Technical Communication: Testing day and oral presentation

1. Technical Communication:Testing day and oral presentation Introduction to Engineering Systems Lecture 10 (9/28/2009) Prof. Andrés Tovar

2. Announcements Optimizing your design Testing day is this week! Bring a camera to Learning Center next week if you want a picture of your group or design for the report Review Learning Center 6 prior to testing day.

3. About F.O.S. 15% Ns Determine N such that the area under the PDF is 15%. Use N to determine F.O.S. What should be the F.O.S. for a probability of failure of 15%?

4. About F.O.S. Determine N such that the area under the PDF is 15%. >> N=norminv(0.15) N = -1.0364 Use N to determine F.O.S. >> FOS=0.081/(0.071+N*0.018) FOS = 1.5474 (unbraced) Now you are ready to use F.O.S. (braced) Questions about the basic use of F.O.S.? Check lecture 8.

5. Testing Day • No Instructions given on Test Day • READ LC 6 Document!! • Testing procedure identical to that used in Learning Center 1, repeating for three trials • Correct for initial displacement • Calculate average displacements • Plot forces vs. displacement in MATLAB and fit line • Correct for spring stiffness • Other Calculations • Stiffness, Bracing, and Efficiency Technical communication

6. What to Bring to Testing Day Technical communication • PRINTOUT OF SAP MODEL • CONSTRUCTED TOWER • DATA FOR UNBRACED TOWER • SAP Stiffness (kSAP) • Mean Stiffness from Experimental Database (mk)

7. What to Bring to Testing Day Technical communication • DATA FOR BRACED TOWER • Target Deflection Limit State (Dmax) • Factor of Safety • Predicted displacement (DSAP) • Bracing Ratio: B = LTotal/3000 mm • Stiffness Ratio (SAP): S = kbraced/kunbraced • Predicted Efficiency Ratio: E = S/B

8. Processing Data on Testing Day d=[ 0.00 0.74 2.64 2.64 ... 3.11 4.00 4.66 6.00 5.90]; f=[ 0.0 0.5 1.5 2.0 ... 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5]; c=polyfit(d,f,1); ksensor=0.0255; ktotal=c(1); ktower=ktotal-ksensor; dtower=4.5/ktower Technical communication

9. What if My Tower Fails? Technical communication • Teams showing honest effort still receive majority of points • Force-displacement plot will be analyzed for non-linear behavior • Indicates connection failure

10. In-class exercise: results Writing: 6/10 Fig, Tab, Eq: 2/10 Basics: 2/10 Technical communication About the report “An Analysis of Colliding Pendulums” – Section 3 • Lacking explanation • Lack of clarity • Charts have no labels • Poor use of references • Blames others • Unclear procedures • Unrealistic results • Poor grammar and spelling • Poor explanation of formulas • The experiment cannot be recreated

11. In-class exercise: results About the report “An Analysis of Colliding Pendulums” – Section 4 • Too informal • No info in abstract Writing: 5/15 Fig, Tab, Eq: 7/15 Basics: 3/15 Technical communication • Not enough information • Graph doesn’t have title nor units • Blames others • Graph’s lines are the same • No citations • Procedure is out of order • Figure’s captions not defined • Not explicit equation • No units on table • Variables are undefined • Misspellings and grammatical errors • Wrong conclusion • Significant figures don’t match in table

12. Equations Technical communication Use punctuation. Equations are part of the sentence. Do not use mathematical symbols unless they serve a purpose. Avoid starting a sentence with a mathematical expression. Use equations that are easy to read, e.g., exp instead of e. An equation is displayed when it needs to be numbered, when it be hard to read in-line, or when it merits special attention. Reference earlier (not future) equations. Do not use a letter as a dummy variable if it already serves other purpose, e.g., e, i. Be aware of universally accepted symbols, e.g., ∞, p, e, i.

13. Table number and caption above Table 1: Results of 6 trial launches of a softball from the slingshot column headings with units Technical communication

14. Plot title label axes with units line for theoretical result or best-fit points for experimental data figure number and caption below Figure 1: Experimental data and best-fit, least squares line for slingshot flight distance vs. pullback Technical communication

15. Tables and figures • In general • Label tables on top • Label figures (such as plots) below • Use number and explanatory caption • Use name, symbol, and units. • Be aware of black and white print outs • For plots • Use proper lines and markers in plots • Name both axis and provide title • Use legends for multiple lines

16. Report Expectations Technical communication • Read LC 6 Document! • Read Sample Good Report on Concourse • Body of Report - Limited to 4 to 6 pages • Abstract • Results/Discussion • Conclusion MAKE SURE TO INCLUDE REFERENCES!!!

17. Technical Communication Presentation Tips • Outline Your Presentation • Keep it Simple • Visually Appealing Colors • Plots/Charts • Conclusion • Preparation

18. Technical Communication Keep It Simple • Use bulleted items, not complete sentences • Use slide bullets as cues • Avoid wordiness • Animation • Do not use distracting animation • Do not go overboard with the animation • Be consistent with the animation that you use • Use plots/figures in place of text

19. Technical Communication Keep It Simple Try to keep your slides free from too much information. It will be easier for the audience to pay attention to you if they are not trying to read too much information while you are speaking. Also, you don’t want to read verbatim from your slides. This slide is an example of a poorly put together slide in terms of the above mentioned points. The previous slide was concise and used bullets to illustrate a few main points that could be expanded on by the speaker. This slide also uses a font that is too small, at least for this bullet point. Make sure that your font is at least 18 pt. Anything smaller than that, and you should remove some text and make a new slide. The audience has come to listen to you talk, not read a “book”. Check your spelling and make sure you know where/what animations you have included so you aren’t surprised when you have one last point to make on a slide.

20. Technical Communication Keep It Simple Hospital My team’s tower was the hospital We had 5 floors and were only allowed to use exterior bracing We used diagonal bracing on every floor except for the bottom floor

21. Technical Communication Visually Appealing Colors • Use sharply contrasting font • Ex: black font on white background • Use color to reinforce the logic of your structure • Ex: blue title and black text • Use color to emphasize a point • But only use this occasionally • Use a simple background • Light colored • Be Consistent

22. Technical Communication Visually Appealing Colors • The yellow font does not show up well against the white background. • Are there any colors yellow may show up against? • You don’t need to use different colors for different bullet points • It can be distracting

23. Technical Communication Visually Appealing Colors Backgrounds such as this are distracting Switching backgrounds is not recommended

24. Technical Communication Plots/Charts • Make Lines Thick • Make Points Large • Label Axes and Title • Increase Size of Font

25. Technical Communication Preparation • Be Prepared • Know who is speaking when • Know your information • Don’t read like script • Anticipate questions about your design • Speaking • Speak slowly • Speak loudly • Enunciate • Dress for the Occasion

26. Technical Communication Presentation Guidelines Use PowerPoint Time Limit: 7 minutes Each Team Member Required to Speak Attire: Business Casual Summary of Design & Optimization Process Be Prepared to Answer Questions

27. Technical Communication Conclusion • Include a summary of your main points • End with a single Questions slide • Invite your audience to ask questions • Avoid ending a presentation abruptly

28. Any questions?