Good features:

Good features:

1. Short and sweet - one slide should have less than 4 points or lines of text.

2. Include transitions or effects in your slide to put emphasis on your point, but do not add too many.

3. Use layouts included in your software

4. Include photos/pictures in your slides to let your audience know what you are talking about. A picture speaks a thousand words - Try to blend that picture into your background

5. Use the same theme for your whole presentation - too many themes is confusing. I would use a gradient theme like theApple Keynoteat the WWDC 2009. It blends well with almost any white text/effect.

6. Use special transitions. If you're using a mac, get iWork 09 and launch Keynote. There are many great effects.

7. Use links in your presentation. For example, you have 2 points left to talk about. Easy. Just put a number '2' on your slide and animate it a little.

8. Make your presentation not too long, nor too short. A 30min presentation with at least 5 points should be okay.

Bad points:

1. Never clutter your slide! A cluttered slide puts your audience off.

2. Never use pictures as backgrounds! They totally screw your layout and wording.

3. Never use a slow laptop/computer. It may crash unexpectedly.