Class presentations

Each student will be responsible for presenting 2 assigned papers from the reading list.

Please look over the list of papers and inform the instructor of your preferences for class presentation by 2 p.m., Friday, January 28. Select as many papers as you can (minimum nine). However, do not choose any paper that has been pre-assigned (most will be presented by me) or indicated as background or references.

Use 1 for your first preference, 2 for second preference, and so on. Send your preference list via email to

    lam at cs.utexas.edu

In preparing your presentation, please try to focus on the key idea(s) of a paper. There is no need and we will not have enough time in class to cover every detail discussed in the paper. On the other hand, you will have 45 - 60 minutes for each presentation.  Therefore, you should think about giving a lecture rather than presenting a short conference talk.

For most papers, you can use the following as a guide in preparing your presentation. 

• What is the problem being addressed? Motivation--Why is the problem interesting? What is the new concern (if any)?
• The key idea(s) used to solve the problem. 
• Is the solution novel compared to prior work?
• What is the justification, in the form of discussion/mathematical analysis/experimental results, of the effectiveness of the proposed solution? Are the assumptions reasonable?
• What are the shortcomings of the paper (if any)? 
• Prepare for a talk of 45-60 minutes in duration.  Depending upon your formatting style, the target number of powerpoint slides should be about 25 to 40.

Important:

• You need not submit a review for a paper that you will present.
• You are required to show me the slides of your talk at least 2 days before your scheduled presentation date. Generally, see me on Wednesday during my office hour if you are scheduled to talk the following Friday.
• The evening before your presentation, prior to 10 p.m., submit via email to me a copy of the final version of your powerpoint slides.