I am in a Corporate-ish Mood today

So here is a post relevant to the mood.
A part of my job involves making presentations. Converting boring data or info or straightforward concepts into a format that becomes interesting and more important helps the audience remember atleast something of the crap you spoke.

So the rule of thumb for me when I make a ppt.....
0. Point zero is that content is king. Cannot deny that fact but the important thing is what can you do beyond the content to make people listen to you as you speak
1. What's your story? Can you fit it in a model? Think of some gimmicky models like Johari window, 6 thinking hats, Need hierarchy. Can you fit your data into that story?
2. Pictures do speak louder than words. Think back to the ppts that you have sat through. You will find that you remember the ones that had interesting pictorial depiction. You may not even remember the content (and the secret is nobody ever remembers the content) but you will remember the pictorial depictions.
3. Less is More- use simple, single sentences or text boxes to make your point - don't write the entire story in a single slide.
4. Graphs... nice way to depict data. But data is just that- data. It is nicer if you can put a 2 line summary of what you derived from the data instead of leaving it to the attendees.
5. The format- make a story, present it in verse, sing it, videos... think in the dimension of the 5 senses.
6. When you start- start with a bang. In a workshop I once burst a balloon and threw a ball at someone while making a point. What point even I do not remember but I just remember the action which woke everyone up from their afternoon siesta.
7. Modulate your voice as you move from slide to slide. Add your personal touch...be expressive.
8. Use props- posters, visuals, use the entire room, not just the computer and the screen
9. Involve people- ask questions, get them to role play. In the beginning of a presentation, I once asked the entire audience to start with a big kiss- asked them to mouth loud kisses as I was going to Keep It Simple & Stupid (K.I.S.S)
10. Sometimes I like to not tell all-leave deliberate gaps to incite the audience to question and get involved
11. Rehearse - rehearse your tone, the stories you will break into and at what point.