Jeffrey Veen has posted a great bit of advice titled Seven Steps to Better Presentations, which provides a cohesive wrapper for many recommendations I have heard over the years. While he touches on the subject of PowerPoint, he avoids the growing argument as to the detrimental effect of that presentation programming, instead focusing on the presenter. It’s good stuff.
I have a couple of extra tips to add to it:
1. Eye contact. Do not look over the audience’s collective head. Look different people in the eye throughout your presentation, shifting your focus to different parts of the audience. This will help to draw the audience into your presentation and keep them interested.
2. Use humor. Humor is invaluable when driving a point home, but it can be overused. Make sure that the humor matches the point currently being illustrated, fits into the presentation as a whole and doesn’t overpower the content you are presenting. Stay on-topic.