Demo Day — In Person
Wednesday, September 30, 8:00 to 9:00 PM. Chae Auditorium, Heiser Natural Science Center 114.
Demo Day is when students present their final projects to an audience of their classmates, course staff and guests. It is public and all are welcome.
Presentation Info
Each student must invite at least one guest who lives nearby and is not in the class.
Students present in pairs. Each pair begins in a spot in the classroom, as indicated by numbered cards placed on the tables. We call each spot a “room.” Each student’s room number is listed in the Presentation Info table. Guests find the room their student is in; the numbers are posted.
Presenters keep their laptops open and turned so that everyone around them can see the screen the whole time they are presenting, not just when they are pointing at something.
Everything else in this document applies to both of our Demo Days: In-person and Zoom.
Key request to everyone
ASK LOTS OF QUESTIONS!
Schedule
Every student is in either Group A or Group B, and each room holds one of each. The Presentation Info table reports the assigned Group and room number for each student.
When I give the word, the Group A student presents for about four minutes while the Group B student and the guests ask questions. Then I announce “New Presenter!”
Presenters switch when I ask them to.
Group B then presents while Group A listens and asks questions. Same four minutes, and then I announce “Switch Rooms.” The pair has been together about ten minutes.
That instruction often arrives in the middle of a good discussion. Sadly, we need to keep things moving.
Group A stays put. Group B moves one room up — from room 26 to room 27, for example. The Group B student in the highest room wraps around to the lowest room number. Then it all happens again with a new partner, neither of whom has heard the other present.
After about fifty minutes and four room changes, everyone comes back together. I say a few words. We are done.
Advice for guests
Guests should be flexible. We sometimes have to move a student to another room, or switch someone between Group A and Group B. A guest who cannot find their student should look in the other rooms.
Guests may leave early, once they have seen their student present a time or two. Many parents and grandparents like to watch more than once, and that is encouraged. Guests are also very welcome to visit other students’ rooms, moving whenever they like.
Most importantly: ASK LOTS OF QUESTIONS!
Advice for students
The only thing a student needs is a laptop with Chrome open to their project’s webpage. We don’t use PowerPoint or other nonsense.
Everything should be bigger than it seems it needs to be. The audience includes people older than the presenter, squinting at a screen that is not their own. Test it beforehand.
Students should make sure I know their plans. If a family event keeps a student from Demo Day, tell me as soon as possible — otherwise planning becomes much harder. If a last-minute emergency comes up, email me at dakane@ncf.edu the moment it is known.
The whole thing depends on everyone doing their part, which starts with showing up on time. Students are not only presenting; they are the audience for several classmates. Engaged listening matters. Students should act toward their classmates as they hope their classmates will act toward them.
Most importantly: ASK LOTS OF QUESTIONS!
Presenting
Demo Day is a joyful occasion. A presenter’s nervousness is natural and unwarranted. Everyone in the room wants them to succeed.
Presenters always start on their project’s home page. They give their opening paragraph, then pause to see if anyone has a question. If nobody does, another paragraph on the main graphic, and another pause. Questions are the fun part, but only if there is room left for them.
A good pause uses the “take a sip of water” technique. Stop talking. Imagine reaching for a glass, lifting it, taking a sip, putting it down. Only then is it safe to assume there are no questions.
Some audiences are too shy to ask anything. That is fine, and learning to handle different audiences is part of this course. For a shy audience, a presenter needs five minutes of material ready.
Listening
Listeners let the presenter give an opening paragraph, and perhaps a second one explaining the plot. Then they interrupt and ask a question. It hardly matters what it is. The point is to get a conversation going and to show the guests that questions are welcome.