(more details in my class on how to give talks)

Slides

• First think at what do you want to achieve in the talk, and at your audience
• Then think for each slide about why you do it. 90% of the times you do it for YOU, not for the audience. Great talks are usually given without slides. So, do you need them? Do you need so many? So full of text?
• If you have to deliver a message, you need people to listen and focus. People are like kids.  This is especially true for professors. You have to catch their attention and focus your message.
  
• Try to plan for at least 1 minute per slide. talk through your slide. have it there for a while and discuss it. if you roll through slides very quickly, people are not going to be able to follow.
• Slides are for figures and graphics. Text is an exception. it should be used sparingly.
• People are not good in multitasking. reading and listening is not something that people do well. so either you want people to read your slide (and you don't speak, just press "next".....) or you make slides easy to grasp (a picture) and you TALK over it, expecting people to focus on what you say.
• unless you mean your slides to be essentially handouts, each element on the slide must be well visible/understandable/readable. so figure must be relatively simple, names of components must be big.
• Talk via example. examples are the key, that's what people really understand. so put examples in the slides, and when you talk over them use examples to explain every concept you present
  

Talk

• The talk must be lively.... a LITTLE bit of showmanship is useful. There is a thin line though between being lively and entertaining and being ridiculous.... 
• Also, do not use the same tone of voice throughout
• Occasionally it is good to involve the audience (careful with thesis committees, though) with questions for example, surveys, etc
• At times you can pause and ask if there are questions. It also gives the impression that you are OK with questions and ready and prepared to answer and discuss what you are presenting.
• Try to enjoy your presentation. this includes not being afraid, but it is more than that. you should be excited by sharing your thoughts, not scared. There is nothing to be scared about. even if people criticize, that's ok it is an opportunity to improve. If people do not criticize, that is still ok. Just present with enthusiasm, honesty, and an open mind in listening to comments.