FMP preparing for your presentation

1. MSc Music Engineering and Production
Final Major Project - Preparing for your Presentation

2. Summary
Summarise your own work into manageable chunks. Take each of your dissertation
sections, from your Introduction right through to your Conclusion and summarise them,
using a sheet of paper. This will make it easier for you to revise.

3. Highlight
Write down who you think are the main players in your research area, identifying in what respect they
are important (make use of one or two particularly memorable quotations). You will look incompetent
if you are unable to talk about authors whom you have cited in your dissertation as key players.

4. Anticipate questions and prepare your answers. Do not panic, because most of the
questions will be straightforward. The examiners are not your enemy– they are
genuinely interested in what you have to say. It is generally not difficult to anticipate
the type of questions you will be asked, although there will always be one or two
from ‘left field’! The questions tend to follow the structure of your dissertation.
Examples of typical questions that crop up again and again are:
Anticipate

5. • Alone
• To a friend/colleague
• Video yourself
• Time yourself
• Evaluate
Preparation

6. • Check out the room if possible
• Test your technical equipment
• Plan/practise any logistical moves
Reconnoitre

7. • Graphics
• Pictures
• Graphs/charts
• Audio
• KNOW YOUR POWERPOINTS
Prepare Visual Aids

8. • Be yourself
• Be enthusiastic
• Speak clearly
• Make eye contact
• Don’t be afraid of physical gestures
• Vary volume and speed
Presentation Style

9. • Adrenalin is good for you
• BREATHE!!
• Slow down and take your time
• Look for physical support
Dealing with Nerves

10. • Interact – converse
• Show conviction
• Inform
• Entertain
• EYE CONTACT!!
Your Audience

11. • In one sentence, what is your work about?
• What led you to do this research?
• Why is this work worth reading?
• Can you explain your research objectives to us?
• You say so-and-so has such-and-such a view. Are you sure about that?
• Who would you say are the main players in your field?
• I don’t agree with your interpretation of so-and-so’s model . . .
• Your references are pretty old. Why haven’t you used more up-to-date sources?
• Explain your procedure for ensuring that your survey was random?
• You cannot claim that your case study is representative, can you?
• Why should we rely on your research?
• You know the people you interviewed, so surely your work is biased?
• Are you really saying that your approach to empirical research is the only way to do research? No
other way counts?
Examples of typical questions that crop up again and again are:

12. • Can you explain to us how you analysed your empirical data?
• Do you think you achieved your research objectives?
• I’m not sure that your conclusions follow from your empirical work . . .
• What would you say are the practical implications of your research?
• Can you elaborate on your recommendations, particularly on how you see them being
implemented?
• What’s good about your work?
• If you had to do this research work again, what would you do differently?
• Why do you think this work deserves a pass?
• So, what would you say is your contribution to knowledge?
• Why should we award you an MSc/MPhil etc.?
Examples of typical questions that crop up again and again are:

13. References
Succeeding with Your Master’s Dissertation
A step-by-step handbook
John Biggam

14. MSc Music Engineering and Production
Final Major Project - Preparing for your Presentation