Presentation Tips - Things to Remember

DO

- keep your presentations between 5-7 minutes
- plan out your presentation both visually and verbally in advance of the review. then do it again. and again...
- provide a verbal outline of your presentation to your reviewers (e.g. first I will give you some background on the project, then I will go through my design process, finally I will …)
- be succinct, yet clear and comprehensive
- face your entire audience, make eye contact with each person from time to time, make sure they are well positioned and that you do not block your work with your body. you should always be facing outward from your work.
- think about how will you walk people through the design and the design decisions that led to the final proposal
- write and rewrite your concept statement regularly
- include site photos if you are working with a physical site
- make clear from the beginning what the current state of the design is. point to it if necessary.
- be aware if the audience is following your pace of presentation
- be honest

DON’T

- jump around too much from drawing to model to drawing during the presentation. know which drawing you will use to describe the various aspects of your proposal
- be self-deprecating -- this makes reviewers uncomfortable
- say things that you don’t believe
- cite your studio instructor. it is your project. you own it.
- say “I was playing with…”
- say “I didn’t want to do ____” or “I wanted this to do ____”
- say “I was playing around with…”
- say “I kinda liked how…
- say “I thought it was fun to play with...”