The college season is over and I have more time to stress out about AP Research now. The past few days were pretty rough, but bouncing back is a sign of resilience so here I go. Also I got on the front page of the BASIS August Gazette for April Fool's (ps Rick and Morty Season 3 Episode 1 was leaked April Fools (mini meme of the week))
Anyway the assignment for this week is to discuss ideal PowerPoints. The ideal PowerPoint will guide the listener and clarify abstract concepts with simple slides. The ideal presenter will interact with those slides and explain things concisely. The slides themselves should have a very few amount of words, clear diagrams, and should not distract the reader. In fact the presenter and presentation must be in sync to a T. If there is a slide that is not interacted with, it's useless. My slides have come a long way to the point they are now. Certain slides have reached their perfection, while others are clearly lacking. Currently, I'd say I have 2:1 ratio of perfect to not so perfect slides. I feel really confident about my graph slide because I professionally animated that one.
In comparison to my AP Seminar style presentations, the research presentation focuses on the primary research aspect a lot more than the lit review. As such, fewer sources are discussed in AP Research. The context and purpose of the AP Research style are centered around your primary research, rather than around your argument like AP Seminar. Students are forced to engage with their hands on research.
My rehearsal plan includes memorizing the topics of each slide, and developing transitions to memorize as well, but the rest will be conversational. My strat will be taking those points in my mind and discuss my research with the crowd. Practicing is something I do alone usually because I need to be comfortable with the presentation before I recite it to someone else. I'll do it daily (probably like 2 sessions) before I have it nailed down. Then my next step is to do it blindfolded, or something ridiculous like that to ease my nerves and solidify my knowledge on the topic. To top it all off I'll prob join a research gang prep session and practice my presentation with the boys before I ship it off to the April 14th deadline.
Till next week,
Ashwath
 |
| Me heading into the final two weeks |
Anyway the assignment for this week is to discuss ideal PowerPoints. The ideal PowerPoint will guide the listener and clarify abstract concepts with simple slides. The ideal presenter will interact with those slides and explain things concisely. The slides themselves should have a very few amount of words, clear diagrams, and should not distract the reader. In fact the presenter and presentation must be in sync to a T. If there is a slide that is not interacted with, it's useless. My slides have come a long way to the point they are now. Certain slides have reached their perfection, while others are clearly lacking. Currently, I'd say I have 2:1 ratio of perfect to not so perfect slides. I feel really confident about my graph slide because I professionally animated that one.
In comparison to my AP Seminar style presentations, the research presentation focuses on the primary research aspect a lot more than the lit review. As such, fewer sources are discussed in AP Research. The context and purpose of the AP Research style are centered around your primary research, rather than around your argument like AP Seminar. Students are forced to engage with their hands on research.
My rehearsal plan includes memorizing the topics of each slide, and developing transitions to memorize as well, but the rest will be conversational. My strat will be taking those points in my mind and discuss my research with the crowd. Practicing is something I do alone usually because I need to be comfortable with the presentation before I recite it to someone else. I'll do it daily (probably like 2 sessions) before I have it nailed down. Then my next step is to do it blindfolded, or something ridiculous like that to ease my nerves and solidify my knowledge on the topic. To top it all off I'll prob join a research gang prep session and practice my presentation with the boys before I ship it off to the April 14th deadline.
Till next week,
Ashwath
Hi Ashwath! I’m also relieved that college season is over! Regarding your definition of the ideal PowerPoint, I agree that making it easy for the audience to quickly and fully understand the complex ideas and theories that we have in our presentations is a key priority. However, what do you mean when you say that the slides should not distract the reader? Do you mean that if the audience only pays attention to the slides, and they aren’t fully listening to the presenter, then the audience might not be able to understand to whole argument? Or do you mean that the slides should only expand on what is being said, rather than including everything that is being said by the presenter? I think that, inherently, these two things have different meanings, so you may want to figure out which one is more important to you.
ReplyDeleteRegarding your concerns about the DFI Graphs slide, I have a few suggestions for how you could make it better. After displaying the red and blue axes, when you want to make them disappear, you should have them all disappear at the same time (instead of “on click,” do “with previous”) just so that it is more aesthetically pleasing and so you can get through your slide faster. However, I think that the color-coded areas are really clear, and you did a great job animating this.
I completely agree that fewer sources are discussed in our research presentations, but because of this, there are the oral defense questions that ask about particular sources. I would have these answers nailed down if you don’t touch on your sources too much when explaining the background of your research.
I also love how you are taking a more conversational approach to this presentation, especially since you are dealing with such complex topics. Really interacting with your audience and making it easier for them to understand will benefit you so much. Also, your blindfold idea is ????? I’m so confused. Other than that, I wish you the best of luck in really getting this presentation down!
(347)
Hey Ashwath!
ReplyDeleteI can relate with the whole college thing... At least it's done. I agree with Rema in the sense that I think that making the presentation easily comprehensible is really important. However, I get what you mean when you say that the slides shouldn't be distracting. You don't want the reader to solely focus on the slides, you want them to listen to what you have to say, right? That's definitely important, and I think you've accomplished that, so great job.
I second Rema's comments on the DFI slide. It's pretty fantastic, but having everything disappear at the same time will help out with timings and things like that. Which slides do you specifically think are lacking? Why do you think they are? If you want a second opinion on specifics, I'm happy to help.
I think that you have a good grasp of the differences between Seminar and Research, so great job. I also think that you have a good plan for practicing. I think you're in a pretty good place, and I can't wait to see your final presentation!
Rain Drop. Drop top. It's the king of the washcloths. Lol, sorry for that. I really liked that you emphasized constantly interacting between the script and the slides, and making sure that each slide has a clear purpose and is understandable. And I actually agree with minimizing words. For science presentations, I have found that often times having fewer words and more graphics which you can point to and explain is a lot easier for audiences to follow, and I think you have done a good job of that. I think that on slide 11, you can maybe add a graphic in addition to the database image about the type of data you collected from there. Further, for slide 21, I think the animations are great, but maybe just speed up the timing of them so you don't waste time during your presentation; also, try to stay away from the color yellow, because I feel like that will be hard to read on the projector.
ReplyDeleteI think you hit the bullseye with the differences between a seminar and research presentation: here, you are going to be showing off your actual implementation of research! Lastly, it seems that you really know the best ways to get ready for the presentation. I feel you that sometimes you really just need to go over it a few times alone before practicing in front of anyone else. You got this!!! Almost there!!
I'm really glad to hear that you're focusing on being resilient. I'm proud of your ability to move forward. Also, Carnegie Melon is a ridiculously great school, and no matter where you go, you'll be the wonderful, hilarious person you are.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that you should meet up with some fellow-AP Research people to practice your presentations. I also like the idea of doing something ridiculous like practicing blindfolded. I do have some news to break to you: the CEO of BASIS emailed me directly to tell me he'd be attending your presentation. I'm excited for him to see all of the work you've put into the project thus far, we just have to make sure that it's as polished as possible to fully represent all of the time and effort you've put into the project.