Preparing Your 4-H Robotics and Engineering Expo Presentation and Display

This year you will be asked to present your robotics project to a team of judges. Your project should have a clearly determined problem to solve or task to accomplish. You will have a chance to introduce, explain, and demonstrate your robotic project. At the end, judges will ask you specific questions and give you the opportunity to answer. You will have 3-5 minutes to do your presentation (this does not include judges asking questions at the end). The following outline should be followed:

Introduction: A good introduction will help you get off to a good start. Be creative. How will you draw your audience in? Sometimes, starting off with a question is a good way to get people’s attention. As part of the introduction, team members will introduce themself and tell how they contributed to the team. You should include the school you represent, your grade level and how many years you have been involved with robotics.

Body of the Presentation: This is the “show and tell” section of your presentation. The problem or task should be clearly stated. Give some background as to how/why the group chose this project. Explain what the robot/object is expected to do. This is the place to highlight the type of programming (ex. loops, sensors) you used.

Summary: In this section, you will wrap up your presentation by emphasizing the main points of your project. What is it that you want the judges to remember? This is a good time to refer to your poster display if you haven’t already done so. Each team member should address one of the following questions:

  • What life skills do you feel you most improved while working on this project and why? (see 4-H life skills wheel)
  • If you were to do this project again, what would you change or do differently and why?
  • What challenges did you face as a team and how did you deal with them?
  • What are you most proud of in terms of this project and why?

Questions from the Judges: Judges will have a few minutes at the end of your presentation to ask you questions. Try to expand on your answers and not provide just one-word answers. You want the judges to know how knowledgeable you are about your project.

 Tips to keep in mind as you prepare your presentation:

  • Sit down with your team and outline your presentation. Determine who will speak when. You only have 3-5 minutes so be sure to practice a few times with a timer.
  • PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.
  • Stand tall, be confident, speak loudly enough to be heard clearly.
  • Try to look at the judges as much as possible.
  • Note cards are allowed, but reading directly from cards is discouraged.

DISPLAY

How you display your project is very important as it provides a visual to accompany your oral presentation. You must include a tri-fold that is attractive and interesting. Here are some general tips to help you prepare your display:

  • Make sure that all lines and edges are straight. A good scientist is never sloppy.
  • Make sure that your letters are displayed in a straight line. Trick: use a ruler and draw a very light, straight line in pencil to use as a guide for title letters. Make sure that the bottom of each letter lines up properly against the rest. Stencils help to make sure your letters are uniform in size.
  • Use large fonts for the project title and smaller fonts for each of the headings. You should be able to read a title from 3 feet away. For the headings, you may want to use a different color from the rest of your text. However, you should not use too many colors otherwise the judges will be distracted. Most of the ordinary text should be black in color. Make sure your colors are dark enough to read.
  • If you are adding pictures to your display, mount them first on colored construction paper just a 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 inch larger than the pictures, to create a “frame”. Write and type up short captions or title for pictures on the computer so they are neat and easy to read.

What you choose to put on your display is up to you. The only thing you must include on your display is a copy of your program. This can be hand-drawn or printed from a computer. Displays that do not include this will lose points from their overall score.