In addition to required and elective coursework, an internship (which may include AdLab), MS in Advertising degree students, also are expected to fulfill a new presentation requirement.
This presentation requirement replaces the comprehensive examinations (though students can still pursue professional project through the graduate London program to meet their individual goals).
Students will complete presentation requirement remotely. The presentation requirement is as follows:
- Toward the end of every fall and spring semester, we will hold Presentations Days on two Fridays and/or Saturdays. Students who hope to graduate in that semester will deliver a 10-minute long presentation responding to the capstone project approved by the faculty. A short Q&A (3 minutes maximum) will immediately follow.
- Students will supplement their talk with brief presentation slides (PowerPoint, PDF, or Keynote), unlimited slides, maximum of 20 words per slide, 30-point font or larger.
- Presentations must be developed and delivered individually and not in groups.
- Students will complete this final requirement with minimal advising from faculty members. While faculty may answer general questions to clarify instructions, process, or supporting materials, they will not provide one-on-one counsel on specific presentations. This ensures students can demonstrate their mastery of advertising and no one student will receive an unfair advantage.
- A panel of two BU advertising faculty will judge each presentation and score it to arrive at a pass or fail.
Logistics
- Intentions: The department will invite eligible students to declare their intention to participate in that semester’s presentation (via Google form) during the first two weeks of school, with a deadline to declare intentions by February 7, 2025.
- Ongoing Communication: Students who make this selection will be enrolled in a special Blackboard course where they can obtain information about the proposal process and more detailed presentation requirements as well as sign-up for their presentation slot (via a link to Sign-up Genius). Ongoing communication about presentations will take place via Blackboard (with email alerts).
- Topic Approval: Students must submit a brief one-page proposal via the “assignment” function in Blackboard by February 21, 2025, outlining their topic. The proposal must clearly indicate an advertising-related problem/challenge that the presentation will address – from either a creative, analytic, or strategic perspective – and offer the student’s point of view on how the issue can be solved.
- The faculty will return feedback on the proposal by February 28, 2025.
- Presentation: The presentation will occur toward the end of the semester on May 2, 2025.
- Students will sign up for their presentation slot via Sign-Up Genius.
- By April 30, 2025, students will upload their presentation slides to a pre-determined location. Specific instructions about this will be in Blackboard.
- The master schedule will allow 15 minutes for each student to cover setup, grading, and transition times.
- Depending on the number of students and faculty availability, multiple panels may be assembled on the same day.
- All presentations will be recorded in the event of a grading dispute.
Grading
Students’ presentations will be evaluated across three categories by two faculty members. Each category will be weighted according to the points below, totaling to 100 points between two judges. A score of 69 or below will be considered a failing grade, and the student will need to re-attempt the presentation in the following semester. Any score 70 or above will be a passing grade.
The three evaluation categories are:
- Content, Relevance, and Insight (30 points)
- Is the presentation a professional level of quality?
- Is it accurate?
- Are the arguments well supported?
- Did the presentation solve a clear advertising problem/challenge either creatively, analytically, or strategically, and offer a unique point-of-view?
- Structure & Clarity (10 points)
- Is the purpose of the presentation clear? That is, is the student explicit about what they intend to tell us?
- Is there a clear intro, body, and conclusion?
- Does the structure make sense?
- Does it flow well?
- Delivery (10 points)
- Is the student well prepared and confident in their delivery?
- If using slides, does the student depend on slides too much – e.g. reading slides verbatim?
- Was the presentation delivered within the 7-minute window?
All presentations will be video recorded in case of appeals and/or split decisions (e.g., where one judge has awarded 45/50 points but the other has awarded 20/50 points. A student has the right to appeal the judges’ decision as per BU COM’s guidelines.
Sample projects for students
Students declaring their intention to deliver the final presentation will receive the official Fall 2024 prompt via Blackboard.
Students can develop a presentation from any of the categories that are part of the advertising industry: e.g. creative, account management, consumer insight/strategy, media, production, branding, and experiential. Students will present this plan as a 7-minute (maximum) presentation, with a 3-minute Q&A.
The presentation should draw upon the concepts you have learned in coursework for your degree, internships, AdLab, or a specialty of particular interest. While this will take a lot of work, this presentation serves as a capstone for your master’s degree, will illustrate the synthesis of your graduate education in advertising, and should serve as an exemplar in your creative, account, or planning portfolio.
Most importantly, your presentation must solve a clear problem/challenge either creatively, analytically, or strategically, and offer a clear point-of-view.