Project Reviews

Formal project reviews occur at the end of each semester. These are major presentations, typically done on-site at the company. Treat these as serious events and a chance to show off what you have done. The audience should include all the course faculty and as many people from the company as you can, including the heads of whatever division you are working for.

The Fall semester presentation should present progress and where the team is headed for the second half of the development effort. This presentation usually has the effect of showing the company that this is a serious project and a serious team worth paying attention to. That's why it is important that company execs attend. The Spring semester is the final project review where everything is wrapped up.

Content

The review should contain four sections. The first section is an introduction that summarizes the project goals and product opportunity. The next three sections (any order) are to demonsrate technical feasibility (the engineering and design side of the project), market feasibility (market research and evidence that customers want the product), and financial feasibility (evidence that the company can make money on the product).

Logistics and planning

Assign a "party-planner" who will take care of scheduling the presentation, sending invitations (with an RSVP) to all appropriate project stakeholders, and arranging for food. Successful presentations will have 10-20 audience members in addition to the project team.

In scheduling the review, you must work around the other teams. Those who schedule first get first choice of times. Reviews are held during exam period. Schedule at least one month in advance.

**Important** Email the course webmaster with time, date and place of your presentation. Presentations must not overlap and those who schedule first get the best choices. The course schedule on the web will always have the most current information on project review scheduling. A project review is not "officially scheduled" until you see it posted on the web.

Suggestion: Find a two hour slot during exam week that is compatible with company execs and liaisons. Have your liasison make sure the execs are there. Check on the web that the time doesn't conflict with project reviews scheduled by other teams (allow for travel time if other reviews are on the same day), then e-mail the course webmaster with the time, place and driving directions. Hint: early morning slots tend to get many attendees because few have excuses.

Practice your presentation and familiarize yourself with electronic projection equipment in the room you will be using. Be professional. Have your splash screen or title slide up and running as the audience arrives. Nothing worse than spending the first five minutes of your presentation wondering why your laptop isn't compatible with the data projector.

Make copies of overheads for each member of the audience. Copies of the mid-project or final report (preferably on CD-ROM) need only go to key stakeholders, but should be available at the presentation.

Impress the company!