I’ve written an eBook on how to give great presentations (or, at least, how not to suck so bad at giving one). It’s available for free for the first 1,000 people who download it. After that, the laggards who are late to the party will have to pay through the nose to be able to get their hands on this.
Right-click on the following link, and save the PDF file to disk by selecting “Save link as…”:
TenThingsYouNeedToKnowSoYouDontSuckGivingAPresentation
Well, the first 1,000 people got their free download, and so the eBook is no longer available here. However, it is available on Lulu.com for the measly price of $2.49.
Click on the book image to go to Lulu.
Ron Shevlin's Marketing Whims 
Great read, I am always envious of those who can connect those irrelevant stories to their presentations. I will definitely be trying a few of your tips to bring down the level of suckage in my next presentation.
Good stuff!
True story: when I was in high school, I participated in Academic Decathlon, and one of the sections of that competition is a prepared speech. I was and continue to be a fidget, and in high school I wore a lot of rings and bracelets, plus long dangly earrings. My coach noted in practice that I would gradually switch from one piece of jewelry to another, fidgeting as I gave my speech. So: right before the speech section, she’d come up to me and hold out her hands, and I was required to remove every single piece of jewelry and give them all to her until afterwards. (IIRC, I actually won a medal or two in the speech section. Thank you, Mrs. Nicholson.) According to my younger sisters, she used me as an example of fidgeting problems for years after I graduated.
I’m not really that much better about it as an adult, but I’m definitely aware now! (And at least I wear less jewelry now.)
Thanks, Terri. I’m thinking of retitling the paper “How To Be A Presentation God(dess)”. So instead of bringing down your level of suckage, the eBook can help raise your level of Godessness.
I like to think I don’t suck at this…
But I learned a lot from Seth Godin’s view of Powerpoint a few years ago that started me down a very positive path:
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/01/really_bad_powe.html
BK: Funny you should say that. I ultimately edited this out, but at one point, I had a paragraph in the intro section, that went something like this:
“There are three types of presenters: Those who are really good, those who are really bad and know it, and those who are pretty bad but think they’re pretty good.”
I’ve seen you present. You’re in the first category.
Thanks for sharing, I especially like the idea of the pre-close, which seems so obvious when you say it, but I never would have thought of it.