In-class Presentation Guidelines

Your semester project group should prepare an in-class presentation that highlights the main findings of your report and communicates them to a general audience.

You may deliver the presentation in person or as a prerecorded video.

The allocated time for each group’s presentation including discussion is 15 minutes. Plan for c. 7.5 minutes of presentation followed by 7.5 minutes of class discussion.

Your presentation should contain the following elements:

  1. Introduce your environmental issue and outline the problem
  2. Provide background information so that your classmates, who have worked on something else, understand
    • What is the problem?
    • What causes it?
    • Why does it matter?
  3. Outline the specific research question(s) you addressed
  4. Introduce the data you used in your analysis
  5. Provide three key takeaways from your analysis that are supported by figures and or tables.
    • Explain them and how they are supported by the evidence
    • Discuss how they relate to the problem
  6. Present issues and experiences you had when working with the data.
  7. Discuss additional data sets to be considered or analyses to be conducted if you have had more time.
  8. Provide one conclusion slide.

Your presentation will be evaluated based on:

Presentation Scoring Rubric

  • Presentation Content (50%)
    • Introduction:
      • Outlines problem statement
      • Provides background necessary to understand the importance and motivation for addressing this issue
      • States one or more clear answerable research questions
    • Body:
      • Presentation addresses the deliverables outlined above
      • Group has a scientifically valid argument using the data
      • Addresses the audience at an appropriate level (rigorous, but generally understandable to a scientifically-minded group).
      • Provides answers to posed research questions
      • The talk has a logical structure.
    • Conclusion:
      • Summarizes major points of the talk.
      • Provides audience with take-home messages
  • Delivery (20%)
    • All group members participate in the presentation.
    • The group speaks clearly and at an understandable pace.
    • Well rehearsed (either extemporaneous or scripted presentation).
    • Use of filler words (“umm,” “like,” etc.) does not distract from content delivery
    • Group is within time limits.
  • Quality of Visual Aids (20%)
    • Graphs/figures are clear and understandable.
    • The text is readable and clear.
    • Visuals support the main points of the presentation
    • Appropriate referencing of data that is/was not generated by the presenters
  • Discussion (10%)
    • Speakers respond accurately and appropriately to audience questions and comments.