CIS 610: Frequently Asked Questions on Class Presentation

Q: What should a student present?

A: Every session normally will have 4-5 papers. Your presentation will be better if you do the following:

Start with an overview on all papers for the session.
Key questions to answer here are what problems are being addressed, what main techniques are used, how are you organizing your presentations. Here, your can also add other introductory materials.
Clear description of each paper's work one by one
What problems are being addressed? What are the primary contributions compared to other relevant work? What techniques have you found particularly interesting? Which parts are not easy to understand?
Critique of the research
The description of a paper should be followed by the critique. The presenter will not be the sole person critiquing the works, although s/he may often be the one who has a lot to say. Anyway, the presentation should describe what issues have not been addressed, what issues can be better addressed, and raise several interesting issues for the class to discuss.
Suggest new research issues or topics
Based on the papers that you have learned, suggest something related to those assigned papers that could be interesting research. You can be radical here.

Q: What are the important factors of a good class presentation?

A: Clear organization, logical flow, interesting points, properly and nicely presented graphs and animations, showed enough space for discussion

Q: I don't think I can finish presenting all the materials in the assigned papers. Any suggestions?

A: You should rehearse your presentation at home at least once. Time your presentation. A good presentation should trigger hot discussion, but should not lose its track. Know what's the most important materials to present in case you cannot cover everything.

Q: What should I do before the presentation?

A: First of all, you really should understand all the papers. Second, it is often helpful to send the class a presentation notes beforehand - you feel better when people can understand you better. Third, you should feel free to discuss with me or others about your presentation.

Q: This week I don't need to do a presentation, can I skip reading those assigned papers?

A: Probably not. Everyone should read the assigned papers for the whole week. If the presenter thinks that people can just read two papers for Tuesday and then the rest for Thursday, s/he'd better inform everyone of this. Otherwise, it's recommended to try to finish reading as many of them as possible by Tuesday; you can review them again before Thursday.

Q: I am thinking to present papers totally different from those assigned. Can I do that?

A: Perhaps. You need to talk with me two weeks prior to your presentation.

Q: If I did a bad presentation, will my grade be severely affected?

A: Yes. This class greatly emphasize class presentation and participation.

Q: I don't feel like that I have questions to ask or comments to make, or I am just a little bit shy, will my grade by severely affected?

A: Yes. If you are a quiet person, take 3 second to close your eyes and raise your hand. :) You will be guaranteed a chance to speak up and we are all here for your precious opinions.

Q: It seems we need to pack a lot into our presentation. What should I do, especially I like to trigger "hot" discussions?

A: Don't pack everything of assigned papers into the presentation. Put those that will likely trigger discussion! Of course, you need to present enough (but not way too much) background info so people can understand you.