How to Ace Your Project Presentation

nyanchera — Fri, 20 Nov 2020 07:47:39 +0000

Microsoft Imagine Cup is some sort of long term hackathon where you get to work on your project ahead of time.
That means at the end you get to present to a panel of judges.
The success of your project has a lot to do with the way you present your idea as much as it does the product itself,
get your point across, what is your product? What problem does it solve? How did you accomplish that?
In simple terms WHAT, WHY, HOW?

You may want to talk about everything that has to do with your project but the time is limited and it, therefore, is important to talk about key features of your project.

Here are some basic pointers on how to ace Your presentation.

PREPARATION

Prepare your presentation ahead of time. Gather resources that you will need to use for your presentation. Such resources may include slides, hardware equipment, software equipment e.t.c.

MOCK PRESENTATIONS

PRACTICE! PRACTICE! PRACTICE! makes PERFECT. It is very important to know where you stand in your presentation. You can achieve this by presenting to other people prior to your main presentation. Microsoft Imagine Cup, Kenya facilitates the mock presentations by giving you a panel you can pitch to for feedback.

DON'T OVERLOAD YOUR PRESENTATION WITH TEXT

You will want to engage your audience and keep them focused on what you are saying. Keep your presentation slides with minimal text that only have keywords.
The use of proper/appropriate graphics makes your presentation more appealing. You should also not be reading off the slides because you may lose your audience's attention.
Don't forget to have your powerpoints reviewed by different people.

USE A DEMO

Using a demo can make your presentation lively as it will grab the audience's and the judges' attention.
Use a demo to show what your product does and the main components that you have completed. Here is where you mention what was used to mention core features.
Prepare your hardware or software before taking the stage.
Hardware can be a live demo or a pre-recorded demo, software can also be live or pre-recorded.

UNDERSTANDABLE

If it is a team project it is fundamental for every team member to have a deep understanding of the project as a whole so as to be able to respond to any questions that the panel of judges may have. Dividing the tasks for the presentation makes the presentation more manageable, for instance, you could have one person doing the presentation while the other two are preparing the demo or just having two people present. In the latter, they need to invest a lot of time practicing together, being keen on the transition from one presenter to the next. If they practice enough and perfect the presentation, It can work well.

A good presentation includes much more than just conveying information. Do not forget important aspects of any presentation such as emphasizing specific words, the tone of your voice, humor, and naturalness.

HOW TO JOIN? WHY IMAGINE CUP ?

nyanchera — Fri, 28 Aug 2020 14:49:47 +0000

With over 2 Million student competitors in over 100 countries, imagine cup is the place where your ideas and solutions come to life.
Do You want to make an impact and get inspired while you are at it?, then Imagine Cup is the place.

It all starts with an idea. "DREAM IT, LIVE IT ,BUILD IT" .
The whole idea is that you come up with a project that is going to make an impact and use technology to implement it.
Projects are generally themed around how technology can solve the world's toughest problems. The competition is global.

HOW TO JOIN
Register here.
After you register you form a team of one to three people, come up with a project idea, use Azure for students to build your solution, and submit it to the online semi-finals.

The key Phases of the Competition are
The regionals

Online Semifinals
In Personal Regional Finals (which might change due to the current state of the world) The World Championship

For the Regional finals and world championship Microsoft gives a mentor to coach the teams with pitches and presentation skills,
an opportunity to learn from the best of the best. If that is not reason enough to register, then I don't know what is.

WHY IMAGINE CUP?

Imagine Cup opens you up to a world of opportunities. A chance to showcase that you participated in your resume, it becomes a talking point with recruiters.
You get to improve if not perfect on your ability to present and pitch. It allows you to practice your presentation skills as you get to pitch to industry professionals (necessarily not tech).
There are also prices to be taken away such as Azure credits, cash prizes, and a mentoring session with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

Check Out these amazing teams for some inspirations
Get Inspired

Charity Nyanchera
Microsoft Learn Student Ambassador

DEV Community: nyanchera

How to Ace Your Project Presentation

HOW TO JOIN? WHY IMAGINE CUP ?