Week 15 Lab: Storyboarding Final Presentations

This workshop is about turning your project analysis into an 8-minute final presentation. The goal is not to build a polished deck during class. The goal is to leave with a clear storyboard, a stronger slide sequence, and a focused list of slide revisions to make before presenting.

You will work on the printed storyboarding sheet handed out in class. The final presentation is the deliverable.

Preliminaries

Work with your project team. You should have access to:

  • your project question or decision context
  • your current results or best available draft results
  • your Week 14 refined visual, or the rough visual you plan to refine
  • any draft slides your team has already created

Start with the printed storyboard sheet. Storyboarding works best before you spend too much time adjusting slide layout.

Part 1: Audience and Decision Frame

Before deciding what slides to make, define who the presentation is for and what decision it supports.

On your printed sheet, answer:

  1. Who needs to act?
  2. What decision or question do they face?
  3. What does this audience care about?
  4. What evidence would change their mind?

Then write one sentence:

We want [audience] to understand [finding] so they can [decision/action].

Note

The story should be about the audience’s decision, not the order in which your team did the work.

Part 2: Build the Story Arc

Use a beginning, middle, and end structure to organize the presentation.

Story part What it should do Your project
Beginning Establish the problem, context, imbalance, and audience stakes What is happening now, and why does it matter?
Middle Show the key evidence and explain what it means What did your analysis find?
End State the implication, recommendation, or call to action What should the audience do next?

After you sketch the story arc, have one teammate say the 3-minute version aloud without using slides.

As they speak, the rest of the team should listen for:

  • where the story starts to feel unclear
  • whether the audience and decision are obvious
  • whether the result leads naturally to the recommendation
  • what background can be shortened or removed

Part 3: Draft the Headline Storyboard

On the printed storyboard sheet, draft 6-8 assertion-style slide titles for your final presentation.

Your storyboard should include these roles:

  • problem or decision context
  • why the issue matters
  • data and approach, written as a useful claim rather than “Methods”
  • key result
  • implication
  • recommendation or call to action

Assertion titles should tell the audience what to take from the slide.

Label title Assertion title
Results Drought severity is associated with lower corn yields
Forecast Demand is projected to exceed current capacity by July
Conclusion The district should prioritize targeted water cuts

Horizontal logic test

Read only the slide titles in order.

If the titles do not tell a coherent story, revise the titles or reorder the slides before building more slide content.

Tip

If a title could fit almost any project, it is probably still too vague.

Part 4: Match Evidence to Slides

For each planned slide, identify what evidence belongs there.

Use this checklist for each storyboard box:

  • What claim does this slide make?
  • What visual, number, or explanation supports that claim?
  • Is this slide essential for an 8-minute presentation?
  • What can move to backup, appendix, or Q&A?

Mark where your Week 14 refined visual belongs. If that visual no longer supports the story, decide whether it should be revised, replaced, or moved to backup.

Note

The presentation does not need to show every graph, model, or data source. It needs enough evidence for the audience to understand and trust your recommendation.

Part 5: Slide Refinement Check

Choose 2-3 priority slides that need the most revision before the final presentation.

For each priority slide, check:

  • Does the slide make one main point?
  • Is the title an assertion rather than a label?
  • Does the visual or evidence support the title?
  • Can any text, labels, legends, or decoration be removed?
  • Does the slide avoid becoming a document pretending to be slides?
  • Does the slide avoid becoming a mystery slide that only makes sense with a long explanation?

Write the revision you need to make directly on the storyboard sheet.

Examples:

  • Rewrite “Data” as “County-level yield and drought data allow us to compare conditions over time.”
  • Replace a dense regression table with a coefficient plot focused on the one estimate that matters most.
  • Move robustness checks to backup because they are useful for questions but not central to the 8-minute story.
  • Split a crowded slide into two slides because it is trying to make two different claims.

Part 6: Peer Read-Through

Swap storyboard sheets with another team.

Read only their slide titles first. Then answer:

  • What do you think the main argument is?
  • Where does the story lose clarity?
  • Which slide seems least necessary?
  • Which title is still too vague or label-like?

Return the sheet and discuss your feedback.

After the peer read-through, revise your storyboard during class. Focus on changes that will make the final presentation clearer, shorter, and easier to follow.

End-of-Class Check

Before leaving, your team should have:

  • a clear audience and decision frame
  • a beginning, middle, and end story arc
  • 6-8 assertion-style slide titles
  • evidence matched to each planned slide
  • a decision about what belongs in backup, appendix, or Q&A
  • 2-3 priority slide revisions to complete before presenting

The next step is to turn the storyboard into the final presentation deck.