SCM: Presentation

You will do two presentations over the course of the year, each on a computational cognitive modelling paper. In Semester 1, your paper will be assigned to you. In Semester 2, you will be able to present on a paper of your choice, with instructor approval.

Your Semester 1 presentation will be marked for feedback, but the mark will not count towards your course grade. Your Semester 2 presentation will be marked and will count towards your course grade.

Presentation format

Presentations will be 20 minutes, followed by 5 minutes for audience questions and discussion.

Presentations can use slides and/or the white board.  

• For slides, you may run your presentation off of your own laptop or off of the standard computer in the room. On your presentation day, please plan to arrive a few minutes early so that you have time to test out your equipment before class, including any necessary laptop display connectors, etc.
• If you plan to use the whiteboard, it is your responsibility to make sure that the classroom has a whiteboard and that you have markers that work.

Submitting slides the night before - REQUIRED

You will need to submit a PDF of your slides by 7:00 p.m. the night before your presentation. (It’s ok if animations, videos, etc. don’t show up in the PDF version. You can run your actual presentation using whatever presentation software you prefer.)

We have intentionally set the deadline on the previous night so that you will not be tempted to stay up late working on your slides. On the night before your presentation, one of the most important things you can do to prepare is make sure you get a good night's sleep!

Presentation content

20 minutes is not a long time!  You will NOT be able to cover all of the material in your paper, nor should you try.  Part of good presentation skills is selecting the important content that you want the audience to know, and then building a story around that content.

For computational cognitive modelling papers, important content often includes:

• An introduction to the topic
  • What is the mystery that the authors are trying to solve?
  • Why is this an important mystery?
• An explanation of the proposed theory and model
  • What types of representations and processes are being proposed?
  • What previous alternatives is this theory/model trying to "beat?"
• A discussion of experiments and results
  • What did the experiments consist of?
  • What do results suggest?
  • What are strengths and weaknesses of the methods and findings?
• Your opinions and reactions
  • Were you convinced by this paper?
  • Were there parts of the paper that you disagreed with?
  • If you were doing this research, what would you do next?

Good presentations will also include examples, figures, and diagrams to illustrate important concepts or results.

Marking

Presentations will be marked in five categories.  A more detailed rubric can be found on Learn.

• Content
• Critical thinking
• Organization and storytelling
• Visual effectiveness
• Delivery