The Effective Presentation

PREPARATION
Preparation is everything
With good preparation and planning you will be totally confident and less nervous.
OBJECTIVE
Before you start to prepare a presentation, you should ask yourself: "Why am I making this presentation?" Do you need to inform, to persuade, to train or to sell?
AUDIENCE
"Who am I making this presentation to?" Sometimes this will be obvious, but not always. You should try to inform yourself. How many people?
VENUE
"Where am I making this presentation?"
TIME AND LENGTH
"When am I making this presentation and how long will it be?" Will it be 5 minutes or 1 hour? Just before lunch, when your audience will be hungry, or just after lunch, when your audience will be sleepy?
METHOD
How should I make this presentation?" What approach should you use? Formal or informal? Lots of visual aids or only a few? Will you include some anecdotes and humour for variety?
CONTENT
"What should I say?" Now you must decide exactly what you want to say. First, you should brainstorm your ideas. You will no doubt discover many ideas that you want to include in your presentation. But you must be selective. You should include only information that is relevant to your audience and your objective.
STRUCTURE
A well organized presentation with a clear structure is easier for the audience to follow.
NOTES
When you give your presentation, you should be - or appear to be - as spontaneous as possible. You should not read your presentation! You should be so familiar with your subject and with the information that you want to deliver that you do not need to read a text.

REHEARSAL
Rehearsal is a vital part of preparation. You should leave time to practice your presentation two or three times. This will have the following benefits:
you will become more familiar with what you want to say
you will identify weaknesses in your presentation
you will be able to practice difficult pronunciations
you will be able to check the time that your presentation takes and make any necessary modifications
So prepare, prepare, prepare! Prepare everything: words, visual aids, timing, and equipment.