January 23, 2017 PhD in Project Management Colloquium Presentation

Colloquium Presentation
(PhD 801 & PhD 802)

Introduction
The colloquium provides graduate students with an opportunity to present their research in a
conference setting. Students receive feedback from faculty, appointed panels or external
examiner and other graduate students in attendance and have an opportunity to practice their
presentation skills.

The colloquium will consist of brief presentations. Each presenter will have 20 minutes to
present, followed by 10 minutes of discussion. Students are required to submit presentation
slide to Program Coordinator one (1) week prior to the scheduled presentation. The
presentation slide needs to be approved by your supervisor.

Suggested Presentation Format

1. Introduction
Brief introduction to topic area
2. Problem Statement
Focuses on an issue, a problem, a gap in the knowledge in the field.
3. Research Aim & Objectives
Goals and objectives of research (what will the study accomplish) and description of the
relevance of the research (general introduction and overview)
4. Literature Review
Describes the major studies as they relate to your research question or problem and, in
more detail, show how the study fits in the literature and the gap it fills. In other words, the
literature is used to support the PhD Thesis proposal.
5. Research Questions and/or Hypotheses
6. Methods
Describes how the question will be investigated including the methods that will be used and
how they will be used, and what the data sources are.
7. Significant of Study / Contribution
8. Timeline
Outlines the steps that will be taken and provides a timeline for finishing each step.

Organization
 Title- should not be too long and should not contain acronyms that many people may not
be familiar with. It should provide a glimpse into your presentation in a short sentence.
 Your name, affiliation and position, email address
 Outline
 The main body of the presentation. Do not make the slides too crowded. Make the first
couple of slides fairly easy. It will help ease the early nervousness.
 Conclusions

Faculty Of Science, Technology, Enginering & Mathematics (FSTEM) 1

 January 23, 2017 PhD in Project Management Colloquium Presentation

Introduction Advice
 Devote at least 5 minutes of prepared material for the introduction.
 Start from the ‘Big Picture’ and work your way to the specifics of your project.
 In what field of study does your research fall?
 Why is this an interesting and important field of study to advance?
 How does your work advance this field?
 Who will be interested? What technologies might this impact?
 Ease the audience gradually into the technical details of your research. Your goal is to
make your talk interesting and educational. The audience will be very diverse – electrical
engineering, mechanical engineering, physics, chemistry, etc.. Most are not familiar with
your field of study. Avoid jargon.

Delivery Style
 Say a few words to thank the organisers for the opportunity to make a presentation.
 Use computer presentation
 Do not use too many colours or too much technology. Generally, three colours are ideal
 Use graphs and illustrations
 Maintain a level of professionalism. Do not try to be too informal.
 Do not stretch the presentation beyond the allotted time.
 Allow audience time to ask questions. In fact, you should invite questions.
 Talk to the audience, not to the screen

Mannerism
 Dress professionally
 Do not use lazy posture
 Maintain eye contact with all sections of the audience
 Do not show irritation with any question from the audience. Remain polite.
 If you do not know the answer to a question, do not try to pretend that you know it. Say
something like “I have not thought about it”.

Faculty Of Science, Technology, Enginering & Mathematics (FSTEM) 2