Presentation guidelines

Oral Presentation style

5-minutes presentation time - unless specified, for group presentations
BA Finals:
1 student: 15 minutes presentation (theory + practice) + 10 minutes discussion/feedback
2 students: 17,5 minutes presentation (theory + practice) + 12,5 minutes discussion/feedback (additional 5 min in total)
Present in English or German
Think of your presentation as a performance: try to not learn your text by heart, but rather practice enough that you can present with a natural conversational flow
Start the presentation by reminding briefly the audience what your project is about
Slides are recommended - other formats are possible - please check with us beforehand
If you do use slides, don’t read all the text that is present on the slides, summarize your thoughts
Go to the point, be concise, cut the non-essential parts in your speech
Don’t lose time describing what is presented on the screen (we can understand by looking at the slides)
Respect the time - don’t be afraid by the “short” time - it’s plenty enough if you keep to the essence of your ideas.
If you use these minutes well, you won’t have to rush through what you have to say. Don’t think that all you have to say matters, you can always be more concise.

Slides style

The text should be readable (font minimum at 24 or 36 pt), in a readable colour over a readable background.
Don’t crowd your slides with text - usually keep it to 1 strong idea = 1 slide.
For every statistics, photo, reference, quote, statement (including your own), you need to state the complete source and date in a readable caption.
Be careful of typos in your text

Computer and demo ready

Prior to the start of the class or during the break, test your computer on the room projector & sound if you need it
2 minutes before the current presenter is finishing, be ready to start. Any time that you’ll get your computer ready once it’s your turn, it will be discounted from your overall time. Have your slides ready on screen, do not search for them in a folder.
Be sure your computer is charged, that a screensaver is not running, that apps such as Mail, Flux or other interruptors are not running in the background
Have a backup of your slides on the server in case you get a computer crash
If you present videos or sounds during the presentation, have them embedded in your presentation or make sure the external links are loaded. Limit your video excerpts to 30 seconds or 1 minute at most.

Structure and outline of the final presentation

Whether you're using slides or not, this is the narrative that we recommend for your BA final presentation:

Updated guidelines (updates in bold) (05.06.2020)

First slide should feature: Your Name, Project title, School, Department, Mentors, potential Collaboration partners, Date
Second slide is stating in 1-2 short sentences: your project summary (what is it?) and why it’s ground-breaking
Describe your project a bit further: what are the interactions within the project, how do users experience it? You can present here as well a very short demo of your project if relevant
Background Research / Related Projects: This can pertain to various categories: eg related background in sciences, in history, in art, in design, in technology, in the aesthetics, in the concept, in literature/science-fiction, etc… Pick the most relevant projects and mention how your project extends/pushes the topic further.
Experiments / First Tests
Decision-making process:How did you make the decisions you made? Define the 2-3 key moments in your process.
User-studies (due to pandemic may be limited to self evaluation): Who are your users, how did you involve them and how their input helped you make decisions for your project?
Reflections on the project and contribution to the field
Potential impact & future directions