Presentation tips

It’s quite simple: a PowerPoint presentation should have ten slides, last no more than twenty minutes, and contain no font smaller than thirty points.

Consider a very simple graphic alongside a few words. Something Steve Jobs from Apple does very well. iStockPhoto

Do a cold open

Metaphorically: clear your throat as little as possible when you start. Try to open with something in the real world — an anecdote, a memory, an image, something that grounds your talk in the “right now” and that skips the whole “Here are the nine things you will learn today…” jibber jabber. You can always do an introduction second, once you’ve set the tone and gotten people’s interest.

Look at the faces of the people you are speaking to. If this is hard, look in between their faces.

Never look down or look at notes after asking a rhetorical question. Look at your audience and wait a couple of seconds. This little trick helps an audience feel as though they were personally asked the question.

Tell them what you are going to talk about. Tell them. Tell them what you've told them.

Practice.
Practice with audience.
Practice again.

You’ll be surprised what you’ll find…

Present some examples that make it obvious what you’re trying to say.

1- Think of it as a story, not a presentation.
2- Instead of bulleted Powerpoint or Keynote slides, consider diagrams, interactive demos or photos.
3- Consider not using slides at all. One of the best presentations I recently watched at DUX 2005 involved no slides, but tools and utensils to demonstrate how Indians made coffee. She then continued to draw analogies of the cultural significance of Coffee to other person to person and computer to person relationships. It made me want to read her paper.
4- Know who you’re talking to and their level of expertise.
5- Don’t wait till the end to answer questions. It kind of makes it feel like you’re just powering through to get to the end. Also, this makes it feel more like a dialog than a monolog.
6- I reiterate what others have said. Know your shit. Backward and forward/ up and down.
7- Relax. Well, at least try. A shot of scotch ten minutes before might help. Unless, of course, you’re an alcoholic. Don’t take it so seriously. Audiences can sense stress.
8- Always give them something to walk away with (Tufte)
9- Arrive 15 minutes before (Tufte)
10-Finish before you’re supposed to (Tufte)
11- Others here have said practice, practice practice. I think that that’s a little less important than just knowing your shit. Truly knowing your shit will prevent others from thinking you’re full of it. In lieu of practicing in an empty room, I usually stare at each slide, and go through my notecards to cement it in my head. If I need help with the actually delivery, I usually just talk to myself in the car and record it in my voice recorder. I then listen to that over and over.

The key thing is that everyone is different. Different things work for different people. In fact, I’d be interested in how much prepartion Jeff goes though because it always looks like it’s flying out of his head. Like butter.

Never apologize. If you're worried the presentation won't go well, keep it to yourself and give it your best shot. Besides, people are usually too preoccupied with their own problems to notice yours.

Not so much a tip as a law: Give everyone at least one piece of paper. A piece of paper is a record, an artifact from your presentation. People can use that artifact to help recall the details of the presentation, or better yet to tell others about it.
from http://www.43folders.com/2007/08/23/better-presentations/

1. Tell stories. Seriously. People could care less about the five ways some XML vocabulary will enable enterprise whatever. Rather, put a screenshot of your project up, tell people what you learned while doing it, then give them a slide that reiterates those ideas in easy to digest bullets. That'sdo not go from bullet-point slide to bullet-point slide trying to tell people what to think.

2. Show pictures. Got a good metaphor? Use it. "The Web is like a school of fish." But go to images.google.com and type in "sardines" or "school of fish" or whatever. Make it a slide. Then say the Web is like that. Much more powerful and memorable.

3. Don't apologize. Ever. If something is out of order, or if something occurs to you as a mistake during the presentation, keep it to yourself. They'll never know. Besides, nobody cares about the presentation itself. This is really hard, because you know the whole backstory, and you'll be tempted to explain why something isn't quite perfect. Skip it. Also, you don't need to apologize about the color on the projector, or the fact that your mic just popped off your lapel, or that a staff person spilled a pitcher of water. Commiserating is fine, however. "If it gets another 5 degrees colder in here, I'll be able to see my breath!"

4. Start strong. I can't believe how many presenters forget this. Do not get up there and say, "Um, well, I guess we should probably get started." Instead, say, "Hi, I'm Jeff. It's really great to be here, and thank you so much for coming to my session. Today, we're going to talk about...." Make sure those are the absolute first words you say out loud. No need for a joke or an opening or any of that. Just start strong and confident.

5. End strong too. "...so that's why I like social software. I appreciate your attention today. Thank you." Then stand there and wait. Everyone will clap, because you just told them you were done. When they've finished, ask them if they have any questions. If nobody asks anything, break the uncomfortable silence with "Well, I guess I told you everything you need to know then. [heh heh] I'll be around after if you think of anything. Thanks again!" and start packing up your stuff.

6. Stand. Away from the podium. Out from behind the presenter table. Keep your hands out of your pockets. Take off your conference badge (the lights will catch it and be distracting). I pace a little bit around the stage, timed with my points, saying one thing from over here, and another from over there. But don't move too much.

7. Pause. When you say something important, leave a gap after it. Let it hang there for a few seconds. Try it when talking to your friends. "You know what I think? (pause...two...three...four...) I think Bush is bankrupting this country for the next twenty years. (pause...two...three...four...) Here's why..."
http://communicationnation.blogspot.com/2005/11/seven-steps-to-better-presentations.html