Week 10 — One Idea on Screen: Design and Place Your Presentation Aid

Assignment 9 of the term — design the one aid your next speech needs, count and redesign a crowded slide, plan how you will reveal, reference, and return it, and explain to a friend why a slide should carry one idea.

This adaptive assignment uses a coaching dialogue to help you turn a first attempt into clear, careful work on your own aid. You remain the speaker and the designer. The coach asks questions, checks the reasoning you show, and waits for you to revise before it produces the required report. This week's lecture tutorial, quiz, discussion, and Speech Workshop practice the same ideas from other angles; this assignment is where you put them together on a speech you will really give. It builds on Week 2's situational lens: the size, setting, and equipment of your room decide what your aid can do.

The task

This week's shared example is the running speech's aids and the crowded-slide redesign, which are illustrative and attributed to no one. Chapter 10 counts them. The crowded draft slide for the running speech's main point II holds:

• the headline "Plate waste is targeted by changing how food is served" (10 words);
• the subpoints "Trayless serving cuts how much food diners take." (8 words) and "Portion-controlled serving lowers plate waste further." (6 words); and
• the whole of the speech's second oral citation pasted underneath in small gray type (50 words).

The redesign is the running speech's bar graph alone: the headline "Plate waste by serving style" (5 words), three bars labelled Tray, Trayless, and Portion-controlled (3 words), and a small "Illustrative" tag (1 word). Chapter 10 also walks through an illustrative chatbot that, asked for a slide on main point I, returns 7 bullet lines, a pie graph of plate waste in each week of the term, the line "30–40% of all food is wasted!" with no source, and the comment "This slide looks professional and engaging!"

Work these four problems, and show how you reached each one:

1. The six-by-six heuristic allows at most 6 lines with at most 6 words a line. How many words does that ceiling allow on one slide?
2. The crowded draft slide holds a 10-word headline, subpoints of 8 and 6 words, and a pasted citation of 50 words. How many words does the slide hold in all?
3. The crowded draft slide holds 74 words, and the six-by-six ceiling is 36 words. How many words over the ceiling is the slide?
4. The crowded draft slide holds 74 words, and the redesigned bar-graph slide holds 9 words. How many fewer words are on screen after the redesign?

Beside each answer, add one brief explanation, and use your own next speech for the parts that ask for it:

• Problem 1: name the one presentation aid your own next speech needs, its type, and which of the four functions (clarity, retention, interest, credibility) it serves for that audience. Then name one fact about the room, from the situational lens, that shapes how you will build it.
• Problem 2: match the three illustrative data sets from Chapter 10 (a college budget's shares, a recycling rate over 5 years, enrollments in 5 departments) to a pie, line, or bar graph, giving the question each data set answers. Then say which graph type your own aid needs and why, or why your aid is better as another type, such as an object, a map, or a demonstration.
• Problem 3: describe in words a first draft of your own aid, count its words against the six-by-six ceiling, and name two design principles it meets or breaks; then describe your redesign and state its one idea. Then write your reveal, reference, return plan: where in the speech the aid appears, your one-sentence reference, and your one-sentence backup if the screen fails.
• Problem 4: in the illustrative chatbot slide, name its four problems (crowding, the wrong graph, a statistic with no source, and hollow praise) and the fix for each, and explain why praise for how a slide looks names none of the four functions.

Explain it to a non-expert

Your friend will give a three-minute budget update at a neighborhood association and plans to paste the whole budget spreadsheet onto one slide and read it row by row. Write a 3–5 sentence message that explains, in everyday words, why one idea per slide works better for listeners; which graph fits a budget's shares and why; how to show it, point to one part, then take it down; and one limit, such as using only real, sourced numbers or treating the six-by-six heuristic as a rule of thumb. Explain any course term in everyday words. More than one good answer is possible; this message is scored with Problem 4.

For a different, ungraded example, imagine a coworker who will give a five-minute safety update at a team meeting and plans to paste a full page of the safety manual onto one slide. Model answer: "A full page on the screen means everyone reads ahead and stops listening to you. Pick the one change people need to remember, like the new exit route, and show only that, maybe as a simple floor map. Put it up when you get to the exit route, point to the two doors in one sentence, then take it down and look at the team. Keep the manual page as a printout for anyone who wants the details, and if the projector fails, describe the route out loud."

Use that pattern for your friend, with your own wording and examples.

Part 1 — Student instructions

1. Draft all four answers, the four brief explanations, your own aid and its function, your graph matches, your counted draft and redesign, your reveal, reference, return plan, your critique of the chatbot slide, and your message to the friend before opening a chatbot.
2. Open any course-approved chatbot. Copy the entire Coach Prompt box, including its first and last marker lines, and paste it as one message. The coach will ask for your draft and then work one question at a time.
3. Answer in your own words. Show your arithmetic when asked. Use the coach's feedback to revise at least one answer or explanation, even if your first attempt was strong.
4. Never let the coach design or rewrite your slide. If it offers to build one, decline, then count its words and name its one idea yourself before you keep any idea from it.
5. Continue until the prompt's exit condition is met, then save the chat's share link and copy the final report exactly as the coach gives it.

The chatbot is a coach, not a ghostwriter. It must draw out your reasoning rather than design your aid, write your reference sentence, or write the message for you. If it hands you a statistic for your slide, trace it to a real source and say that source aloud, or drop it.

Coach Prompt

COPY EVERYTHING BELOW THIS LINE
ROLE: You are a careful public speaking coach for an introductory Public Speaking course. Draw out and challenge MY thinking about presentation aids: the four functions, the right graph for the data, the design principles, and reveal, reference, return. Do not write my assignment, design my slide, or write my reference sentence or my message for me, and do not invent work I did not show. Never invent a statistic or a source for my aid; if I cite a number, ask me who counted, when, and how many.

ASSIGNMENT: Work through these four problems in order, one at a time. Do not invent, replace, or reorder a problem. The data: the running speech's aids and the crowded-slide redesign are illustrative and attributed to no one. The crowded draft slide for main point II holds the headline "Plate waste is targeted by changing how food is served", the subpoints "Trayless serving cuts how much food diners take." and "Portion-controlled serving lowers plate waste further.", and the whole of the speech's second oral citation pasted underneath. The redesign is a bar graph with the headline "Plate waste by serving style", three bars labelled Tray, Trayless, and Portion-controlled, and an "Illustrative" tag. In the illustrative chatbot exchange, asked for a slide on main point I, the chatbot returned 7 bullet lines, a pie graph of plate waste in each week of the term, the line "30-40% of all food is wasted!" with no source, and the comment "This slide looks professional and engaging!"
PROBLEM P1: The six-by-six heuristic allows at most 6 lines with at most 6 words a line. How many words does that ceiling allow on one slide?
PROBLEM P2: The crowded draft slide holds a 10-word headline, subpoints of 8 and 6 words, and a pasted citation of 50 words. How many words does the slide hold in all?
PROBLEM P3: The crowded draft slide holds 74 words, and the six-by-six ceiling is 36 words. How many words over the ceiling is the slide?
PROBLEM P4: The crowded draft slide holds 74 words, and the redesigned bar-graph slide holds 9 words. How many fewer words are on screen after the redesign?
After the four answers, I must briefly explain each one: for P1, the one aid my own next speech needs, its type, and which of the four functions it serves, plus one fact about the room from the situational lens that shapes it; for P2, the three illustrative data sets (a college budget's shares, a recycling rate over 5 years, enrollments in 5 departments) matched to pie, line, or bar with the question each answers, plus the graph type my own aid needs and why, or why another type fits; for P3, a described first draft of my own aid counted against the six-by-six ceiling with two design principles it meets or breaks and a redesign with its one idea, plus my reveal, reference, return plan with my one-sentence reference and my one-sentence backup; for P4, a critique naming the chatbot slide's four problems and the fix for each and explaining why praise for how a slide looks names none of the four functions. I must then write a 3-5 sentence message to a friend who will give a short budget update at a neighborhood association and plans to paste a whole spreadsheet onto one slide and read it, explaining in everyday words why one idea per slide works better, which graph fits a budget's shares, how to show it, point to one part, and take it down, and one limit. I must explain course terms in everyday words.

SCORING CRITERIA: Score only evidence I supply: accurate counts from the week's slide examples (40 points), presentation-aid reasoning (32 points), clarity for a non-expert listener (16 points), and showing the work and the evidence (12 points). For each of P1-P4, give 2, 1, or 0 evidence units per criterion; one unit is worth 5 count points, 4 reasoning points, 2 clarity points, or 1.5 showing-the-work points. Sum all four problems within each criterion. Count my final message only with P4, not again with P1-P3.
COUNT UNITS: A correct word ceiling, total, or difference = 2; the right values with only an arithmetic slip = 1; a missing answer or the wrong values = 0. Do not penalize an alternative valid method or equivalent wording.
REASONING UNITS: For P1-P3 separately, an explanation that meets both parts named for that problem = 2; exactly one part = 1; neither = 0. For P4, BOTH a critique naming the chatbot slide's four problems with a fix for each and explaining why praise for how a slide looks names no function AND a message to the friend that explains one idea per slide, the graph for a budget's shares, showing and removing the aid, and one limit = 2. If full P4 evidence is absent but at least one accurate substantive part appears, give 1. No accurate reasoning = 0; naming a term alone does not earn a unit. An arithmetic slip alone is not a reasoning error.
CLARITY UNITS: For each problem, labeled evidence understandable to someone who has never taken a speaking course, with course terms explained = 2; intelligible evidence that needs rereading because of ambiguity or unexplained terms = 1; absent or unintelligible evidence = 0. Include the final message with P4 if submitted. Missing reasoning alone does not lower clarity for otherwise clear submitted work.
SHOWING-THE-WORK UNITS: For each problem, the values, labels, or steps behind the answer shown so they can be checked = 2; a relevant but incomplete value, label, or step = 1; an answer alone or no evidence = 0. Visible evidence stays checkable despite an arithmetic slip.

Do NOT invent grading rules.

DIALOGUE RULES: Ask exactly one question per message and wait for my answer. Start by asking for my complete first attempt. Build each next question from my exact words. Probe an unsupported claim and ask me to examine its evidence. When I describe a redesigned slide, ask me to count its words, name its one idea, and say which of the four functions it serves for my audience. Keep the conversation focused on questions rather than completed work.

ENGAGEMENT GUARDS: A greeting, copied prompt, yes/no reply, or one-word answer is not a substantive exchange. Do not flatter or accept agreement as evidence. Praise only a concrete move I made, and name the words you are praising. If evidence is missing, say what is missing and ask for it. Require a real revision plus a short reflection on why the revision is better. Do not issue the report early.

EXIT CONDITION: Continue until at least five substantive exchanges have occurred AND I have supplied all four answers and their brief explanations AND written my message to the friend AND revised at least one answer or explanation AND reflected on the revision. Stop only after whichever requirement happens last.

REPORT: After the exit condition is satisfied, output exactly these labelled lines in this order. Replace X with the exact earned score; it may end in .5 and must not be rounded to a whole number. Base every line only on evidence in this chat; write "Not supplied" for missing evidence and never raise the score for polished chatbot prose.
STUDENT'S SCORE: X/100
EVIDENCE FOR THE SCORE: [specific evidence from my answers and explanations]
REVISION MADE: [what I changed and why]
STRENGTH: [one earned strength]
NEXT STEP: [one concrete improvement]
Then tell me to submit this report, my revised work, and the share link.
COPY EVERYTHING ABOVE THIS LINE

Deliverables

Submit these three items in the assignment entry:

• your revised work with all four answers, their brief explanations, your own aid and its function, your graph matches, your counted draft and redesign, your reveal, reference, return plan, your critique of the chatbot slide, and your message to the friend — written, or spoken and recorded as audio or video with a transcript, or sketched as a labelled drawing with a written description; every form is graded by the same scoring criteria;
• the coach's five-line report; and
• the conversation share link.

Submit in any accessible file type or as a link; a recorded response may be submitted as audio or video with a transcript, or as text.

Equivalent route (no AI required)

This route assesses the same Week 10 skills — counting the week's crowded slide against the six-by-six heuristic, choosing and designing an aid by the four functions, matching a graph to its data, planning reveal, reference, return with a backup, catching a chatbot's crowded and unsourced slide, and explaining all of it to someone who has never taken a speaking course — for comparable time and effort, about 60 to 90 minutes, the same as the coached route. Complete the same four problems, the four brief explanations, and the message to the friend. Then audit your own first draft against the attached scoring criteria, criterion by criterion, and write a second draft. Add a 150–200 word revision memo that names one answer or explanation you changed, the evidence that prompted the change, and one question you still have. Submit the revised work, your completed criteria checklist, and the revision memo in the assignment entry; together they replace the share link and the coach's report. This route uses the same scoring criteria and the same points, with no penalty for choosing it.

How you'll be graded

The full analytic rubric is attached to this assignment in Canvas.

Academic integrity and AI use

The counts, the explanations, your aid, your redesign, your reference sentence, the revision, and the message to the friend must be your own. Do not ask the chatbot to design your slide, write your reference sentence, or add a statistic or source you did not find and check yourself. Submit an honest share link from your own dialogue. The equivalent route keeps the same workload and evidence and requires no AI account.

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