Guidelines for Project #2 Group Critique Sessions (Presentations)

To the Class

• Attendance at these sessions is very important.  Each critique will be a learning experience, and help you to revise and improve your own project.
  
• Be sure to come with a print-out of the assignment for Project #2, and be ready to offer the presenters with questions and suggestions.
  
• Be ready to challenge the presenters’ arguments.  There’s no better way to help them improve their arguments than to point out where the holes or weaknesses are.  In other words, our job is to play devil’s advocate. Help your classmates acknowledge and refute the opposing side in their chosen issue.

To the Presenter

Each presenter will earn a check/no check for satisfactory/not satisfactory, based on the following instructions.

• Bring some portion of the work-in-progress to show us; the more the better.  You can show us a segment, a summary, or the whole thing at high speed!
  

  For instance, if you are doing a Power Point or digital video project, have at least part of the piece completed and present it to us using classroom equipment (projector, computer, screen).  If you have the whole piece completed, you may just want to show us selections of it—something to give us a good sense of what the complete piece will look like. (Remember that you’ll talk and present for just 7-8 minutes).

  If you are doing a pamphlet or poster, bring a hardcopy of whatever you have done at the time of your presentation. It would be good to bring maybe 2 or 3 copies for passing around. If a hardcopy isn’t possible, you could always show it to us through computer projection.

1. What is your issue?  It helps to frame it as a question:
   
   • “Should the death penalty be abolished?”
   • “Should gay marriage be legal?”
   • “Was the 2004 (or 2000) Presidential election fraudulent?
   • “What is the best way to discipline children?”
   • “Who is at risk for eating disorders and what should a person do who suspects that they or a loved one have a problem?” (This isn’t “controversial,” exactly, but it would almost certainly involve intense persuasive skills—The same goes for drinking disorders, etc.)
   • “What were the Bush administration’s motives for taking us into Iraq?”
   • “Is the PC better than the Mac?”
   • “Should marijuana be legalized?”
   • “Is the Atkin’s Diet effective and safe?”
     
     
2. Who is your audience? DON'T say: "Just anyone." Be more specific. What is your targeted audience's age range? Income? Ethnic background? Gender? Religious and political leanings? Entertainment preferences? Psychological profile? Values, attitudes, hopes, dreams, fears, peeves? THESE ARE THE DEMOGRAPHIC CONCERNS OF ALL MARKETERS; USE THIS AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN HOW YOU YOURSELF ARE BEING TARGETED EVERY DAY BY COMMERCIAL AND POLITICAL ANALYSTS!
   
3. What is your purpose? What are you trying to convince that audience of?  What is it you want them to think, feel, or do? (Is your argument one of policy, substantiation, or evaluation?)
   
   
4. What principles of persuasion have you incorporated into your project?  Keep in mind here the outline we had on the board for a classic argument. 
   
   
5. What principles of visual design have you incorporated into your project? Again, these have been on the board once or twice, and are also elaborated in CTW.  Remember especially principles of SPACE, POSITION, COLOR. 
   
   
6. What do you still plan to do with your draft?  What revisions are you planning? Where is it going?
   
   
• Remember that you will present/talk for roughly 7-8 minutes; the class will then offer feedback for another 7-8 minutes.
  
  
• Remember that you are responsible for reserving and knowing how to operate any necessary equipment or technology before your presentation.
  
  
• Remember that, the later your presentation date, the further along in your project I expect you to be. The later the date, the more material you should have to show the class.

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