Keeping Up with Capstone Presentations

As a senior, you are required to go to three capstones a day, not including your own, for the entirety of capstone week. I have, so far, completed two days worth of capstone presentations and have also already presented my own.

From what I have seen so far is that the presentations seem to be going extremely fast. With a few exceptions of those that actually filled up their full 10 minutes worth of presenting, everything seems very rushed. I guess that is just from nerves, though. But, what seems to be true for all of them is that not a single presentation lasted the ten minutes of questioning. At the most, I seen a presentation followed by 3 questions, but for the most part, as the presenter asked “Any questions?” the room fell silent. I think this is because the room was always filled with the presenter’s friends who knew everything about their capstone already. Also, a lot of mentors struggled to even come up with questions I guess because of how much they already knew about the project as well.

Advice I can give future presenters about the process based on my experience is that I would highly recommend putting in some time to your slideshow. Set it up in a way in which shows pretty vague slides, leaving you with lots to talk about. Also, spend some time really talking about where the idea came from, what it means to you, and what your initial intentions were. This will really help you fill up your time slot. Also, don’t be nervous. I know that’s easier said than done, but your nerves will cause for you to speak very fast and leave you with lots of leftover time. Just take a breath and slow down. It’ll really benefit your presentation.

Some suggestions to enhance the questioning portion of the presentation is to fill the room with people who know nothing about your capstone. This will leave you with a more engaged audience all throughout the presentation and a lot of great questions at the end. Also, maybe meet with your mentor to help them come up with some questions for you before your presentation.