There are different avenues when it comes to making presentations. You can use items like PowerPoint, Google Slides, reveal.js (https://revealjs.com/installation/).
It doesn't have to be grandiose or elaborate, but it has to be your story.
They are just a guide to help with the story that you are telling.
When using READMEs for your presentation, make sure it is well written. Outline what you want to talk about in your presentation. You will not have to remember as much because it is already written down.
Here are some things to consider in your outline/presentation:
- What is your project
- How do you install your project?
- How does it work?
- What is something unique about it?
- What were your challenges?
- What would you do differently?
- What are you most proud of?
- What would you do next?
- How did you plan your project?
- What did you learn?
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Practice your presentation with other people and get their feedback
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Record yourself doing your presentation to get an understanding of how others will see you
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Take pauses, and don't rush through everything.
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Clean your code and and leave comments
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Having screen shots or code snippets of certain code is a good thing. Using things like:
- Carbon - https://carbon.now.sh
- Polacode - https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=pnp.polacode
- Codeimg - https://codeimg.io
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Clean your Desktop and turn off your notifications when screen sharing; also, go for "non-offensive" backgrounds. The fewer distractions, the better.
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Have your project running and your code up to be able to view
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Make sure to drink water before a presentation. Hydration is key!
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Be clear and concise.
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Listen to music beforehand that makes you feel happy and want to sing; people can feel that happiness.
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It's okay to be nervous, and sometimes saying, "Give me a moment I am a bit nervous," helps get over the initial fear.
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Leave some time for questions and be ready to talk about your project in detail.
Even the most successful, brilliant developers/engineers mess up on their projects and presentations. It's a part of being human. Don't beat yourself up over it. Take of those moments as room for improvement. Breathe, do the best you can, and remember no one is perfect.
Elon Musk with Cybertruck's failed glass strength demo
Here are a few clips of demo presentation fails:
- 5 biggest fails of Microsoft and Apple - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCgz38hGGBE
- Apple - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzDDO3Xb_QU
If your project has bugs, there are different ways to handle them.
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Bug vs. Feature - Somethings that you would think of as a bug could be considered a feature. (https://levelup.gitconnected.com/7-bugs-that-turned-into-useful-features-later-d7bbb8351f3c)
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If it crashes out complete, then don't trigger it. Emphasize things/sections of code that do work. For the areas that don't work, talk about upcoming features you are working on.
For the epic, everything is a dumpster fire; nothing works; make sure to breathe. We all had epic moments; even Steve Jobs had a few of those. You are human! You can focus more on showing your idea/concepts and planning.
