Use of Powerpoint in presentation

[KelseyY1540]

I was wondering if power point was often used in the presentations. Are screens or projectors available? What other visual aids have you guys used?

[Lisa Perez]

Originally Posted by KelseyY1540

I was wondering if power point was often used in the presentations. Are screens or projectors available? What other visual aids have you guys used?

From my experience, you just have what's there. Sometimes there are screens and projectors, and sometimes there aren't. Most of the time, many teams just end up bringing in large trifold boards, or pass around pictures (that they've enlarged) as they do the presentation.

[Lil' Lavery]

116 has brought a laptop with a slideshow on it the past few years. We also brought team buttons, pictures, a copy of all of our various award submissions.

[richardp]

The space between the judges and the presenters is a small table they will be on one end and you will be on the other. Don't count on anything being available (like it says in the rules) but realize that the screen on a laptop will do just fine. We have also taken our slide show and some other pictures and a few other things, made copies and lamented them to leave with the judges. The more the merrier.

[lilszek24]

we usually make a scrapbook w/ pictures and quick information or highlights.

-szeker
"oh brother"

[Chris Fultz]

Check the FIRST Awards section of the 2006 book.

Assume there is nothing in the room but chairs and a table.
If you want a powerpoint or video, bring the equipment with you.
Take an extension cord just in case -

[aallen88]

That is basically what is in the room...at least for the NJ Regional. A table, three chairs, three judges in three more chairs, all eating lunch...including BART KAMEN.

Last year we brought pictures, newspaper clippings, and our major prop, which we like to call Slade, that was like the glue to hold together our presentation.

[RoboMom]

If you bring technology, make sure it doesn't take a lot of time to set up. You are given a set amount of time to present. The clock usually starts ticking when you step into the room, not when you are ready to start. Make sure you have a back up plan if for some reason your disk/computer/powerpoint etc doesn't work. This happens. Rooms vary greatly. You will have a plug, a table to set something on. As said, bring an extension cord. The judges will have the chairs. In some locations, judges may be listening to at least 15 presentations. This doesn't leave extra time.

The best advice I can give about the presentation (not the award entry) is practice the presentation to make sure you have the timing down. It is very difficult as a judge to cut someone off in mid-sentence before they even get the main points because they are out of time. But this is what the judges have to do. Judges will ask follow-up questions. The judges understand you will be nervous. But you should not be unprepared. Just like going in for a college or job interview.

You need to figure out what the best way to get your message across in the time allotted. In most cases Judges will have seen your Chairman's entry before the interview. Judges may ask you to leave behind some of your supporting materials, but not always.

New this year: just students in the room to present.

It's hard work being a judge, but it is a real honor to listen to what everyone has accomplished and how proud they are.

Hope this helps. Good luck to all.

[macurtis]

In our experience at the West Michigan Regional and power point, it's just been our computer, us and the judges.
What we do is we provide a folder that has our submission, our presentation, with any additional notes on each slide, and any additional materials to assist the presentation. We try not to make it too over bearing for the judges with text, because there are also people speaking about the slide and about what's on there, generally saying something close to the text that's already on the slide.
The trick, as always, is to keep it within the time limit. While you may be five minutes exactly when you time it, remember that when you go to present in front of people your speech generally tends to speed up, so don't be surprised if you end earlier than you had originally timed it. Last year I had timed our presentation at four minutes and some odd seconds, and it actually turned out to be three minutes and some odd seconds, once we were done presenting. Of course, it didn't help that for some reason last year the judges for CA told us we had ten minutes to present when we had only budgeted for five. Just be ready for anything.

[JC-75]

I was one of the three students who submitted the chairman's presentation at the Trenton regional. We had previously used a laptop just to show the judges our slideshow. However this year we wanted to avoid just having them look at the laptop screen, so we asked for a few details about the room and realized that we could get a good projector that would power on quickly, put it on a chair, and stand up for our presentation.

While it took some pretty detailed pre-planning, it ended up working extremely well and the picture was fine on the wall in the room; it definitely helped to make our job easier. If you can do this, it's effective for displaying a powerpoint slideshow, and in my opinion, a well thought out powerpoint is one of the best ways to present.