Lesson 3: Build a Short Presentation With Evidence

The district curriculum expects presentation work, but a presentation is not just a prettier document.

A presentation is a guided path through an idea. Each slide should help the audience understand the next piece of the story.

Today you will build a short draft that connects to your portfolio work.

Start with audience and purpose

Before choosing a theme, answer two questions:

Who is this for?
What should they understand after viewing it?

For Week 2, your presentation can explain one piece of your portfolio evidence:

• how your site navigation works;
• what image you enhanced and why;
• how you organized your portfolio files; or
• what improvement you made after testing.

That keeps the presentation grounded in real work.

Slide design is hierarchy

A slide needs visual hierarchy just like a web page.

A useful slide usually has:

• one main idea;
• a short title;
• limited text;
• a visual or example when it helps;
• enough spacing to read quickly; and
• contrast that works on the classroom display.

A slide with ten bullet points is usually not a slide. It is a paragraph wearing a costume.

Build a three-slide draft

Create a short deck in PowerPoint or the approved fallback.

Use this structure:

You may use a screenshot or image only when school policy allows it. Avoid student names, private account details, personal contact information, or anything that should not be displayed.

Speaker notes are part of the artifact

Speaker notes do not need to be long.

Use notes to record what you would say out loud:

Slide 2 note:
This screenshot shows the Projects link after I renamed it from Stuff.
The repair helps visitors predict where the link goes.

That note explains the evidence. It does not just repeat the slide title.

Lab 3: Draft and review the deck

Build the three-slide draft.

Then check it against this review list:

• Does each slide have one main idea?
• Does the title tell the audience what the slide is about?
• Does Slide 2 show actual portfolio evidence or a supplied substitute?
• Does Slide 3 explain a change, not just decorate the deck?
• Is the text readable from a distance?
• Are images or screenshots allowed and appropriate?

Fix one issue before saving the draft.

Avoid the template trap

Templates can help with spacing and consistency.

They can also hide weak content.

A polished slide with no clear claim is still weak. A simple slide with a clear before/after explanation is often stronger.

The work is not to prove that you found the nicest theme. The work is to explain technical evidence.

Evidence checkpoint

Save:

• the three-slide draft;
• one speaker note that explains evidence;
• one design issue you fixed; and
• one sentence describing the audience and purpose.

This presentation continues next week, so keep it editable.