# Workflow 06 — The final presentation

**When:** before **Mon, Nov 30 / Wed, Dec 2** (final presentation panels). **Feeds:** the final presentation (15%) and your final revision.

## Goal

Communicate **one clear idea** to a mixed audience under time pressure, then use their questions to improve the project.

| | Final presentation (Nov 30 / Dec 2) |
|---|---|
| Format | Themed panel presentation and Q&A |
| Length | **5 minutes; about 5–7 slides** |
| With a partner | You split the 5 minutes and the slides **equally** |
| What you present | What you found or argued, and what it means |
| Graded? | Yes, 15% (rubric in `docs/polisci158-rubrics.md`) |

## How the panels work

- **The teaching team assigns panels by theme** after the implementation milestone (Nov 15), using what your milestone says your project is about. You'll see your panel and its other projects before the sessions.
- **Each panel ends with a short joint discussion, led by a moderator.** The moderator asks how the projects connect: shared definitions, comparable outcomes, and where they disagree. Be ready to say how your project relates to the others on your panel.

## You produce

- **One-sentence takeaway**: what the audience should remember. It must be a *claim*, not a topic.
- **A hook**: your first 30 seconds. A surprising fact, a concrete case, or a tension your project resolves.
- **A 5–7-slide plan** and a timed rehearsal.
- **Q&A prep**: the 3 most likely questions, one hard question, and your short answers.
- **One link to your panel**: a sentence on how your project connects to, or disagrees with, another project on your panel.

## A 5-minute structure (suggested)

| Slides | Content | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 — The puzzle | Hook, your question, why it matters | ~45 sec |
| 2 — What we know / your argument | The gap, or your mechanism or criteria | ~45 sec |
| 3–4 — What you did | Your design or evidence, as pictures if possible | ~1.5 min |
| 5–6 — What you found | Your key result, and the main limitation | ~1.5 min |
| 7 — What it means | Your takeaway, and who should care | ~30 sec |

That's about 5 minutes with no slack, so cut to 5 slides if you're running long. Plan for about 80% of your time. Everything takes longer live. If you present with a partner, decide who presents which slides, and rehearse the hand-over.

## Steps

1. **You.** Audit what you actually have. Present what's done, and be clear about what's still planned.
2. **You.** Write a first version of your takeaway sentence. If you can't say it in one sentence, the talk isn't focused yet.
3. **With AI.** Test the takeaway and the outline:

   ```
   You are a demanding audience member at a student research panel on AI and politics.
   Here is my one-sentence takeaway, what I've found, and my slide outline.
   1. Tell me whether my takeaway is a claim or a topic.
   2. Suggest 2 alternative takeaways that my results could support, and say which is strongest.
   3. Tell me where the outline spends too long on setup and too little on results.
   4. Suggest one visual per slide that could replace text (a chart, a screenshot, a map, a document).
   ```

4. **You decide.** Settle the takeaway and the slide order.
5. **You.** Build the slides. One idea per slide, few words, large type, and a real visual where you can. AI can help you make charts and figures (for example, by writing the code); the talk itself is yours.
6. **You.** Rehearse with a timer, out loud, twice. Don't read your slides.
7. **With AI.** Practice the Q&A:

   ```
   Here is my takeaway and my speaker notes.
   Ask me the three questions a panel is most likely to ask, one at a time, and react to my answers.
   Then ask me the hardest fair question you can think of.
   ```

   Most panels ask some version of: What about [alternative explanation]? How do you know it isn't [reverse causation / selection / a measurement artifact]? Does this generalize beyond your cases?
8. **You.** Read your panel. Look at the other projects on your panel. Where does yours connect or disagree? Do they define key terms the way you do?

## Check before moving on

- [ ] Your takeaway is one sentence, and it's a claim.
- [ ] About 5–7 slides, 5 minutes, timed in rehearsal (with a partner: split equally).
- [ ] You have short answers ready for three likely questions and one hard one.
- [ ] You can say how your project relates to one other project on your panel.
- [ ] You don't present plans as results.
- [ ] After the panel: you've written down the feedback you received, and what you'll change.

## Common traps

- **Too much setup, not enough results.**
- **Walls of text on slides.**
- **A hook that doesn't lead anywhere.** It has to set up your takeaway.
- **Defensive answers.** When a question is hard: acknowledge it, answer what you can, say what you can't, and move on.
- **An unequal split.** With a partner, both of you present, for about the same time.

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*Format, dates, and panel structure from the POLISCI 158 syllabus (Sessions 18, 19; Project Components and Deadlines), as updated by the instructor on 2026-09-27.*