Thursday marked our last full day to finalize our presentation, so everyone knew it was going to be one of the busiest days of the week. To make the most of our time, we agreed to meet at the university building at 8:00 a.m. with the goal of making as much progress as possible and, hopefully, finishing earlier than we had on the previous days.
As soon as everyone arrived, we split into our smaller working groups so that each team could focus on completing its assigned section. Since our presentation covered several different aspects of our project, this approach allowed everyone to work efficiently while still contributing to the overall result. To begin with, each group created a first draft of their own slides, focusing primarily on the content and brainstorming ideas for the layout. At the same time, two team members were responsible for the overall design of the presentation. They worked in parallel, ensuring that all slides followed a consistent visual style, that the order of the presentation flowed naturally, and that the final product looked polished and professional.
As we started working together, one of the biggest challenges of the day quickly became apparent. The American and German students had very different approaches to creating presentations. While the American students preferred to decide on the design, layout, and visual appearance first, often using AI tools to speed up the process, the German students wanted to focus on developing the content before worrying about the design. Since we had already assigned two people specifically to handle the final layout, we believed it would be more efficient to concentrate on building strong content first and then bring everything together afterward.
These different working styles led to several long discussions and cost us a fair amount of valuable time. However, looking back, it was actually a fascinating experience. It highlighted how differently students from different countries are taught to approach teamwork, presentations, and problem-solving. Even though our opinions initially differed, everyone cared about producing the best possible result, and after talking through our ideas, we eventually agreed on a common workflow. Once we reached that point, the atmosphere changed noticeably. Everyone became fully focused, and the project started coming together much more quickly.
Later in the day, each subgroup had the opportunity to present its initial progress to the professors. This early feedback session proved to be extremely valuable, as it allowed us to identify areas for improvement before combining everything into the final presentation. Receiving constructive feedback at this stage gave us enough time to make adjustments and strengthen our arguments where necessary.
Once every group had finished its slides, we came together again to present our work to one another. This helped ensure that all sections fit together logically and that there were no overlaps or missing information. Meanwhile, our two-person design team put in an incredible amount of effort to unify all of the slides, creating a consistent layout, improving the visual appearance, and making sure the presentation looked cohesive from beginning to end. Their dedication made a significant difference to the quality of our final product.
With the slides completed, the next step was deciding who would present each section. We assigned one speaker from each subgroup and then completed two full rehearsal runs. These practice sessions helped us check that we stayed within the time limit, improve the transitions between speakers, and give everyone the opportunity to become more confident with their parts. By the end of the second run-through, everyone felt much better prepared for the final presentation.
After a long but productive day, we finally packed up our things and headed back to the dorms. Although we were tired, there was also a sense of relief and accomplishment because we had successfully completed the presentation. To celebrate the progress we had made, we agreed on a place to have dinner before meeting back up at Adams Hall for the rest of the evening. It was a well-deserved chance to relax, reflect on the day, and look forward to presenting all of our hard work the following day.
