Realize that this isn’t just any PowerPoint. The grading is based on based practices for presenting research according to technical communication expert Melissa Marshall. Watch her TED talk (about 4 minutes) for the theory, then take the main findings from your research and present it in a concisely worded, visually illustrated PowerPoint that emphasizes the key findings and “so what” behind them.

1. Avoid drowning the slides in bullet points and tons of words–in other words, don’t put everything you would say on the slides.
2. Pare down to essential take-aways and “so-what”s to convey briefly in words on the slides.
3. Explain a bit more in your notes section (that we can read online when we look at your slides, but that usually are never seen by the audience and just referred to by the presenter.)
4. Use visuals like metaphorical images to help get your main points across and make them “stick” for the audience.