Some Tips for Thesis Presentation for Undergrads

The "season" for the thesis defense has started. I was planning to give some tips on how to make a good presentation but I was not able to organize it well. Anyway, I promised a few students that I will write about it instead so here goes....

Let me just simplify it into four points:

1. First impression starts before the presentation.

• Dress smart. Don't dress funny. Correct code is business attire. The thesis presentation is like a project presentation to a group of decision makers.
• A presentation early and ready. Be at the venue even before your scheduled presentation. There are rare cases that the presenter before you ended up not presenting (for whatever reasons) so the schedules are moved up. You wouldn't want to be penalized for not being there for the new schedule.
• Don't be seen rushing. Have some people do the dirty work of putting up the boards or bringing in the model. The panelists should see you calm and collected.
• Everything functioning. Make sure your laptop is charged or plugged, your files can be opened and will work, especially video and audio. It is not good to let people watch you struggle making things work.
• Set the ambiance. Smile, Talk casually to the panel while waiting. Make sure you are in control.

2, Stick to the rules.

• Keep to twenty minutes. This includes the video! You have to learn to reduce your presentation to fit the time frame. Going beyond bores the panel, ending very early will make them wonder if you are seriously prepared.
• Do not read from the slides. This is an advise given by all teachers starting first year. The moment you break this rule, don't be surprised when the panel doesn't treat you like a good student.
• Use original materias. Do not use music, images or videos that are not yours. If it is necessary to use them, make sure  you acknowledge sources.
• Talk naturally and legibly. Do not change the way you talk when presenting, you will sound funny and artificial. Do not bother to use fancy words, use simple words instead. Try to speak straight English, but if you get stalled by it you can use Cebuano or Tagalog once in a while.
• Explain only the essentials. I have a previous blog about this enitled "Presenting...!"

3. Answer respectfully. 

• Beware of familiarities. Even if the panelist is a family friend, treat everyone formally. Your friend might not mind, but the other panelists will surely take issue.
• If you don't know the answer, say so. Don't try to invent something if you're not sure, Everyone prefers to move on than to keep roaming around the bush.
• If opinion differs, embrace it. State why you came up with your position but also make the panel know that you understand their position also.

4. End with dignity.

• No matter how hard the beating, try not to break down, But if you can not hold it, try to contain it as much as possible. Do not create a scene. Show the panel how mature you are.
• Always give everyone the impression that you are open to suggestions and improvements, and that you are happy for the opportunity to know more.

Finally, one has to understand that the panel are human beings and as such there are technical factors that they have to overlook if they find some potential in the student. I wrote another blog on how I analyze the way they evaluate the students. I called it "The Subjective Rules for Approval."

I hope this helps somehow. I made a lecture once about this topic and the slides I used were circulated among the students. I think they are still being circulated until now, but probably modified by some people. In any case, I do not also discount the fact that some people are simply lucky.

Good luck to all presenters!

Working with Millennials

I supervise a small team for my projects. This team is made up of millennials, those who were born from 1980 to 2000. The dean of my college in the university where I teach keep reminding us that we are approaching the demographic window, and that millennials will be taking over most of the businesses around this time. He therefore encouraged us to prepare for this because the millennials think far differently from its predecessors, the generation X, from which I belong.

Going back to my team. I only have three simple rules that I asked them to follow:

1. Keep me informed.
2. Meet deadlines.
3. Answer my calls.

How does my team fare so far? I would give them a failing grade. I have team members who disappear for days and do not answer my text or calls, not even when I ask about the task I assigned to them. They do not care about deadlines. As long as they log in and had fun, that is all that matters. Bottom line is: you have to be an inefficient and ineffective person to love to work with the millennials. The problem is, sometimes you have no choice, like me.

I know I am making generalities but it is what I noticed among many millennials I know, not only the ones who work for me. There are exceptions of course. There are still those who are professionally mature and responsible. Generally, I find the millennials simply inconsiderate.

They seem to put themselves above everything else. They particularly hate to be reprimanded even if they know they deserve it. They do not inform me if they don't come to work because they are afraid I might get mad. Never mind if I suffer or find myself in trouble because of their absence. What matters is that they are able to avoid being corrected.

Sometimes I fan out work to those who work for me and I give them the instruction to submit anything as soon as they are done so I can review their work while waiting for the other's submission. What they do is wait for everyone else to finish so they can submit all together and avoid being singled out for possible correction. On my part, I am suddenly overwhelmed by the bulk of work to review. Most of the time, they submit near or during the deadline making it impossible for me to review everything, and make revisions, to submit a good work on time.

It is true that they are fun loving, in fact I am happy that they make me laugh despite the problems they gave me. But they seem to think it is alright to give me problems for as long as they can still make me laugh. 

Millennials feel, they don't think. Try observing how they talk or reply to you. Ask them where a person is and the reply would most likely be "I feel that he is not here."

Millennials are always unsure of themselves. Show them an apple then ask them what it is. The answer would most likely be in a form of a question... "Apple?"

Millennials seldom read. In my spare time, I would grab a book or a magazine to read. In their spare time they would go to their gadgets to be lost in the world of game and social media.

Millennials are extremely sensitive with their feelings. Even a brotherly advice can be offensive for them. The next thing you know, they no longer attend a class or show their face at work.

I am not saying that they are all dumb. A lot of them are quite talented and intelligent. My main complaint is that they are inconsiderate. Although I can understand why they are like this, the fact that they put me in a tight spot many times makes me question why I should be understanding to them if they can not be understanding to me. Many of them demand respect, but respect is earned not demanded.

I told somebody that my generation invented all the machines because of our desire to control information. Now that we have done it, this new generation is getting more information than they can handle. Therefore, a mature millennial for me would be someone who knows how to control this avalanche of information. If there is one exam I should give to those who will apply for work, it should be to test how much he can control information.

Revtalizing Old Downtowns: Heritage Conservation Summit 2014

I attended the 3rd Heritage Conservation Summit held in Iloilo last October 25, 2014. It was supposed to be a three-day event, with the first day meant for an exclusive group of heritage building owners and the third day for a tour around Iloilo. I lived in Iloilo for two years so I decided against the tour, and since I'm not a heritage building owner I also skipped that one. (I learned later on that they opened the activity to everyone).

The last time I set foot in Iloilo was 14 years ago. Everything has totally changed of course. The airport is new, SM was not there yet, and even the hotel where I stayed (Sarabia Manor Hotel) was located somewhere else back then. First on my list when I arrived was to eat La Paz Batchoy. I prefer eating Batchoy only when I'm in Iloilo! The next item on my list was to find my old friends. Thanks to the internet, we managed to get connected again.

The summit was a huge success: more people came than expected, everything was on time, the audience actively participated, the place was full of people until the end, and the talks were very relevant. I also got to talk to a lot of people who are advocates of heritage conservation. It was refreshing to share ideas with non-architects. In my table alone there were two ladies from Dumaguete (an interior designer and a teacher in tourism), there was a lady who already migrated to New Zealand (a retired public school teacher), the owner of the Ruins in Bacolod and his three friends.

Iloilo did a very good job in revitalizing their downtown. When I stayed there I didn't notice that all the buildings lining up the street of Calle Real were American period structures. Now that they cleaned up the building, everything just looked different and fascinating. There is a lot to learn in Iloilo in revitalizing a heritage district and I am inspired to bring everything I learned to Cebu.

In the conference, speakers from Iloilo, Escolta, and Vigan shared their success stories. There were also people from agencies who can be partners in the revitalization efforts who shared how they can help. There were also a couple of tech experts who shared some tools in documenting heritage sites and structures using the internet and other visualization software. It had the complete ingredients for the theme of the summit.

In Cebu, where I stay, the mayor just announced that he is setting aside funds to revitalize Colon Street, I wondered if his plan is based on some studies. His effort to revitalize the American-period Osmena Boulevard was a blooper when he announced that he was going to bring it back to its glory during the Spanish era. I am now inspired to organize a similar conference focusing only on Colon St. By inviting the building owners to listen how their businesses can flourish when the place is revitalized, I'm sure that the mayor's plan will be a total success.

I am sure that every participant in that summit is moved, one way or another, to do something for their own hometown. My idea for a conference on Colon Street is just one of the many ideas I came up with. I guess this is the best measure of success of the summit, when it managed to move everyone to action. I am now looking forward to the next summit. I missed the first two previous summits, I am determined not to miss any of it in the future.

Participants of the summit take a group pic. I was at the right. We were so many I didn't fit in the picture. My pose went to waste.

My take on the Green Loop Experiment

The Green Loop Project is a very big project that one can not simply implement in a single stage. It requires complex planning since it involves three local government units and different sectors of society are also affected. At this stage, all we have is a concept. The University of San Carlos may have developed some schemes on how it would look like but these are all conceptual.

As a concept the Green Loop project is a very good project. I think everyone would agree. Imagine a loop that has bike lanes, tree-lined, pedestrian and pwd friendly.Then imagine this road connecting various destinations in the four LGUs then enhancing these destinations by pocket parks and other public places so that people from clustered buildings get together. Imagine this loop to be part of the disaster risk and management plan of Cebu making emergency calls and response very efficient. Who would not like that? The city even endorsed the Green Loop proposal as its entry to the Livable City Design Challenge.

This concept, no matter how beautiful, must be tested to see how it can be refined and made more realistic. I believe that it is in this spirit that the Green Loop experiment was conceived and conducted. The experiment was used to gather data not to make the traffic smooth. Of course it has its inconveniences! In fact, the first time I heard about the experiment I already imagined all the complaints of people, especially the lazy ones. It is laughable to hear all the complaints afterwards.

What I find amusing also is that some complaints are based on "perceived" situations. During the experiment, I was staying in Jolibee in Escario all the time because of problems with my right foot. My students in the graduate program, together with some people from the College of Arts and Sciences of USC were all over the loop doing interviews. I decided to observe the flow of traffic from where I was seated and discovered the traffic was flowing constantly although in a slow pace. It would only stop for less than a minute before it goes again and it takes several minutes in each stop. I was actually expecting traffic to stop for several minutes and flow for only a few seconds (opposite to what actually happened). When I interviewed some people myself (like taxi drivers and bystanders), they told me that traffic was not flowing at all. This was their main complaint.

Some people confuse reality with their imagination. Some people have different standards of calling things. For them, traffic flowing slowly, no matter how constant, is considered not flowing. This is why I decided not to take these opinions very seriously. It would be better to work on empirical data.

After that experiment, I thought of a number of ways that the project should do to move forward. I think everyone will agree that the main problem, where the success of the Green Loop is hinged on, is that there are simply too many cars on the streets. Strategies should be made to lessen the volume of cars. I made an initial list which I hope to study further in this coming days:

1. We can start by putting bike lanes on the streets. Nothing encourages biking more than a permanent bike lane. We have already made so many of these Sunday bike lanes. It is starting to sound impractical. The route should be well studied so that people find it useful and practical so they will actually want to use it.
2. Introduce buses to handle more commuters. This should be very easy to implement but it requires political will (the only factor making it difficult). If people find buses very intimidating then we can make an innovation... let us make the jeepneys bigger! They're starting to make jeeps out of elfs. This should be encouraged and those smaller jeeps should be kept off the streets.
3. Start building walkable communities. This is an idea we got in USC when we were going over the Green Loop project. Identify a cluster of buildings, connect them with a plaza, then provide amenities like stores, toilets, restaurants. The idea is to keep people from going far to eat, to meet, or simply to spend their free time.

These ideas are all implementable with very little inconvenience to the general public. I'm sure that other people have more ideas on how to lessen the volume of cars on the road. I get a lot of comments that Filipinos do not like to walk. Some reasons: no sidewalk and no protection from heat or rain. I worked in Makati for four years and after getting down the bus I would walk several blocks to my office simply because it is faster than waiting and taking the jeepney! Besides, the walk is pleasant with all the sidewalks there. From these we have two learnings: make good sidewalks and make public transport inefficient for short travels. The latter can achieved by enforcing a jeepney stop strategy....

All these problems are solvable. We need people who can do more than just complain. We have a lot of people who are very good in complaining. We might as well have a contest on who complains the most and make money out of this contest.

The Movement for Livable Cebu should not be affected by these complaints, even if it comes from newspapers. For me, they simply don't have anything to write about and they don't have some good ideas in their heads. I even heard a colleague in school saying the Green Loop is a good idea but it is not for us here in Cebu! What a loser!

Through the Green Loop experiment we managed to make more people know about it. This is a strategy of politicians who want to run for office. All they need to do is let their names stick to the minds of people either because they did something good or they did something bad. During election, people tend to vote for names that are familiar to them, regardless if the person is a criminal or a saint.

Through the Green Loop experiment we also identify those people who simply complain and do nothing, especially people who think that progress is not for Cebu and that we should just continue living a miserable life forever. By knowing who they are we will know who to ignore.

Vernacular In Our Time

I was accompanying the team of USC-CTU-FWU students doing a survey in Taloot, Argao, and I decided to walk around the area where they are doing interviews. Our area is along the river leading up to a spring. I noticed that all the houses have the following in common: an outhouse, a "dirty" kitchen, and a lantay.

THE OUTHOUSE

The outhouse is simply a toilet outside the main house. Since the barangay does not yet have a public sewerage system each house resorts to an outdoor toilet above a seepage pit.

This one has walls made of amakan.

This toilet is made of masonry and is shared by two houses, the house of a parent and the house of their daughter.

This is an outhouse of a house made of concrete. This outhouse has galvanized iron sheets for walls.

THE "DIRTY KITCHEN"

The origin of the modern day dirty kitchen which is now attached to the main house. Since cooking was done using firewood and charcoal, the kitchen was placed away from the main house.

THE LANTAY

More than a piece of furniture, the lantay has become a small public space in a cluster of houses. It is a place with seats which are deep enough for sleeping.

The basic lantay is a single seat. It is placed near the pathways so people resting on the lantay get to greet the passers by and engage them in conversation.

This one has two seats form an L to facilitate conversation, especially with a few glasses of bahalina.

Another version of the L-shaped arrangement.

 This version has a protective roofing.

 This is a modified tree house type. It is also placed near the pathway so people can just drop by for a chit chat or simply to rest.

This one has a store attached to it. Perfect for resting with some bottles of beer or bahalina

Thoughts on WAF Shortlisting in USC-CAFA

This afternoon the shortlisting for the entry for the World Architecture Forum was done. To determine who gets to represent USC for the competition, the last year's winners organized a qualifying competition during the summer break.The competition calls for the design of a satellite city which should be on a brownfield area, particularly an old airport site. During the preliminary presentations, the jury decided to make all the participant present again but using the Mactan airport as site instead of a hypothetical one.

There were ten entries but I only got to listen to the last half of the presentors. I am not very familiar with the details of the competition problem but after listening to the groups who presented I thought that all of them should have followed the process below:

First, they should have considered the "existing conditions" when the airport has moved out. Archt Sia pointed out that the MEPZ might also go as a result of this. What else would go? The tourism sector? the golf course? Most of the presenters did not even include land uses and road networks immediately surrounding their sites. It is as if they are designing a purely independent development.

Second, they should have established the relationship of the project with its neighbors: the nearest neighbor around the site, then the more remote neighbor (mainland Cebu). This relationship should then translate to land use and transportation linkages. There were very few who considered this. They did not even bother to indicate how existing roads connect to their development. And land use? No one presented how they arrived at the area allocation of each land use. There was a proposal where majority of the site is open space... will the remaining economic activity sustain the satellite city?

Third, they should have designed for self sustainability. It is true that they have to link up with other places but this is a satellite city after all, so it should be able to stand on its own.

They should have introduced the urban design strategies on land use and transportation as the last step. These are the details. To many presentors, they concentrated on enumerating these at the start not mindful of how they tie up with the grand scheme of things.

Aside from the above observations, I also noticed that most groups do not know how to make good use of the time alloted to them for presenting their proposal. They were only given 10 minutes. This is half of the allocated time to present a thesis. Instead of going directly to their analysis and solution, most of them spend half of their time on the introduction. There really was no need to inform everyone the history of the Philippines or Cebu, or what are the existing conditions (since the hypothetical future is more important). To make it worse, they deliver this with so much theatrics. It gives you the impression that they are more concerned with entertaining the audience than presenting a solution.

Anyway, my friends told me that two groups were selected with the idea of combining them, and a couple of other individuals were also added to the mix. The first is the group of Micmic Kindica, the other is the group of Steffi Go. I didn't get the names of the two other persons.

I didn't get to listen to the group of Micmic, but while they were preparing outside the lecture theater they showed me their boards. I didn't really grasp their solution by looking at the boards alone so I simply pointed out my observation on the relationships particularly the existing road network. Apparently this is something that Archt. Maxwell Espina kept looking for in the proposals I witnessed.

I listened through the presentation of Steffi's group. My impression was that they were designing the city in the manner of modernists. It reminded me of Le Corbusier's City of Three Million but in a very small scale. Archt. Maxwell summed up my observation when he called it "dehumanizing." There was a bright side in their design, but it was all thanks to Archt. Yumi Espina who pointed out that the other half of the site which they left for green space could be treated similar to New York's central garden. The concept was good, although it was not intentional and they need to rework the interpretation.

Overall it was a very good exercise. I hope all the students learned from it. The group of students chosen to represent USC are very good students and I am sure that the jury, composing of no less than architects Buck Sia, Alexius Medalla, Maxwell Espina, Yumi Espina and Bro. Lanyi will help them refine their solutions and come up with the best scheme.

I was very happy that many students took part in this competition despite the half-hearted support they've been getting. I hope that those who were not chosen would not consider all of these as a waste of time. For all they know, they have learned more here that they would in normal circumstances.

What the Year of the Snake brought me

We were planning our preparations for the new year's eve and in the process we talked about how we spent our new year's eve last year. It was in Bukidnon, in the house of my sister. I was a bit excited then because I will get some fireworks again. Fireworks are banned in Davao so we basically have a silent new year celebration every year. We liked it, though, because we didn't have to worry about accidents and cleaning up and health hazards. What I suddenly realized is that, while it happened a year ago, it seemed like it happened just a couple of months ago. Time really move fast, and I wondered how I spent the year 2013.

If I have a great achievement this year it would be finally getting my diploma on my masters in architecture. It took quite a while (and a lot of expense) but I finally finished the program. Because of my thesis I was assigned in Design 9 and also in CHERISH to teach in architectural conservation subject.The workshop we gave the student involved the Pasil district, but in a wider scale it involved the development of the old downtown Cebu as a result of a proposed third bridge to Mactan. This is also related to another involvement I had this year, the MEGA Cebu project. So far, my involvement had been to provide a limited technical service. I'm hoping to be more deeply involved by setting up a GIS office in CAFA to support the project.

CAFA is moving towards doing more research as part of the university's move to become a research university. I got to present my thesis in two occasions: the Annual Conference for Architectural Research and Education (ACARE) in Bicol, and the Biennial Research Forum in USC.  Dr. Green also got me more involved in research by putting me in the research committee. We started some initiatives like the brown bag meetings and the Pecha Kucha. We are also in the middle of a research proposal workshop which we aim to involve our faculty and those from other university departments. We also made a line up of activities for the rest of the semester.

The other year I was very happy when the chairman approved my request to teach the theory subjects other than the history of architecture subjects. I felt that this is where I have more edge than the others. This year I was made head of the history and theory cluster. I find this exciting because our cluster made some plans to offer a separate course on Filipino architecture and I can finally get to make it happen. I also started teaching in the graduate program, something that was part of my long term plan.

There were other things that happened in the university this year that is worth noting: meeting Shigiru Ban, my involvement with Lantawan, and a few other "achievements."

In our professional organization, the UAP-Sugbu Chapter, I was elected secretary for this year. My term will end on June. Although we had a lot of activities so far, it was more because of our president, Other than this, my only other professional involvement outside the university is a restaurant I did for an old client, and the Gabaldon restoration project with the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. which is on hold because of the typhoon Yolanda.

One of my happiest moment this year is a reunion with my old boss when I worked in Manila. Its been seventeen years. I also got to meet another colleague at that time but we met some years ago and she actually facilitated this reunion. We were also planning to have a reunion with the rest of the staff. It was a dream team for me. Not only were they super efficient people, they were also my first true friends after college.

I tried to think of sad part of my year but I couldn't. There was that incident when I wrote a blog denouncing some developments in the University and I got the ire of the college of engineering and even the university administration but that was not something to be sad about. I also had a falling off with a friend because of money matters but, again, it's not something to be sad about. I also "kicked out" my housemates before - five siblings living with me in a two-bedroom apartment! - and got a colleague who also teaches in CAFA as a replacement.

I do remember feeling a little sad when I decided not to be coordinator of the intramural games anymore, haha! Such as petty matter!.There were many instances when I get anxious over problems but after I got to solve them I simply forget about those moments of anxiety or depression. Perhaps this is the greatest thing that happened to me this year: I have become stronger and more confident in myself. I had my time of being meek and mild but instead I became a victim of bullying by people that I used to admire.

All in all I think it was a good year. It went by so fast for me but it was also filled with good things. The coming year is the year of the wooden horse, Reminds me more about the Trojan horse. I already made my goals for this year and I hope to fulfill all of them.