About Demonstrations

• Demonstrations start 9am Monday 30/3/09, and finish 6pm Friday 3/4/09. 
• All demonstrations will take place in L114 only.
• All students must be available from 9am to 6pm each day to demonstrate their project. 
• All projects must be demonstrated
• Any project which is not demonstrated will automatically receive a mark of zero (FAIL). 
  • There will be no exceptions to this.
  • If you have a specific reason (e.g., illness) for not demonstrating you may write to the Programme Board explaining the situation and enclosing appropriate documentation (e.g., a doctor's certificate). This can be done by submitting a letter to the Faculty Office and sending a copy to Dr. Geoff Hamilton (project co-ordinator). Under such circumstances you will still be awarded a mark of zero, but your case will be discussed by the Programme Board.
• If your systems crashes its not the end of the world - just pick yourself up and continue on...
• Try to relax - the supervisor and examiners are trying to find out what is good about your project - they are not tying to catch you out.

The Demonstration Process

Overview

• Each project will be demonstrated by the student(s) to the project supervisor and two examiners.
  • In the case  of a joint project, there will be a single demonstration by both students.
• Students must setup the computer(s) for the demo in advance and as part of the demo
  • You may use your own PC / laptop, etc. 
• Students must be at the demo room / computer, at least 5 minutes prior to the scheduled start time 
• The demonstration will usually last for about 30 minutes, but in no case will it exceed 45 minutes.

What to bring to a demo?

• The system to demonstrate
• User Manual
• Technical Specification
• Source code
  • This should be available for viewing on screen.
  • You should print a small number of modules / functions / objects, that you are proud of, as examples of your work.

What happens in a demo?

The demonstration will usually last for about 30 minutes, but in no case will it exceed 45 minutes. 
Normally  demonstrations can be broken down as follows:

1. Initially the student(s) will be asked to provide a brief overview of the project.
   • Allow for about 5 minutes for this
   • Explain the projects purpose, how it was built, tools used, etc, emphasising its best points
   • You may prepare a small number of PowerPoint slides (max 5) to assist with this.
2. Outline the design of your system
   • Show clearly that you have used appropriate design principles.
   • Show clearly that the design is appropriate for the given problem.
3. Demonstrate the implementation of the system
   • You should prepare in advance what features of the system you intend to show.
   • You should rehearse this.
   • You should show that the implementation is in accordance with the design.
4. Outline the validation of your system
• For software engineering projects, you will need to show that your system has been tested thoroughly (the use of test plans would be helpful here).
• For information systems projects, you will need to show that your system has been thoroughly validated with respect to the potential end users.
5. The examiners and supervisor may ask questions (and request further demonstrations as required) about the work and its context.

Demonstration Location

All demos will take place in L114 only.

You may bring your own laptop / pc and set in this lab.

If you have been allocated a dedicated PC in another lab, then contact your supervisor and examiners to ensure they are aware of this special demo location. NB. Only applies to those with dedicated lab pc.

Demonstration Timetable

The demonstration timetable will be made available here.

The timetable may be subject to change, so please check this on a regular basis.