For Suraya

PowerPoint Slide Presentation

For this project, you will create a PowerPoint slide presentation about a technical topic of your choice. This project will be evaluated as a technical/professional briefing, not as a speech performance. This project requires using PowerPoint slides with marginal comments.

Pick a company that you are interested in. Find out what the company makes or what services it provides. Identify who the important persons are (owners, corporate officers, etc.). The goal of the presentation is to get that company to develop the new product or idea that you have researched. The audience for this are potential investors.

Sculpt this slide show with what facts you would want to present to such an audience. Consider this a separate genre (kind) of report or an enhancement of the written report; in short, do not just duplicate the information that comes from any written report you have read or written about the topic.

This will be evaluated as a professional briefing, not as a speech performance, but some concerns about speech delivery still apply. You will not have to submit a formal script in a separate file of what you would intend to say if you were to present this as an oral presentation; however, at the bottom of each slide, type in a general idea of what you would say about the slide while your audience was viewing the slide. [Example: with this slide I talk about the rising statistics related to macular degeneration] Remember that the primary concern of any PowerPoint briefing is to clarify the topic for the listening audience.

The PowerPoint slide set should be between 15 and 21 slides. In order to upload it to the course web board, file size must be limited. Please keep your file under 9830 KB in size (just slightly larger than the Use & Abuse example). Keeping the background simple will help you do that. It will take several seconds to upload such a large file; please be patient and let the system take the time it needs to upload the file.

The number of slides depends upon the kind(s) and amount of information on them and the amount of PowerPoint delivered information you would need to use to augment each slide. Most professional presenters recommend two to three slides per minute of talk; however, it is okay to use more or fewer per minute if you determine that a different number of slides is more appropriate to your speaking style--and the topic.

The PowerPoint slides should be easy to read, uncluttered, and systematically arranged. Use the guidelines in the text as well and the pointers about PowerPoint slide show “do’s and don’ts” and common PowerPoint performance “malpractice” that is shown in the PowerPoint Use and Abuse slide show which is posted to the course Blackboard’s E-Handouts folder. That presentation, in its original draft, was given by Adam Hoss, at a conference, and he has graciously granted permission for the commentary accompanying it. He is quoted verbatim wherever possible. (His co-presenter at that conference, Sharla Shine, had a different set of slides but they both commented on each other’s slides and agreed upon which sources were the most credible in informing their independent analyses. Some information overlaps with her presentation but those slides are not available at this time. The “guidelines” for use of PowerPoint presentation vary from source to source, so some flexibility is allowed. The important aspect is conveying ideas clearly and concisely. This is one instance in professional writing in which fragments, lists and

streamlined documentation forms are preferred.

You may use APA format for references and list them on the ending slides. Technically all visual aids used in the slides should be documented underneath those aids on the slides where they appear as well, but to save space, we may just rely on the reference list at the end of the slide show for a complete list and skip the source entries under each visual aid imported onto the slides. This is the ONE TIME in the course that http locations may be listed without the more specific pieces that re usually mandatory.

Criteria for evaluation of your PowerPoint presentation include the following:

1. How effective the analysis of the company is

1. How well focused the organization and development are

1. How suitable the language level and usage are for the “listening” audience (the defined target audience)

1. How clearly and effectively the PowerPoint language in the commentary and the language on the slides themselves communicate the ideas

1. How well concrete, specific details are used to support the content

1. How effectively the slides themselves are designed and organized

1. How accurately documentation is provided on the slide for sources when needed

1. How well the slides support and augment the visual components or the argument(s)

1. The inclusion of the list of references for the project in APA format on the closing slides

Note: PowerPoint is the only presentation platform that is acceptable for this project.

Project due date: June 24

Maximum possible score: 150

This will be your “stand alone” piece in the final portfolio. You will not have the opportunity to submit this for feedback and then change it. Use the Ten Hallmarks of Technical writing from the beginning to the semester as a secondary checklist to improve this before you submit it.