CPPA Students Learn Presentation Skills

On March 25, 2009, five CPPA students were pleased to attend the Presentation Skills Workshop as part of the Professional Development course at CPPA. Colleen Condon took students on a whirlwind tour of presentation skills. She provided several opportunities for students to practice their skills in a comfortable and fun setting.

First, we stood up to introduce ourselves, identify our fear of public speaking on a 1-10 scale, and convey a unique piece of information. We then went through the basics of preparing for a presentation: Define an objective (inform, persuade, entertain etc), get organized (who's your audience?, how well does the audience know your topic? what technology will be available?, etc), and develop an outline (a hook to grab attention and establish credibility, a body with 3-5 main points, and a conclusion emphasizing main points and wrapping up).

Colleen then provided some guidelines for the presentation itself. She does not suggest writing a script but does suggest a piece of paper or index card with your main points listed in large font. Practice until you are comfortable, then practice in front of another person or people. Always use your audio or visual aids when practicing.

For Power Point presentations, a good rule is 6 words per line and 6 lines per slide. Font size should be 28-32. And don't use all CAPITAL LETTERS because it's hard to read! Finally, less is more - avoid putting too much information on a single slide. Colleen suggests a rubric she learned from a colleague in medicine: 1 slide about you and your topic, 1 slide with your problem and prediction (the gist of the problem/issue and insights found), 1 slide outlining the presentation (provides predictability, which audiences like), 1-2 slides about the motivation and problem statement, 0-1 slides on related work, 1 slide on methods, 4-6 slides on results (key results and key insights, do not just present numbers - interpret them to give meaning), 1 slide summarizing the presentation, and 0-1 slides on future work.

Colleen then moved into how to connect with your audience. She emphasized storytelling as an essential strategy for connecting with your audience. Then, we each told a 2-minute story! It was fun!

Our next activity centered on body language. Communication is 55% body language, 38% quality, tone and inflection of voice, and 7% the words you use(yep, only 7%!). We practiced varying our voice and using body language to convey a simple point, such as saying the ABC's persuasively, excitedly, or bored. This was also quite fun.

The final segment of the workshop centered on building our confidence further. We reviewed the common traits of good public speakers. They are confident, speak clearly and at a comfortable pace, use humor and personal anecdotes, use peoples' names when they address a smaller group, don't overload the audience with facts and figures, understand the balance between entertaining and providing information, are genuine, and allow their personalities to come through. Our final exercise allowed us to practice everything we had learned. We all did great!

Many thanks to Colleen Condon for her assistance and exhuberance. These notes are summarized from the Power Point she presented.

Navigating the NSF: Grant Writing

On March 25, 2009, Dr. Stu Shulman (Political Science and CPPA Faculty) presented "A Hitchhiker's Guide to Getting NSF Funding". Stu highlighted several principles that have been key to his success. First, you must believe in science! Second, read and highlight the NSF's strategic plan. Get to know the culture of NSF. Third, read and highlight the grant proposal guide - everything through Section II, p. 228. Fourth, build trust at the NSF. Get to know the program manager and ask (yes, ask!) what he or she thinks of a proposal. Fifth, the one-page description of the proposal is very important. It must be a very very unique self-contained description of the proposal. Sixth, the budget is crucial. Many reviewers look at the budget first (and the one-pager second). Sixth, spend space talking about the organization of your project. This shows you have thought through your plan.

Other tips include: Look for key phrases in the grant's description. Use them as subheadings. Tell the NSF about the weaknesses of your proposal. This shows them you have thought through your proposal and it will garner respect. Plan! It takes 6-9 months to write a good grant proposal. If you've never had an NSF grant, try to partner with someone who has. This will really help.

These are some of the points Dr. Shulman covered. We hope this is helpful!

Meeting minutes 3/9/09

Announcements:

• internship panel
• planning another professional development workshop
• Coleen Condon from alumni situation—utilizing online resources provided by UMass to find jobs and internships
• working on CPPA alumni mentoring program with Satu—create a structure with set expectations; creating a database
• Start of intramural soccer: Monday March 30; aiming for Monday and Wednesday games

T-shirt design contest

• sending out email reminder

Constitutional amendment specifying officer election procedures

• term limits
• getting PAGC involved in orientation, important to promote it to newcomers
• will be advertised on website
• change to amendment: students who are planning to graduate the semester following the fall election are ineligible to run for office
  
• passed by unanimous vote

Carrie: diversity committee

• used to be one, would like to have one again
• plans to hold a brainstorming session the week after spring break
• background: existed for a 2 or 3 years previous to this one; worked for diversity/social justice education, student diversity
• concern about appearing confrontational
• faculty has been receptive in the past
• scheduling meeting for Tuesday the 24th from 1-1:20 in dungeon conference room

Motion to table Committee items until later in the week

• 4pm thursday in Mainzer

Oxana: Tapestry Health

• financing issues: might have to close half of their sites
• want us to help with lobbying effort--draw attention to problem
• waiting for response
• Megan will coordinate w/Oxana to meet with Tapestry staff member; Megan has some contacts w/Planned Parenthood

Wrap up: Thanks to Puja, Carrie and Oxana for presenting!