -- probably not labeled "Conclusion"
• Walk us through your logic
• Provoke an argument, if at all possible

You are not required to use Powerpoint slides for your presentation, but if you do, remember:

• A picture is worth a thousand words; i.e. slides with lots of words are bad; slides with diagrams or relevant pictures are good
• It's very hard to present a slide in less than 3-5 minutes; so a presentation with 30 slides is way too long
• Strike a happy medium between reading a slide verbatim and talking about something complete different from what's said on the slide
• Allow enough time to orient the audience to graphs and diagrams--"What you see here is . . . Along the left side is the Y axis . . ."
• Audio and video is good if it's relevant and not too long
• Resist the temptation to give your whole presentation while showing the introductory slide