Your Presentation
This section provides some guidance on how to go about developing your presentation and some tips on how to present well.
tips
Clarity and focus
Be clear about your objectives and what the judges
are looking for. This should help you to structure your presentation
and your arguments in a way that is easy for the judges to follow.
It will also help you to provide focused answers to the judges’
questions.
Looking ahead
When reaching your interest rate decision, you need
to consider the outlook for the economy in general, and inflation
in particular. In other words, you need to look ahead, as well
as at current economic conditions and recent past trends.
Quality not quantity
Think carefully about the relevance of your data to
your arguments and your interest rate decision. Cramming in
as much as possible may obscure your main lines of argument
and cause you to rush your conclusions. Try to focus on key
themes. Assume that the judges are familiar with textbook theories.
There is no need to describe these in detail.
Clear visual aids
Look again at your visual aids from the judges’
perspective. If you pack too much information onto your slides
you may confuse the judges. They might miss the essential points.
Summarising your arguments
Summarising the issues that are central to your interest
rate decision in your conclusions might make it easier for the
judges to follow the case you are making for your decision.
You should base your interest-rate decision on an assessment
of the outlook for the economy as a whole, not particular aspects
of it - such as the labour market. Don’t forget to explain
any differences of opinion between team members.
Timing
Don’t rush your presentation. Try to organise
it so that you leave plenty of time for your concluding remarks.
Teams will be marked down if their presentation exceeds 15 minutes.
Your presentation can be shorter than 15 minutes. But an overly
short presentation might not give you sufficient time to cover
enough to demonstrate your understanding of the issues and develop
your arguments.
Engaging with the audience
Try to look at the audience as much as you can. You
don’t have to memorise your presentation. You can refer
to your notes and visual aids. You will not be disqualified
for reading verbatim from scripts, visual aids and laptop screens,
but you will be marked down.
Judges’ questions
Be prepared for questions from the judges. The questions
are important because they enable the judges to find out how
well teams understand their material and how well they can defend
their decision. But do not worry. The style will be friendly
and facilitative. The aim is to encourage you to tell us what
you know.
Answering as a team
You may confer when answering the questions. Answering
questions should be a team effort, even if you have selected
a spokesperson to give all the answers. The key point is that
judges will want to see all team members making a significant
contribution. If one or two team members answer all the questions
without any consultation you will be marked down.
Technology
PowerPoint presentations must be Microsoft PowerPoint
2000 compatible. To reduce the risk of software incompatibility,
we suggest that you avoid advanced features and unusual fonts.
No zip files please.
Bring back-ups
If you are using PowerPoint, you are strongly advised
to bring back-up in a format that does not rely on computer
technology in case of a computer failure or software incompatibility
on the day.
Have fun
Most importantly, try to relax and enjoy yourselves. You can
feel proud to be taking part in the Challenge, which is a considerable
achievement in itself.
Good luck
©2000-2008 Bank of England.
