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Board of Directors Review (BDR)

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Board of Directors Review Goal

The Engineering Team has secured a meeting with the Board of Directors to discuss and review the team's work. The Board is comprised of Faculty members and Design Lab staff. Engineers from other Capstone teams will also join in reviews. Design reviews are an opportunity to share information and get feedback as part of an open and honest dialog with reviewers. This meeting will decide whether your project should proceed forward to the next stage in the development process. The meeting will be conducted in person using a poster following the above template.

Poster-Based Design Review

The Board of Directors Review (BDR) is poster based, NOT based on a PowerPoint presentation like the status update meetings. A poster-based design review is an interactive process. It should not be a "rehearsed" presentation where you read off note cards or a script. Use the elevator pitch taught in PD3 to present a big picture of the project at the beginning of a review session.

Prepare a poster in PowerPoint (Microsoft or Open Office / Libre Office) format that team members will use to explain the project to interested students and faculty, most of whom will have no prior knowledge of the project. DO NOT use Adobe Illustrator, Microsoft Publisher, Microsoft Visio, Google Docs, Google Sheets or ANY other software packages! The template page setup is 3 feet by 4 feet in landscape mode. For the BDR, the poster will be displayed on the TV in your pod - two posters will not be allowed. If your team needs more space (because of a large team with distinct sub-teams), consult with your Project Engineer and Chief Engineer.

Please include the following in your poster:

  • Purpose of the Project - Who is your customer / what is the purpose of the project, from the customer’s perspective? In other words, how will the customer benefit when your project and follow-on work meets the long term objective of this effort? You should find that you can use words from the Long Term Objective and Customer Payoff in your Client Meeting slides to answer these questions. Illustrations could include a diagram of the system that will incorporate the technology you are working on. This information should already be in your Client Meeting slides!
  • Past Work - If this is a continuing project from last semester, give description or pictures of what was built and what the performance was. Whether or not the project is new to RPI, you should include some illustration of past work by others on this problem. This information should already be in your Client Meeting slides!
  • Current Semester Objectives (System Requirements) - What will your team accomplish this semester? Include a bullet list of the key deliverables along with some sort of “system diagram.” Be sure to specify any quantitative requirements that your deliverables will need to meet. As much as possible, objectives must be specific and measurable. This information should already be in your Client Meeting slides!
  • Technical Approach, Results, and Accomplishments up until this review - This is project dependent. If you have built an early prototype : show a picture or design drawing. If you have done tests and measurements : present graphs, and be prepared to discuss what the results mean. If you have done technology trade-off studies : show the key results. If you have done calculations : show key results. Graphs are good, equations should be used sparingly. Be ready to explain the significance of your results and accomplishments. This is your opportunity to show your progress toward achieving project success.
  • Next Steps and Plan - Include words and illustrations that indicate how you will meet your semester objectives. What engineering tools and methods will be used? DO NOT include a detailed planning chart (such as a Gantt Chart). Think carefully about the words you used to describe your plan. Include any special challenges or equipment needs. You should also talk about appropriate societal, safety, and ethical issues. The time frame for these steps and plan is current semester. Work to be done by the next team or client will be mentioned on final poster.

Be sure to include some graphics or discussion of overall System Architecture. Flow chart of a process, sketch of fixture with part in machine, or product within use environment helps to communicate the big picture.

Please see Creating Posters for suggestions on preparing your poster. Be sure to review your proposed poster with your Project Engineer the week before it is due so that you can get feedback and still have time to make revisions. Again, check with your Project Engineer and Chief Engineer for guidance if you have questions as to what is best for your particular project.

Logisitics

Download your poster file to your computer and use a desktop version of PowerPoint. You can then turn the shape of a cursor to a red laser pointer to draw attention to a part of your poster.

There will be three shifts during class time, with each shift presenting the same material to different reviewers. Every student must present at least once. Create three sub-teams, and each sub-team will have 25 minutes to describe your project and project plan. Teams should plan on presenting for 15 minutes, allowing for up to 10 minutes for Q&A. Reviewers typically ask questions DURING the flow of the presentation. This may make presenters uncomfortable but is much better to transfer information. If the audience is confused, that can be cleared up immediately rather than continuing without understanding, i.e., real time feedback. This also prevents useful questions or suggestions from being forgotten before the end of the presentation time.

Each sub-team will cover the entire project, so it is best to divide your team into balanced sub-teams. You will be evaluated as individuals on communication skills, including but not limited to: oral presentation, using the poster, and answering questions.

Each sub-team should have a designated Note Taker for each shift. This person will not present material or answer questions but document comments and suggestions from the audience. These notes should be uploaded to the EDN and shared with the full team after class. If necessary, a student(s) can repeat in this role. However, (again) each team member MUST present during at least one shift.

Team members who do not present the poster during each shift will join the audience for presentations by other capstone teams.

Section 1 & 3 Activity Section 2 & 4 Activity
10:00 Beginning of class 12:00 Beginning of class
10:05 Start the first sub-team's design review 12:05 Start the first sub-team's design review
10:30 Time for reviewers to document evaluation 12:30 Time for reviewers to document evaluation
10:40 Start the second sub-team's design review 12:40 Start the second sub-team's design review
11:05 Time for reviewers to document evaluation 13:05 Time for reviewers to document evaluation
11:15 Start the third sub-team's design review 13:15 Start the third sub-team's design review
11:40 Time for reviewers to document evaluation 13:40 Time for reviewers to document evaluation

Dress Code for Presenters

The standard for the review is Business casual. For more information, see presentation attire guidelines.docx