Team 1 + Week 18

All we have left is our final presentation and I think I’m getting teary!  Maybe you guys are excited to get back to having a free Thursday night to stay out late, eat Taco Bell, and not worry about those mentors continually asking you where you think you want to move the column grid.  But, we’re certainly going to miss spending ACE meetings with all of you!  I should probably move on before my keyboard becomes unusable due to water damage from my tears.

But, it’s not goodbye just quite yet!  We spent a lot of time last meeting working on our verbal presentation skills and everyone is sounding really good.  I know it seems like talking for a minute is about the same as talking for forever, but if you speak slowly and clearly, it won’t seem like hardly anytime at all…unless you’re like me, and you totally black out from nervousness of talking in front of a crowd of like 2 people.  A couple good pointers to ensure a good minute-long, successful presentation:

1. Introduce yourself – pretty sure most people in the audience have no clue who you are – also this eats up like 5-10 seconds of presentation time 🙂
2. Talk about this project like you’re talking to a 3^rd grader – I mean, maybe not literally, but my college professor would say this a lot.  You’re presenting to a bunch of people who have no clue what you’ve been doing at ACE all year, so you can’t start talking and expect they know all the details – start with basics and elaborate from there.
3. Talk about what YOU learned – not only does this highlight what YOU did as part of the presentation, but then tie it back to how it helped the project as a whole.
4. You can add humor! – I mean maybe don’t start off with a knock-knock joke or a tap dance, but adding a little humor makes for a likable presenter.
5. Notecards – having something written out is great to keep on track, and even better if you totally freak out and can’t remember why you’re on stage to begin with.
6. Practice, practice, practice – if you don’t practice at home before the big day, you’ll likely fold like a lawn chair.  You don’t have to have a presentation totally memorized – but if you know vaguely what you’re going to say, you’ll have a much easier time spewing off information when you realize you’re talking to a hundred people, and not just your pet hamster.

Information for the –>Final Presentation!!

 FINAL PRESENTATION Meeting:

Wednesday, April 2

UIC Forum @ 725 W. Roosevelt Road, Chicago IL

Time 6:00-8:30