APSC 400: Technology, Engineering and Management (TEAM)

Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE)

Confirmed Date - March 7th

APSC400 receives funding from Ontario Centres of Excellence through the Connections Program. As part of this program, students will present a mid-term presentation about their projects, attended by OCE representatives.

Selected projects will be invited to partake in the Connections Competition at Discovery 2012 (more details)

OCE presentations are scheduled per below. All presentations will be in room dupuis 312 (to be confirmed). Please invite your advisor to attend your presentation if they can make it.

OCE Logo for use in your slides (link) - display prominently. TEAM logo is available from the useful documents page.

OCE Presentation Schedule

Mar 7th

3:30 – Provident Energy (OPA)

4:00 - OPG Turbine (OPA)

4:30 – Project A *

5:00 – Project B *

5:30 – Project C *

5:25 - finish

Regular scheduled group meetings during the times above will be rescheduled.

*I will annouce who the three teams are via email at 3pm on the 7th . I’m sorry that this will be late notice, but it’s due to the very tight schedule we’re tyring to fit everyone into. It’s the best we could do.

OCE Presentation Details

The meeting with the representatives of OCE will consist of a presentation (10 , plus 5 minutes for questions) on your part and a question and answer period. You're presentation will be considered for the OCE competition. Judging Criteria follows, however you should be aware that confidential information should not be disclosed without prior approval by your client. If necessary, only the information published on the public TEAM website should be discussed.

Rev: Mar 1 20122

Rremember that OCE Connections projects are focused on industry interaction and engagement in solving a technical problem and the development of job-ready skills in the students. As such, the student teams MUST address these criteria when delivering their presentations to you. Only those who show superior performance in these areas should be considered as your top candidates for Discovery.

OCE/OPA CONNECTIONS REVIEW CRITERIA 2011-12

Scoring
1. Student Industry Engagement & Interaction: (10 points)
The presentation demonstrates the ways in which the students have engaged with the industry partner, for example: being assigned a definite point of contact at the company for feedback, advice and mentoring throughout the project; developing project plans and timelines, site visits and use of company facilities, regular meetings to report progress and discuss challenges.

2). Problem Solving: (5 points)
The students explain the challenges they faced during the project and how they tackled them; team work, mentoring, eureka moments, project management.

3). Display of Professional Skills: (5 points)
The students present themselves and their work in a professional manner; students may also explain or display their use of professional skills in developing the solution for the project partner, such as project management, budgeting, IP, communication, reporting, networking, etc.

4) Solution (Technical or Scientific): (5 points)
The students present the project problem and their scientific or technical solution to the problem in a clear and interesting manner. An explanation should be provided to explain if the industry partner is going to implement the solution (or has already).

5. Overall Quality: (5 points)
The presentation is of high quality (clear speaking voice, good visuals, excellent content, good team work, concise/clear explanations, good pacing and professional dress).

DISCOVERY BONUS MARKS – up to 10 bonus points can be assigned to teams that go the extra distance and that include any cool factors in their presentation – i.e, prototype, etc. ; these teams might explain how their work has already had a commercial or financial impact for their industry partner; teams might have developed new products or technologies that are now of interest to their partners or other companies; their solution might have a significant social or environmental impact; generally, the project is an excellent example of a student-industry R&D project that has had important and interesting results for all partners involved.

Dave's Tips:

- put the OCE and/or OPA logo and "Sponsored by OCE" on your slides.

- use examples and illustrate (I use past tense below, but you might use present tense):

• how you have shown outstanding initiative, and self motivation
• gone beyond what an undergraduate student or group would ever be expected to do, be capable of, and have gone the extra mile!
• anticipated problems (risk analysis),
• executed a project with the finest and best methods and tools for project execution
• built a team, and saw that team develop into a highly effective organization for making a difference to the client and executing projects
• stayed focused on the client's needs
• provided exceptional value to the client,
• have personally gained something really special through the TEAM experience

- tell interesting stories that give the presentation a 'personal' spin

- know the background of the audience. Do your research and ask questions.

- if your last slide is a "questions?" slide, put the team member photos and names so the audience can direct questions to them.

Since most of our TEAM projects require confidentiality agreements you should not discuss the technical aspects of the project, unless you have approval from your client to do so. Instead, the emphasis of the presentation should be on the management, organization, and communication issues (including risk management) that have challenged your team, the lessons learned from these, and the organizational and project management skills you have derived from these challenges.

Since 'presentation' skills, project management, and commnications should be emphasized, not technical aspects, you should try to put lots of sizzle into your presentation. I was told of one presentation in which the team's project evaporated under them when their company contact quit and the team could not make contact with anyone in the company for 2 months. The team then went out and found a new project themselves.

The key is to show/sell how the Connections Program is a special experience for students and what you have learned from it.

The whole group should be present for the meeting but, the entire group is not required to present. You should be dressed professionally.