You should always know much more about the topic than the piece you are presenting. Typically, there will be a screen with a large data table on it. You should *not* read from the screen. The data has led you to a proposed course of action and you need to show the audience how the data got you there, e.g. - 'Here's what the data shows.'

Focus their attention on the aspects of the data that support your conclusion. Your speaking should only be for the purpose of enhancing and interpreting the information on the screen.

Don't ever read data from the screen. It is death to a presentation. They won't pay attention.

There's quite a bit a speaker can't control. I'll just ignore all that here. :-)

What You Can Control

1. Audience. We know you have to know your audience. What do you have to know? How can you find out? Though what you need to know may vary, you have some tools you can use:
   • surveys
   • Q&A
   • interviews
   • demos
   • humor
   • role-playing
2. Clarity. It's up to you to focus the audience on the subject. Much of that is based on your ability to avoid distracting behaviors. In pronunciation watch out for homonyms, alliterations, explosions (which can garble what the audience hears) and proper nouns (which may offend someone in the audience if mispronounced).
3. Credibility. You can show you're knowledgeable and experienced, and establish the scope and niche of your work, without going on and on. (More on this HERE.)
4. Enthusiasm. Our excitement about a subject can be catching. Likewise, severity can be a turn-off. You've got only seconds to establish audience interest. Once you have them you have to keep them. Enthusiasm will help you with both, and will also cover up for errors.
5. Organization. Two critical points in organization are order and flow. Flow can be controlled with segueways; order with an outline. What information (out of all you have) MUST you present?

   PowerPoint and other popular presentation design programs can help you organize a speech. (This is probably the strongest feature of PowerPoint.) Within PowerPoint there's an Outline View to help you prepare an outline; there's also AutoContent Wizards to help you organize a presentation strategically.

6. Precision. It's better to say the right things than to say things right. You have no backspace button, no rewind.
7. Visuals. Your visual effects split the audience's attention. They should therefore complement the presentation. And visuals don't follow all the same rules as graphics used in text (e.g. size and reproduceability). What we see can fool us - it doesn't account for full context. There is a difference between seeing and beholding. What do you want your audience to behold?

On Q & A

Richard Feynman learned how to get what he wanted out of technical presentations while serving on the Rogers Commission investigating the Challenger accident:

You don't just sit there while they go through what THEY think is interesting; instead, you ask a LOT of questions, you get quick answers, and soon you begin to understand the circumstances and learn just what to ask to get the next piece of information you need.

If people ask you questions on your presentation, it's fair to assume they're like Feynman (in motive if not in depth). Likewise, what they ask you is an opportunity to find out what they need to hear. It makes you better the next time.