I've given hundreds of presentations of all kinds, and in addition to the other good points already made, I've learned:

1. For many presentations, people do not remember WHAT you said as much as they remember how they FELT in your presentation.

Think about the last presentation you were at -- you probably remember AT MOST a few "memorable phrases" or ideas from what they said, but you almost certainly DO remember whether you thought they knew what they were talking about or if you thought they were blowing smoke.

More important, 6 months from now they definitely will NOT remember what you said, but hopefully will remember that you knew what you were talking about and pick up the phone to call you.

Thus, I learned that the #1 thing to bring to my presentations is upbeat ENTHUSIASM. Not fake, gushy, perky crap, but honest "hey, I think this is interesting and I'd like to share it with you" kind of enthusiasm. If you can't muster that -- I'd suggest you shouldn't be doing the presentation...

1. If doing technical presentations, beware the twit in the front row who wants to prove to your audience how smart HE is by picking nits in your presentation. I learned to start by saying "BTW, there are 5 little errors in my presentation -- see if you can catch them all." Then when Mr Pocket Protector stuck up his hand to point out the error of my ways, I would just say "Yep, that's one of them...!" and MOVE ON.

2. Right up there with wanting to yell out "Hey! I can read" to idiots turning around to read their slides to me, is a special point about WEBINARS --- even though people can't see you via the phone, they can still tell when you're READING a script!! (Don't believe me? Call up a friend and do a test yourself to see if they can tell when you switch from "reading" to "talking")

Do NOT write a word-for-word script. If you MUST have something as a reminder, write one or two word reminders.

My 1.68 cents (= 2 cents Cdn) worth...

Lew