Project Presentation Grading Rubric (by David Duvenaud and Anthony Bonner)

If you’re not very far along in your project yet, don’t panic! The presentation is about explaining your ideas clearly and concisely, and is only about 4 minutes long (for individual projects). If you don’t yet have results to show, simply explaining what you’re planning to do and why is 100% OK. 

Team projects will be allowed more time to present.  2-person teams may speak for up to 7 minutes, and 3-person teams may speak for up to 9 minutes. It is not essential that each team member speak, but team presentations should have at least 2 speakers (regardless of team size).  Each member in a team will receive the same grade for the presentation.

Because of the large number of projects that need to be presented in a limited time, these time limits will be strictly enforced.

Your presentation should do the following:

1. Motivate and define the problem: 20%
   • What new thing will we be able to or understand do if you succeed?
2. Briefly mention related work: 20%
   • You can leave this till the end, if you like.
3. Explain at least one the main ideas of your project clearly: 20%
   • It’s enjoyable and a good use of time to listen to presentations if they also educate the audience.
4. Show a draft of main figure: 10%
   • Or show some sort of visual representation of the main idea.
5. Explain planned experiments or show results: 20%
   • Try to explain what we might learn from these experiments.
6. Finish under time (4 minutes): 10%
   • I will cut you off at 4 minutes sharp!!

Of course, as with all presentations, your grade will depend not just on the content of the talk (as listed above), but on how well you present it.  This involves a combination of elements, including

• thoughtful slide design,
• careful selection of what to include and exclude,
• strong organization,
• clear explanations,
• good delivery,
• eye contact with the audience,
• and in general, how understandable the presentation is. 

These factors work together, much like in essay writing—while it’s not too difficult to write an average essay, crafting an exceptional one is more of an art that requires attention to many details. 

Please see the additional guidelines given on the course web site for paper presentations.