Stay away from overloading your presentation with animation, sure it looks nice, but does it print well? The likelihood that your audience is going to want to have a print out of the presentation afterward is high, and in most cases the points you were illustrating with the animation (and worse sounds) will not transition well to the printed environment. This could ultimately lead to your message being lost and most certainly allow for alternate interpretation of data or of your facts.

My tips? 
 
 
 
1. No more than 25 slides per hour of presentation 
 
 
 
and 
 
 
 
2. No more than 50 words per 25 slides. 
 
 
 
 
 

Avoid using dark backgrounds...they rarely print well.

Personally I would use power point more as a prompt as to what I need to say next - I try to keep the words on screen to a minimum allowing me to expand on each screen the key messages. There is no point having all your presentation written out otherwise you may as well sit down and ask people to read it for themselves - throwing in the odd "has everyone finished that slide" before moving to the next one! 
 
Also imagery is much more memorable than words...

25 slides per hour! It varies by presenter, but I do one slide per minute at a minimum and go up from there.

Instead of bullet points, think in terms of writing a headline. It will force you remove bullet points. This makes you own the material in your head, rather than regurgitating it on a slide. It takes more preparation, but ultimately leads to a better presentation.

Seems like I just read some of this on Seth Godin's Blog http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/04/powerpoint-makes-us-stupidthese-bullets-can-kill.html

I agree with the comments on not putting all your words into your PP presentation. Therefore to use it as your handout does not make sense, unless you give it out first so your audience makes notes next to the relevant slide as you present. If your audience needs notes from you this is what Word is designed for, and enables you to go into the same detail you gave in the content of your presentation. 
 
 
 
Caroline Cooper

Here are my tips: 
1) No more than 5 words per slide 
2) Never use a word when you can tell the story with an image. 
3) One idea per slide. 
4) If it can't be understood without the presenter, it's pefect. 
 
Jeff Ogden, President 
Find New Customers 
http://www.findnewcustomers.net

Fine points, Dan, especially the "planning scenes and acts" angle. 
 
What if, instead of calling it PowerPoint, Microsoft had gone with "StoryBoard?" That might've pointed people in a much more productive direction.

Some really interesting points - I really recommend the book presentation zen. 
 
I think this is more challenging in a corporate environment, where people want all the info on packs that they can take away, which does make it more challenging to do graphical packs. 
 
I know I am wordy, so my challenge to myself next time I do one is less wording! 
 
Prezi is also interesting - we had someone update our slides in this format for a recent seminar.

Hi, really good points in your post however it seems to me that until senior managers change their ways that others will simply imitate their bad habits.  
 
I try to persuade people to begin by writing the content in the slide notes area and only when they have organised their information, to decide the best way to communicate it. They are ready to change in the training situation but it seems to disappear when they go back to their workplace.

Not sure if it is an official powerpoint, but this slide show about earth day was featured on Problogger last week:  
http://www.treehugger.com/galleries/2009/04/environmentalist-heroes-earth-day.php?page=1 
 
I like the fact that the picture and script are both on the same screen. Does anyone know what program they are using? I'm thinking this would be great format to use on a blog. 
 

Presentation Zen and Presenting to Win are two good books about presenting best practices. I've recently started using Prezi for some of my presentations and have found it much more conducive to interesting presentations that PPT is.

Regarding your comment about not displaying your logo at the bottom of each slide, I agree. I found that one of the best ways to cover material, engage in conversation and still brand every slide is to create a subtle background watermark of your logo so that it's inconspicuous. Sort of a subliminal way to get your logo stuck your audience's mind without being too brash.

Dan: Nice post. Huge, painful topic. I'd say PowerPoint misuse is mainly because of education ... the lack thereof. Not many businesses actually take the time to help or train their folks on how to present using PPT or anything else. So they usually copy their boss - which always end bad - unless your boss is Steve Jobs or Ron White.  
 
Here are some observations of mine (from attending a inane & satanic number of business presentations)- My "New Rules" of Business Presentations -- that I wish I'd learned in kindergarten 
 
1. Never copy your boss 
2. 0-10 words per slide 
3. 50-60 Font (sorta forces #2 on you.) 
4. Ban all bullet-points 
5. Text color - font - be consistent. Don't give me vertigo somewhere over the rainbow color schemes. 
6.Use vigorous language ( I cribbed that from Hemingway). Imperative verbs. 
7. No corporate gobbledygook visuals - fake people- fake smiles = Fake. Try to be creative or funny. Funny works. 
8. Use the principle of creative limitation to tell your STORY (from an article I did with Robert McKee ... he wrote the book STORY) 
 
Thanks Dan - I subscribe to your feed and keep up with your posts - just haven't commented before 
 
Info From the article - http://www.writingriffs.com/2010/03/09/businesspresentations/ 
 
Steve Kayser 

My tip is to put yourself in the place of the audience members and feel their pain. Throw away your PowerPoint if you have to. http://ventajamarketing.com/writingblog/2009/12/3-reasons-to-throw-away-your-powerpoint/ 
 
On the bright side, the crutch of a PPT has emboldened an entire generation of timid people to stand in front of an audience and deliver a talk. Even if they're doing it a bit ham-handedly, they're doing it.

Please, please, please do not read your slides to me. I can read. I agree with another comment that the PowerPoint should only be used as a prompt.

There are a lot of nice tips here but I think that there's an elephant in the room that is desperately avoiding eye contact with everyone.  
 
A presentation is you, not the visual that is projected behind you. If you're not a skilled and engaging presenter there's no content behind you that will save your reputation. A skilled presenter can make 450 slides fly by in 15 minutes if they know what they're doing and the audience will never even know it. To wit, a good presenter can also make an engaging presentation without any slides at all. Ultimately, my tip is... develop your presentation first. Then and ONLY then work on slides as a visual backdrop to support your case. 
 
Presenting is a privilege. An opportunity. A way to connect with people and not just talk at them.

I try not to use any words at all unless they actually part of a photograph. I just want the PowerPoint to be like my backup singers, just a little visual harmony to make me look good. I agree with Caroline Cooper, make a word doc or pdf as a handout.

Loved this topic. I think the biggest problem with the power point era is the fact that too many presenters READ them, and therfore don't allow for inspiration and impressions to affect them as they speak. A general rule of thumb is less is more when it comes to presenting and teaching well with powerpoint.

I would submit that you should use 2-3 slides as visual stimulation for your audience- a simple diagram of your topic-perhaps the situation review before and after your input- as mentioned- without you leading the story line, no one can figure out it's meaning nor can they read ahead and be bored. 
 
 
 
You want to leave them with the epiphany of some sort-leaving them stimulated to action not numbed from an array of ppts.

As stated before...do not read your entire presentation to me. And, avoid generic stock images at all costs. Usually very easy to spot by the audience. Pretty much says "Hey everyone out there, I really don't care enough about you folks to take the time to create something original." Presenter loses my respect, and I check out mentally.

My best powerpoints have no words -6 main points in a speech and 6 dynamic pictures that drive home the point - no words. Makes an impact!

If you're presenting to an external audience (i.e. not colleagues or co-workers), don't forget branding. This can be done subtly by creating a custom design that is used for each slide with your logo and url on the top or bottom left or right areas of the slide.

There are no bad presentations, just bad presenters.

John - I totally disagree. I have seen some BAD presentations in time. Funnily enough, my old University professors are very guilty of this. 
 
Personally, I stick to the 1 slide every 2 minutes theory to minimise the amount of slides I prepare. Works really well. 
 
I agree with everyone who has said don't read to me. I am capable of doing that myself, I have not taken time out of my day to hear you read something you could have emailed me and saved us both time.

These are great suggestions. I took advantage of a lot of these last year and was able to build a well for Charity Water. 
http://www.slideshare.net/schnaars/beer-for-water-what-i-want-for-my-birthday 
 
It was a great birthday present.

When I give a presentation, I am fairly confident that 90% of what I say will be forgotten in one week.  
 
So my focus is to make sure to reinforce the most important 10%. 
 
I shape entire presentations around ONE bottom line with THREE key ideas I want the audience to walk away with. 
 
Everything else in the presentation is linked to these ideas and bottom line. 
 
In order to prevent the audience's attention from being bifurcated, I don't put a plethora of information on powerpoint. I want to hold the audience's attention - and often I've found people are frantically trying to copy down what's on the slide instead of listening. And if they aren't listening, they will miss the most important 10%. 
 
My powerpoint slides contain any of the following: 
 
1) My bottom line. 
2) One of my key ideas. 
3) A supporting quote, graph, or chart. 
4) An image or video to help make an idea understandable. 
 
Everything must relate to the most important 10%! 
 
I usually will have one contact slide. I don't feel the need to display branding too much; if I provide a valuable experience for my audience, they'll come looking for me :) 
 
Focus on the 10%! Reinforce it! Don't let the audience forget it! If you focus on everything, they will walk away with little. 
 
Just my thoughts. Fell free to beat me around the face and neck.

You can ditch powerpoint all together using free software like TVnima: 3D presentations where you can integrate your PPT slides or media. We're seeing lots of teachers and students using TVnima, so why not businessfolk?

This video hits a lot of the "don't" points (no pun intended) in a very hilarious way.  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbSPPFYxx3o&feature=related