ME 428 – Design
Design Presentation Guidelines
Revised 25 May 2005

Technical Design Presentation Example

We developed the above pointers for ME 428 technical design reviews.  Note especially the last two slides, which give dos and don'ts and also the grading scheme for these presentations.  You will be gauged by both your instructor and your industry client using these standards.

A few other pointers:

One thing good for our involvement in ME 428 projects is the relationship that is formed between Cal Poly ME and the industry that is sponsoring the project.  Often these projects turn into further work that is good both for our department, the industry, and students involved in this work.  A subtle way to remind the industry of this relationship is to have a Cal Poly logo appear alongside a company logo in the background on your slides.  You can get Cal Poly ME logos from the ME website (just right click on the logo and then perform a "Save Picture As...".  Also, you can use the Technical Design Presentation Example as a template for your presentation slides if you like.

In giving your presentations, each person on your team should share in giving the presentation.  The transitions from one partner to another should be smooth.  Presentations with a fluid format where lab partners are constantly switching into and out of speaking roles are the most impressive presentations.  This gives the presentation an almost conversational nature and encourages the audience to engage in the discussion.  For the transitions to flow smoothly, you need to practice, practice, practice these presentations.

Please, no hats during the presentations.

Use a Q&A slide to end your presentation so that you do not end your presentation with just a big black screen.

Make sure to use a spellchecker on your  presentation slides.  Also, make sure your capitalization is consistent across the presentation.  Use title style (capitalize all important words) or normal style (capitalize on the first word in a bulleted list).  Do not use random capitalization.  Do not put periods at the ends of bulleted items.  Use subscripts if appropriate: M₀ not M0.  Use the abbreviation lb for pounds, not lbf  Industrial people may not even know what lbf is.  Put a space in between numbers and units:  500 lb, not 500lb.

Avoid very busy slides.  The initial reaction of most people to a slide with lots of text and detail on it is "Oh no!"

Do not mention numbers (engineering quantities, cost information, etc.) without putting a slide up with these numbers on it.  Most people cannot remember more than a few numbers at a time.  When you are making comparisons using numbers, they need to be up on a slide.

Speak more loudly than you normally do.  The audience hates having to strain to hear you.

Show your results early.  Your industry sponsor is most interested in what you came up with.  So don't spend a lot of time talking about Gantt charts or PERT charts.  Decision matrices are okay, since they show how you compared options and came up with the one you recommend.  A good picture of your final design is good to have within the first four slides.  Maybe put a Conclusions and Recommendations slide just after the overview slide.

You might want to have a "What we learned" slide.

Include cost data if possible and appropriate (usually it is appropriate).  Remember that the bottom line is what is important to your sponsor.  But your idea of expensive is probably not the same as that of  your sponsor.  Your living on a restricted budget as a student probably makes $50 seem like a lot of money.  For most sponsors, however, such an amount is chickenfeed.

Other items of possible importance would be weight data (especially on airborne or nautical projects) and power consumption data.  Be aware of the parameters of importance to your sponsor and have this information ready for him/her.  It is always nice to include acquisition information for purchasing components that you are recommending.  Include a website URL or a phone number of a company whose product you recommend.  You want your sponsor to be able to acquire the parts needed to build what you design without having to go through a lot of trouble to order it.  Often a bill of materials (BOM) is helpful.  This lists parts, part numbers, vendors, quantities to buy, price per unit, etc.  Contact information for vendors is appropriate (people's names and phone numbers).  The more complete your BOM is, the more your sponsor will appreciate the extra work you did to make acquiring materials easy for him/her.

Please turn in a CD with your design presentation on it when you turn in your final report.

Evaluation of presentation

Your design presentation in industry will be evaluated using the Oral Presentation Evaluation form.  The industry representatives who view your presentation fill out the form and fax it back to the ME Department.