I don’t know if I completely agree with # 3. Of course you should avoid *weak* attempts at being funny. But, there’s nothing wrong with being funny or having fun with a presentation if you’re authentic. If you’re naturally funny, use that to your advantage. You don’t need to be a professional comedian to make your audience laugh and enjoy the presentation. Look at Chris Brogan or Gary Vaynerchuk.

That said, don’t force the funny if it doesn’t come naturally…!!!

“While I agree that one shouldn’t use tacky visuals (NEVER use clipart! Cheesy!), less text and more professional photos are usually a good idea (if they support the context of the slide). Move your text to the notes pane and use as a script of sorts.

Be sure photos are professional and simple composition, though, and high enough resolution to project without pixilating. Stock photography is finally affordable, so no excuses for stealing images from the web (they’re usually too small to project anyway).

I once knew a man who put a picture of his daughter in every presentation, whether it jibed w/the message or not. Message is cutting costs w/a picture of a kid w/chocolate ice cream all over its face. Hmmmm. Save it for the family reunion.”

If you think presentations are bad in the sphere of business – try working with academics! I made my own list of presentation offences after coming home in a furore from a particularly shocking academic conference (you can find them archived here). There’s a lot of cross-over with the BNET list, but a few things that academics (at least Australian ones) are really bad at are trying to sneak in extra content by loading slides with vast quantities of text and failing to demonstrate why their research is relevant.

I also agree with the site layout – incredibly confusing and it’s aggravating to have to click 10 times to get through the blog post.

Aude: great point. A little homework on your audience goes a looong way.

Bruce: I know, right??