Open Day - Preparation


First, all the best for the open day...you've done your work, now let it work for you!

Remember people are not there primarily to grill you, but out of interest, or politeness : to give you an opportunity to display your work; but of course extreme interest can lead to penetrating questions.

For some it is just an opportunity to quickly learn about something, rather than having to go and read about it themselves.

So relax and enjoy it.


General Comments
Most staff will have enough of their own projects to visit, either as first or second reader, so, if they are not your supervisor or second reader, they may not be able to spend too much time.


Why would people want to talk to you about your project?

However, even if they are not first or second reader, they may talk to you for a variety of reasons:-

- just passing by and said hello and didn't want to be rude, so stopped to talk;

- since many of you have put some effort in, and they were just passing by, they want to give you the opportunity to show the rewards of your effort and interest!

- just to get the general drift of project standards, and to see how well the department, the course, or yourselves have prepared you for the real world;

- they may have a general interest in the area, and it's easier to ask questions and get answers, rather than having to read up about it.

So relax, and don't assume that people are there to give you a grilling, and if they do, it may only indicate an interest, in the topic, or your unique approach to problem solving,


Does open day count towards grades?

In theory, probably not, but in practice probably yes, but only a little; staff allow for variations in presentation which might not represent the full extent of the project. The final report will deal with issues in much greater detail, serving to illustrate the real work of analysis, design and implementation that was done behind the scenes; and open day serves to give a brief overall impression of the project and context for the report.

Obviously, regardless of the grading regulations recommended, or discretionary criteria adopted by individual staff, people naturally form an impression regarding your knowledge and understanding of the topic, your approach, design, application and implementation of the solution, and how it behaves on the day - but the project report should provide a more comprehensive and structured presentation to cater for any shortcomings or glitches in a 'live' presentation, and staff adopt such an approach.

Don't worry if there are a few glitches, that is common and people allow for such.


Suggestion - this in only a suggestion - adopt your own approach.

While some guidelines are useful, don't all follow them mindlessly, or they will all appear monotonously similar. Play to your strengths, if you are a born presenter, then do it verbally and engage the visitor, provided you can maintain the main structure and issues in sequence in your mind; if you are deeply analytical or it is a difficult problem, not all may follow you, so an outline on paper might help.
Staff may be in a hurry, and you want to tell them all you did, in a short time, but it is probably best done in a structured manner.

So I think a short clear outline is helpful:-
- let them see at a glance, whether they want to continue or ask more or not;
- keeps you on track,
- creates a good impression for anyone just passing;

Some choose to use a powerpoint presentation, but apart from the practical difficulties of concurrent project demonstration and outline presentation,
even if you need another machine, such a presentation can be overkill in terms of detail and the viewer having to suffer a strictly sequential order, most of which might be of little or no interest to them, and what is on display at any one time might not do you justice.

Unless your presentation is visually dynamic where computer presentation is desirable, it would seem is preferable to have a 'random access model' of a few pages on the desk, where the visitor can peruse the entire presentation and project at a glance, and focus on points of interest; my preference is for a few pages on the desk, like a poster presentation.

Unlike a lecture, where all need to know, and all the bases need be covered, a one-to-one presentation is just what the visitor needs to know.

I'd say about 3 x A4 sheets are sufficient (of course you can have back-up details for those genuinely interested!):-

page 1 - brief description - for identification and to let the visitor decide if it is of interest and worth pursuing.
- project title,
- Name: surname, first name you'd prefer to be known by visitors. - so they know what to call you ..
- primary focus e.g. type of theory / algorithm / application / technology - keep it brief, more on page 2
- main achievement: problem encountered / solved or contribution made - keep it brief, more on page 3

page 2 overall structure / approach - so the person can see at a glance the overall picture.

This could be a block diagram of the main components of an algorithm, or a software engineering implementation.

You cannot expect a visitor to see in a few seconds, what is obvious to you about your layout and structure of the project after a few months, so It helps the visitor place details in the context of the overall structure.


page 3 main highlights - achievements / problems / future work.

You could also include any analysis, comparison, or critique you have done on your work, to see how well it performs.

This will appear complete, comprehensive and professional.


Perhaps a few bullet points or short explanations/illustratons on each page...
(like overview lecture or sales slides - highlight the main issues without too much detail - they will ask you if they want) 
on each of the :-
- goals, 
- approaches, 
- structure 
- tests, measurements & results,
- conclusions, & future work, or what you've learned and how you would do it again;


But don't overdo it and waste too much time doing a presentation,
time that could be better spent on your project.

There is no way of knowing how the flow will go
- the interactive discussion may take a different track for which you do not have notes.

So while an outline might help keep you on track, don't worry about covering all the bases.


First and second readers will be expected to go into things in a bit more detail, but if there's one way to kill a presentation.... tell someone everything...!

Let them ask, or ask them if they want to hear more.

If there are any unique problems or smart tricks you've used mention them, either on paper or verbally.


You will know more about the details of your project - so need to worry about that, and you can't anticipate every possible question they might ask, so do your 'at a glance outline' and enjoy talking about your project!

All the best and enjoy...!