Capstone Presentation

The Capstone presentation is an opportunity to present a near-finished Capstone Project to a supportive public audience. While some work will remain to be done, it is assumed that the major components of the project will be close to completion when you make your presentation. These components include the primary thesis or claim you are defending, the bulk of the research upon which your position is based, and the major arguments that support it. Although you will be taking questions from the audience, the presentation is not designed to be a forum for feedback on early drafts. It is assumed that by the presentation date, you will have already submitted a draft (or, at least, a draft of a substantial portion of the project) to your mentor and have received feedback on your work.  

If you don’t have a near-complete version of your project prior to the presentation date, you may not be able to present. This decision about whether your capstone is presentation-ready will be made by the ISCP 400 instructor in collaboration with your mentor one week prior to the scheduled presentation. If you are not ready to present, you may not be in a position to complete the capstone requirement for that semester.

Format:  Here is an optional “presentation template” if you choose to use Power Point for your presentation.  This template captures the basic elements a presentation should cover as well as the maximum number of slides to include in your presentation. 

1. Project title, your name, mentor name, date
2. Question or problem you address (i.e., focused topic, claim, research questions)
3. Thesis or position you are defending
4. Why the project is significant
5. Brief tie-in with your BIS program, personal and professional experience
6. Research "fly over"
7. Conclusions and support for your thesis
8. Concluding remarks (e.g., you might briefly address ways in which your Capstone Project have brought you to a new or deeper understanding of your topic)

Capstone presentations are limited to 10 minutes. This is not much time. In order for your presentation to be effective, you will need to think carefully about what you want to say and the most concise way to say it.  Slides 1-5 should take no more than 4 minutes, leaving the majority of the remaining time for slides 6-7 which is the substance of your Capstone Project.  The order of 6 and 7 can be reversed.  Concluding remarks should be brief.

As with any formal academic presentation, the presenter will ask to take questions from the audience.  Questions will be limited to 5 minutes per project. 

Sample Capstone Presentations