Listen as a professor talks to a group of students in an economics class.
(professor)
Today, I'm going to go over the presentations you'll be giving and what I'm looking for in them. I'm sure you'll want to give really good presentations; the presentations are, by the way, 50 percent of your grade in the course. ... Did that get yo our attention? ... That's right. For each of you, your presentation is fully half of your grade in the course.
Um, first, let me talk about the topic. This is a course about economic theory, so for your presentation I want you to choose one of the economic theories from the course and apply it to some present-day situation. This means that you need to include both the theory and the present- day situation and make it clear how, uh, how the theory is applicable to the present-day situation. And ... you'll need to include enough facts about the present-day situation to demonstrate that it provides a good example of the theory you selected.
Now, let me make it clear what I expect regarding the timing of your presentations. I'm going to be very strict about the timing. You have exactly five minutes to present, not a second more. And in this five minutes you have to present both the theory and the present-day example to show how they're related. You'll be stopped at the end of five minutes whether you're finished or not, and ... you can believe me ... if you haven't finished all the main points of your presentation within five minutes, your grade will suffer. Then, after you make your presentation, the other students'll have five minutes to question you on your presentation. The question-and-answer period following the presentation will also last for five minutes, and all of the students in the audience are expected to be involved in questioning the presenter.
(student)
Professor, what if we don't know enough about the situation to ask questions about it?
(professor)
It's the responsibility of the presenter to provide enough information about the situation. If you're unable to ask questions, then the presenter hasn't done a very good job. The presentation needs to provide enough details about the present-day situation.