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Workshop 8: Slide Content ​

Deck title: Final Engineering Proposal & Stakeholder Presentation Duration: 60 minutes · ~15 slides (most of the time is student presentations)

Slide 1: Title [lavender title slide] ​

Title: Make the case. Eyebrow: Session 8 of 8 · Final Engineering Proposal

Slide 2: Welcome back [white, headline + body] ​

Title: You did the work. Now tell the story. Subtitle: Where we are in the arc Body: Seven weeks of measurement, fixes, AI work, and standards, all recorded in your logbook. Today is the demonstration. We assemble your proposal together, live, straight from your logbook, then each of you delivers an 8-minute proposal as if you're presenting to OrbitTasks' engineering leadership. The story matters as much as the work.

Slide 3: Agenda [dark blue, agenda layout] ​

Title: Agenda Bullets (5):

  • 5 min: Recap and the evaluation rubric
  • 15 min: Assemble your proposal together, live, from your logbook
  • 25 min: Student presentations (plus peer Q&A and my feedback)
  • 5 min: Group feedback after each presentation
  • 10 min: Career Q&A and closing reflections

Slide 4: Section divider [dark blue] ​

Big text: What good / looks like.

Slide 5: Rubric [white, title + body + bullets] ​

Title: How we grade today Body: This is the rubric a real engineering review would use. Get used to it; most senior interviews use a version of the same five axes. Bullets (5):

  • Clarity: could a non-engineer follow the story?
  • Evidence: are the numbers real, sourced, and apples-to-apples?
  • Tradeoffs: did you acknowledge what your change costs, not just what it gains?
  • Recommendation: is there a clear "this is what we should do next"?
  • Polish: pacing, slide quality, comfort with the material.

Slide 6: Structure [white, headline + body] ​

Title: The structure of a good engineering proposal Subtitle: Five sections in 8 minutes, assembled from your logbook Body: (1) The problem in one slide. (2) The current state with data. (3) The proposed changes and their measured impact. (4) The risks and what you'd watch for. (5) The recommendation and rollout plan. Every section maps to something already in your logbook, so we build this together, live, by pulling each piece across. Every staff-level engineer presents in roughly this order, every time.

Slide 7: Common pitfalls [dark, title + body + bullets] ​

Title: Mistakes you should not / make today. Body: Five things to avoid. Each one of them undercuts an otherwise good proposal. Bullets (4):

  • Burying the recommendation under detail.
  • Showing numbers without context (% change without baselines).
  • Pretending the change has no downsides.
  • Reading slides aloud. Talk to the slides, not off of them.

Slide 8: Time discipline [white, headline + body] ​

Title: 8 minutes is short. Plan to be tight. Subtitle: Pacing Body: Roughly: 1 minute setup, 1 minute current state, 3 minutes proposed changes with evidence, 1 minute risks, 1 minute recommendation, 1 minute buffer. Once you've assembled from your logbook, run through it once out loud during the assembly block. The first pass you'll be over by 2 minutes. The second you'll be at 7:30. That's the point.

Slide 9: Section divider [dark blue] ​

Big text: Your turn.

Slide 10: Presentations begin [dark, headline + body] ​

Title: Presentation queue Subtitle: Order on the next slide Body: [Note to self: replace this slide content with the running order before the session. Suggested: pick a randomized order; tell each student which spot they're in so they can mentally prep. Keep my timer visible to all.]

Slide 11: During & after each presentation [white, title + body + bullets] ​

Title: How the presentations / will run Body: Each round follows the same shape so we keep moving. Bullets (4):

  • Presenter shares screen, 8 minutes maximum (I time it).
  • 2 minutes of peer Q&A: substantive, not "good job."
  • 1 minute of my feedback using the rubric.
  • 30 seconds to switch presenters.

Slide 12: Section divider [dark blue] ​

Big text: Wrap-up.

Slide 13: Career Q&A [white, headline + body] ​

Title: Leveraging this project for interviews Subtitle: What to say about it on a resume and in conversation Body: "Built and measured improvements to a CI/CD pipeline for a SaaS application; reduced CI runtime by [X]% and onboarding time by [Y]%; designed AI usage policy adopted as a standard." That's the resume bullet. In conversation: pick one of the 5 Whys you did, walk through it. Pick one AI failure you caught, walk through it. Pick one number you measured, walk through how you measured it. That's what hiring managers want to hear.

Slide 14: Reflections [white, title + body + bullets] ​

Title: Eight weeks. / What changed? Body: Quick round-robin, 30 seconds each. Pick one of these. Bullets (4):

  • The single biggest thing you learned that wasn't on the syllabus.
  • A skill you'll keep practicing after the fellowship.
  • A career path you didn't know existed eight weeks ago.
  • A piece of feedback for the next cohort of Fellows.

Slide 15: Closing [dark blue, Big Stat layout] ​

Big text: Thank you.

Optional: replace with the cohort photo or a wave-goodbye slide.