The goal of the presentations is to provide a summary of the progress to date in a project, and to give speakers an opportunity to practice speaking before groups. The presentation should last 10 minutes and contain the following elements, depending on the level of progress in the project.
1. An overview of the chemical problem being investigated, including an introduction to the chemical principles and reactions that are fundamental to the laboratory experiment, and a brief description of the expected results.
2. A detailed description of the experimental work carried out in lab or calculationally, including diagram(s) of the apparatus used, a flowchart of the steps followed, etc. Describe problems encountered and how you overcame them.
3. An explanation of the data collected, the general strategy for calculation of results, the significance of the results, and how the results support the conclusions of the experiment.
**The presentation should be rehearsed AT LEAST once beforehand, and should flow smoothly. You may not read the presentation, but notecards are allowed.
**Visual aids (e.g., transparencies or Powerpoint slides) are required for the talk. The general suggestion is to cover a maximum of 1 slide per minute. Five to eight transparencies (or less) should be plenty for these talks. You can either copy a computer-generated document onto a transparency, write directly onto a transparency, or give the presentation electronically. Writing must be easily readable, which usually means large, dark and neat. Individual letters in text should be at least 0.8 cm high. Well-labelled tables, graphs, flowcharts and diagrams are much preferable to paragraphs of text on a transparency.
PLAN AHEAD!! Ask questions if you are having difficulties.
You are encouraged to ask questions at the presentations.