finance-topic presentation

The presentation must be your own conception and execution and represent a substantial creative effort. The topic should fall within finance, broadly defined, including but not limited to: corporate finance, asset pricing, domestic or foreign markets (ex. stocks, bonds, derivatives), institutions (ex. central banking, commercial banking, underwriting, insurance, brokerage), or related topics in economics and accounting. Each of these areas is itself broad, so you need to narrow your topic down. For example, corporate finance includes corporate governance, which includes executive compensation and its own sub-topics. Pick one.

Choose a topic you like and where you believe you have something original to say. The presentation style we get most often is the stock pitch. But the very best presentations feature original data analysis. Less impressive are broad discussions based on personal opinion rather than facts or supporting analysis. If you are a finance major, we of course adjust our expectations upwards compared to non-finance majors.

Your presentation will be reviewed by our faculty using 5 criteria: Format (details below), Communication (language, exposition), Visuals (slides, poise), Rigor (logic, factual basis), and Creativity (originality, appeal). Another way to frame this is as Buy, Sell, or Hold?: Have you proposed a clear and compelling idea, such as a stock recommendation or a research conclusion, and thereby given us good reason to consider you?

A maximum 5-minute digital video recording of your presentation.  During the first 20 to 30 seconds, you must state your name and the title of your presentation, and give a verbal outline of the talk and your main conclusion or recommendation. After this short introduction, you must share screen and give the presentation. Make sure to use presentation mode (full-screen view) and use a cameo inset box to remain visible during your narration, as illustrated below. For the last 20 to 30 seconds, stop share screen and conclude the presentation as you began it, in full-screen mode. Thus, the presentation starts and ends in the same way, with you in full view against the virtual background.

You must use MS PowerPoint (any version). Use basic animation features, such as staggered bullet points or pointers, to support your presentation. You may use up to 8 core slides, 1 title slide, and 1 conclusion slide, for a maximum of 10 slides. Show just a few, short bullet points on each slide, not a mess of words. Use a simple font style and large font size (ex. Calibri, 24-point or larger). Use plots and graphics as needed. In short, make sure your visuals are crisp and clear and support your presentation as effective as possible.