In a presentation, slides and other visual aids should not take the focus away from either the presenter or the subject. Consequently, it is necessary that a set of slides be:
One way to ensure these properties is to become proficient in a presentation software package such as PowerPoint. These packages have evolved over the years to include many of the best practices for giving presentations. PowerPoint was first released in 1987 and has over the years Incorporated many additional features and characteristics.
Two features from PowerPoint which speakers should familiarize themselves with are the Slide Master (View→Master→Slide Master) which allows speakers to specify global features (typeface, font size, background, etc). The second feature is to add automatic page numbers (Select Insert→Slide Number and on the Header and Footer dialog, select both Slide number and Don't show on title slide.)
One adverse side effect from the ease-of-use of software packages such as PowerPoint is that it is easy to make a poor presentation which contains a lot of glitz and little content. Consequently, terms such as death by PowerPoint became pervasive. Just like Microsoft Word cannot help a person write a better essay (see an example of a post-modern essay generator which resulted from the Sokal affair), PowerPoint cannot create a good presentation.
Another negative feature of PowerPoint is the plethora of artistic features: moving text, items fading in and out, sounds, etc. All of these are secondary to the presentation and, in general, are not appropriate for technical presentations. There is, unfortunately, an urge in novice presenters to try to use all this glitz. This will, however, simply annoy a technically-minded audience and rather than improving a presentation, it will take the focus of the audience away from the presenter and the presentation and place that focus directly on the glitz.
It is always useful to remember that good presentations were given before PowerPoint, so a presenter should focus on the core aspects: enthusiasm and expertise, organization, visual aids, presentation skill, and answering questions. The audience will be much more appreciative if the presenter had adequate slides and a strong background than having amazing slides and a weak background.
In William Hazlitt's 1823 essay Characteristics, he says "If we think merely of displaying our own ability, we shall ruin every cause we undertake."
Never use a document-processing software package for preparing a technical presentation (or any other presentation for that matter). A document-processing package is designed to assist the user in preparing a written document, for example, a report. Using Word to prepare a presentation will make a presentation look like a report. This is because Word does not have the flexibility to prepare slides and provide the consistency and professionalism necessary.
A presentation prepared in Microsoft Word or Word-Perfect will be quickly recognized as such an will quickly draw the ire of the audience. On presentation watched by this author saw the speaker scroll through a PDF which was clearly exported from Word. In a room of 80 people, those in the back could not read the text and the speaker was reduced to reading the text. The presentation clearly screamed: "I'm too lazy to actually prepare a presentation, so I'll just read a modified version of my report."