Project Presentation

Open In Colab

Project Presentation#

Due Date: See course schedule
Format: 10-minute presentation + 5-minute Q&A
Points: Part of project grade (50% of course)

Purpose#

The presentation allows you to share your work with the class and practice communicating technical results. This is an essential skill for engineers in industry and academia.

! curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh && \
  uv pip install -q --system "s26-06642 @ git+https://github.com/jkitchin/s26-06642.git"
from pycse.colab import pdf

downloading uv 0.10.3 x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu

no checksums to verify

installing to /home/runner/.local/bin
  uv
  uvx
everything's installed!

Presentation Structure#

Your 10-minute presentation should cover:

Section

Time

Content

Introduction

2 min

Problem motivation, why it matters

Data & Methods

3 min

Data source, key features, approach

Results

3 min

Main findings, key visualizations

Conclusions

2 min

Key takeaways, limitations, future work

What You Need to Do#

1. Prepare Slides#

Create a slide deck (PowerPoint, Google Slides, or similar) with:

  • Title slide with your name and project title

  • Clear problem statement

  • Data overview (1-2 slides)

  • Methods summary (1-2 slides)

  • Results with visualizations (2-3 slides)

  • Conclusions and takeaways (1 slide)

Recommended: 8-12 slides total

2. Practice#

  • Time yourself to stay within 10 minutes

  • Practice explaining technical concepts clearly

  • Anticipate questions

3. Prepare for Q&A#

Be ready to answer questions about:

  • Why you chose your methods

  • Alternative approaches you considered

  • Limitations of your analysis

  • How results could be applied

Presentation Planning#

Use this space to outline your presentation:

Slide 1: Title#

  • Project title:

  • Your name:

Slide 2: Problem & Motivation#

  • Key message:

Slides 3-4: Data#

  • What to show:

Slides 5-6: Methods#

  • Key methods to highlight:

Slides 7-9: Results#

  • Main figures to include:

Slide 10: Conclusions#

  • Key takeaways:

Key Figures for Presentation#

Create high-quality versions of your key figures here. These should be:

  • Large enough to read from the back of the room

  • Clear axis labels and titles

  • Appropriate color schemes

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np

# Set up nice plotting defaults for presentations
plt.rcParams.update({
    'font.size': 14,
    'axes.labelsize': 16,
    'axes.titlesize': 18,
    'figure.figsize': (10, 6),
    'figure.dpi': 150
})

# Figure 1: Data Overview
# Create a visualization showing your data

# Figure 2: Model Performance
# Create a visualization showing your results

# Figure 3: Key Insight
# Create a visualization showing your main finding

What Success Looks Like#

A successful presentation will:

Criterion

Expectation

Clarity

Audience understands the problem and approach

Organization

Logical flow, easy to follow

Visuals

Clear, readable figures that support the narrative

Timing

Stays within 10 minutes

Delivery

Confident, engaging, good eye contact

Q&A

Thoughtful responses to questions

Tips for a Great Presentation#

Do:

  • Start with why the problem matters

  • Use figures to tell your story

  • Highlight key numbers (“accuracy improved from 75% to 92%”)

  • Be honest about limitations

  • End with clear takeaways

Avoid:

  • Reading directly from slides

  • Too much text on slides

  • Tiny fonts or cluttered figures

  • Going over time

  • Saying “I don’t know” without trying to reason through the question

Red Flags#

  • Slides with walls of text

  • Figures copied from the notebook without reformatting

  • No clear problem statement

  • Rushing through results

  • Unable to explain methodology choices

Submission#

Submit:

  1. Your slide deck (PDF or PowerPoint)

  2. This notebook with your presentation figures

Run the cell below to generate a PDF of this notebook.

pdf("project-presentation.pdf")

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ConnectionRefusedError                    Traceback (most recent call last)
File /opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.14/x64/lib/python3.11/site-packages/urllib3/connection.py:204, in HTTPConnection._new_conn(self)
    203 try:
--> 204     sock = connection.create_connection(
    205         (self._dns_host, self.port),
    206         self.timeout,
    207         source_address=self.source_address,
    208         socket_options=self.socket_options,
    209     )
    210 except socket.gaierror as e:

File /opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.14/x64/lib/python3.11/site-packages/urllib3/util/connection.py:85, in create_connection(address, timeout, source_address, socket_options)
     84 try:
---> 85     raise err
     86 finally:
     87     # Break explicitly a reference cycle

File /opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.14/x64/lib/python3.11/site-packages/urllib3/util/connection.py:73, in create_connection(address, timeout, source_address, socket_options)
     72     sock.bind(source_address)
---> 73 sock.connect(sa)
     74 # Break explicitly a reference cycle

ConnectionRefusedError: [Errno 111] Connection refused

The above exception was the direct cause of the following exception:

NewConnectionError                        Traceback (most recent call last)
File /opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.14/x64/lib/python3.11/site-packages/urllib3/connectionpool.py:787, in HTTPConnectionPool.urlopen(self, method, url, body, headers, retries, redirect, assert_same_host, timeout, pool_timeout, release_conn, chunked, body_pos, preload_content, decode_content, **response_kw)
    786 # Make the request on the HTTPConnection object
--> 787 response = self._make_request(
    788     conn,
    789     method,
    790     url,
    791     timeout=timeout_obj,
    792     body=body,
    793     headers=headers,
    794     chunked=chunked,
    795     retries=retries,
    796     response_conn=response_conn,
    797     preload_content=preload_content,
    798     decode_content=decode_content,
    799     **response_kw,
    800 )
    802 # Everything went great!

File /opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.14/x64/lib/python3.11/site-packages/urllib3/connectionpool.py:493, in HTTPConnectionPool._make_request(self, conn, method, url, body, headers, retries, timeout, chunked, response_conn, preload_content, decode_content, enforce_content_length)
    492 try:
--> 493     conn.request(
    494         method,
    495         url,
    496         body=body,
    497         headers=headers,
    498         chunked=chunked,
    499         preload_content=preload_content,
    500         decode_content=decode_content,
    501         enforce_content_length=enforce_content_length,
    502     )
    504 # We are swallowing BrokenPipeError (errno.EPIPE) since the server is
    505 # legitimately able to close the connection after sending a valid response.
    506 # With this behaviour, the received response is still readable.

File /opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.14/x64/lib/python3.11/site-packages/urllib3/connection.py:500, in HTTPConnection.request(self, method, url, body, headers, chunked, preload_content, decode_content, enforce_content_length)
    499     self.putheader(header, value)
--> 500 self.endheaders()
    502 # If we're given a body we start sending that in chunks.

File /opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.14/x64/lib/python3.11/http/client.py:1298, in HTTPConnection.endheaders(self, message_body, encode_chunked)
   1297     raise CannotSendHeader()
-> 1298 self._send_output(message_body, encode_chunked=encode_chunked)

File /opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.14/x64/lib/python3.11/http/client.py:1058, in HTTPConnection._send_output(self, message_body, encode_chunked)
   1057 del self._buffer[:]
-> 1058 self.send(msg)
   1060 if message_body is not None:
   1061 
   1062     # create a consistent interface to message_body

File /opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.14/x64/lib/python3.11/http/client.py:996, in HTTPConnection.send(self, data)
    995 if self.auto_open:
--> 996     self.connect()
    997 else:

File /opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.14/x64/lib/python3.11/site-packages/urllib3/connection.py:331, in HTTPConnection.connect(self)
    330 def connect(self) -> None:
--> 331     self.sock = self._new_conn()
    332     if self._tunnel_host:
    333         # If we're tunneling it means we're connected to our proxy.

File /opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.14/x64/lib/python3.11/site-packages/urllib3/connection.py:219, in HTTPConnection._new_conn(self)
    218 except OSError as e:
--> 219     raise NewConnectionError(
    220         self, f"Failed to establish a new connection: {e}"
    221     ) from e
    223 sys.audit("http.client.connect", self, self.host, self.port)

NewConnectionError: HTTPConnection(host='10.1.0.65', port=9000): Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 111] Connection refused

The above exception was the direct cause of the following exception:

MaxRetryError                             Traceback (most recent call last)
File /opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.14/x64/lib/python3.11/site-packages/requests/adapters.py:644, in HTTPAdapter.send(self, request, stream, timeout, verify, cert, proxies)
    643 try:
--> 644     resp = conn.urlopen(
    645         method=request.method,
    646         url=url,
    647         body=request.body,
    648         headers=request.headers,
    649         redirect=False,
    650         assert_same_host=False,
    651         preload_content=False,
    652         decode_content=False,
    653         retries=self.max_retries,
    654         timeout=timeout,
    655         chunked=chunked,
    656     )
    658 except (ProtocolError, OSError) as err:

File /opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.14/x64/lib/python3.11/site-packages/urllib3/connectionpool.py:841, in HTTPConnectionPool.urlopen(self, method, url, body, headers, retries, redirect, assert_same_host, timeout, pool_timeout, release_conn, chunked, body_pos, preload_content, decode_content, **response_kw)
    839     new_e = ProtocolError("Connection aborted.", new_e)
--> 841 retries = retries.increment(
    842     method, url, error=new_e, _pool=self, _stacktrace=sys.exc_info()[2]
    843 )
    844 retries.sleep()

File /opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.14/x64/lib/python3.11/site-packages/urllib3/util/retry.py:535, in Retry.increment(self, method, url, response, error, _pool, _stacktrace)
    534     reason = error or ResponseError(cause)
--> 535     raise MaxRetryError(_pool, url, reason) from reason  # type: ignore[arg-type]
    537 log.debug("Incremented Retry for (url='%s'): %r", url, new_retry)

MaxRetryError: HTTPConnectionPool(host='10.1.0.65', port=9000): Max retries exceeded with url: /api/sessions (Caused by NewConnectionError("HTTPConnection(host='10.1.0.65', port=9000): Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 111] Connection refused"))

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

ConnectionError                           Traceback (most recent call last)
Cell In[6], line 1
----> 1 pdf("project-presentation.pdf")

File /opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.14/x64/lib/python3.11/site-packages/pycse/colab.py:287, in pdf(line)
    285     delay = 10000
    286 plotly = "-p" in args
--> 287 pdf_from_html(pdf, verbose, plotly, delay)

File /opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.14/x64/lib/python3.11/site-packages/pycse/colab.py:122, in pdf_from_html(pdf, verbose, plotly, javascript_delay)
    119 if verbose:
    120     print("PDF via wkhtmltopdf")
--> 122 fname, fid = current_notebook()
    123 ipynb = notebook_string(fid)
    125 if plotly:

File /opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.14/x64/lib/python3.11/site-packages/pycse/colab.py:86, in current_notebook()
     84 ip = gethostbyname(gethostname())
     85 url = f"http://{ip}:9000/api/sessions"
---> 86 d = requests.get(url).json()[0]
     87 fid = d["path"].split("=")[1]
     88 fname = d["name"]

File /opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.14/x64/lib/python3.11/site-packages/requests/api.py:73, in get(url, params, **kwargs)
     62 def get(url, params=None, **kwargs):
     63     r"""Sends a GET request.
     64 
     65     :param url: URL for the new :class:`Request` object.
   (...)     70     :rtype: requests.Response
     71     """
---> 73     return request("get", url, params=params, **kwargs)

File /opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.14/x64/lib/python3.11/site-packages/requests/api.py:59, in request(method, url, **kwargs)
     55 # By using the 'with' statement we are sure the session is closed, thus we
     56 # avoid leaving sockets open which can trigger a ResourceWarning in some
     57 # cases, and look like a memory leak in others.
     58 with sessions.Session() as session:
---> 59     return session.request(method=method, url=url, **kwargs)

File /opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.14/x64/lib/python3.11/site-packages/requests/sessions.py:589, in Session.request(self, method, url, params, data, headers, cookies, files, auth, timeout, allow_redirects, proxies, hooks, stream, verify, cert, json)
    584 send_kwargs = {
    585     "timeout": timeout,
    586     "allow_redirects": allow_redirects,
    587 }
    588 send_kwargs.update(settings)
--> 589 resp = self.send(prep, **send_kwargs)
    591 return resp

File /opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.14/x64/lib/python3.11/site-packages/requests/sessions.py:703, in Session.send(self, request, **kwargs)
    700 start = preferred_clock()
    702 # Send the request
--> 703 r = adapter.send(request, **kwargs)
    705 # Total elapsed time of the request (approximately)
    706 elapsed = preferred_clock() - start

File /opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.14/x64/lib/python3.11/site-packages/requests/adapters.py:677, in HTTPAdapter.send(self, request, stream, timeout, verify, cert, proxies)
    673     if isinstance(e.reason, _SSLError):
    674         # This branch is for urllib3 v1.22 and later.
    675         raise SSLError(e, request=request)
--> 677     raise ConnectionError(e, request=request)
    679 except ClosedPoolError as e:
    680     raise ConnectionError(e, request=request)

ConnectionError: HTTPConnectionPool(host='10.1.0.65', port=9000): Max retries exceeded with url: /api/sessions (Caused by NewConnectionError("HTTPConnection(host='10.1.0.65', port=9000): Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 111] Connection refused"))
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