How to Ace Your Project Presentation

Microsoft Imagine Cup is some sort of long term hackathon where you get to work on your project ahead of time.
That means at the end you get to present to a panel of judges.
The success of your project has a lot to do with the way you present your idea as much as it does the product itself,
get your point across, what is your product? What problem does it solve? How did you accomplish that?
In simple terms WHAT, WHY, HOW?

You may want to talk about everything that has to do with your project but the time is limited and it, therefore, is important to talk about key features of your project.

Here are some basic pointers on how to ace Your presentation.

PREPARATION

Prepare your presentation ahead of time. Gather resources that you will need to use for your presentation. Such resources may include slides, hardware equipment, software equipment e.t.c.

MOCK PRESENTATIONS

PRACTICE! PRACTICE! PRACTICE! makes PERFECT. It is very important to know where you stand in your presentation. You can achieve this by presenting to other people prior to your main presentation. Microsoft Imagine Cup, Kenya facilitates the mock presentations by giving you a panel you can pitch to for feedback.

DON'T OVERLOAD YOUR PRESENTATION WITH TEXT

You will want to engage your audience and keep them focused on what you are saying. Keep your presentation slides with minimal text that only have keywords.
The use of proper/appropriate graphics makes your presentation more appealing. You should also not be reading off the slides because you may lose your audience's attention.
Don't forget to have your powerpoints reviewed by different people.

USE A DEMO

Using a demo can make your presentation lively as it will grab the audience's and the judges' attention.
Use a demo to show what your product does and the main components that you have completed. Here is where you mention what was used to mention core features.
Prepare your hardware or software before taking the stage.
Hardware can be a live demo or a pre-recorded demo, software can also be live or pre-recorded.

UNDERSTANDABLE

If it is a team project it is fundamental for every team member to have a deep understanding of the project as a whole so as to be able to respond to any questions that the panel of judges may have. Dividing the tasks for the presentation makes the presentation more manageable, for instance, you could have one person doing the presentation while the other two are preparing the demo or just having two people present. In the latter, they need to invest a lot of time practicing together, being keen on the transition from one presenter to the next. If they practice enough and perfect the presentation, It can work well.

A good presentation includes much more than just conveying information. Do not forget important aspects of any presentation such as emphasizing specific words, the tone of your voice, humor, and naturalness.