A presentation can be given by anyone. However, not everyone can give a truly effective presentation without thorough preparation and adequate resources. There are certain elements and presentation skills that are critical to making a presentation entertaining and stimulating:

• Be Prepared - The most important rule is to be prepared. The more you practice your speech, the more fluent and natural you’ll sound when the time comes. Use personal stories and examples wherever possible in your speech. These should not be included blindly, but should, in some way or another, support or emphasize your point. The examples should match the message you are trying to send through your presentation.
   
• Stay calm - Appear calm and relaxed during the course of the speech; do not give in to hyperactivity or nervousness. Also, do not focus on the audience, but on the subject matter of your speech. Use unhurried gestures such as walking patterns and small hand movements. It is important to remember that your audience takes exactly thirty seconds to judge you. Include humorous anecdotes in your speech, but unless you’re purposely trying to be overtly funny, at no point should you mimic a stand up comedian.
   
• Practice Your Body Language - You can practice voice modulation beforehand in order to adjust the tone of your voice so that it complements your message. A powerful voice makes a deeper impression on the mind of the audience. Avoid hunching your shoulders or making nervous gestures; your body language should communicate that you are comfortable and confident.. You should plan out your hand and body positions. Pick three positions, one to your right, one on center stage and one to your left to include every one on different sides of the room, Ensure that you bring along plenty of handouts and visual aids; visual displays are much more effective in communicating your message than words alone.
   
• Use Visuals - You should grab the viewer’s attention by having visuals that illustrate your main points Make sure to take advantage of the presentation software to make your points as compelling as possible. You need to have access to adequate presentation equipment, such as a good projector and a projection screen to provide an effective display surface. In some cases, multimedia presentations with sound and video may help drive your message more effectively.
   
• Start with an Outline - It is advisable to devote some time to making an outline of your presentation before you embark upon the project of creating slides. This will help you save time and result in a more effective and clear presentation. Always remember that presentations that are designed for screen viewing not always come out the same way when you print them. For instance, dark backgrounds may look good on screen, but they may not look the same in print. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the differences for screen versus print presentation handouts.
   
• Know Your Tools - It is extremely important to have slides that communicate your important points with the utmost clarity. In fact, it takes very little effort to go from basic to brilliant. A host of tools are provided by Microsoft PowerPoint that will keep your slides precise, consistent and professional. You should customize the appearance and positioning of the entire layout using a slide master and professionally-designed slide templates. Try to make a variety of formatting changes, and see that you space out your slides effectively. Choose images that have a purpose when you use graphics on a slide. At no point should the slides get too crowded with unnecessary add-ons.
   
• Graphics Clarify Your Message - Create diagrams and charts to emphasize your main points. Slide transitions and animation should be used sparingly and consistently. Too much of them could distract from your presentation’s content. In fact, animation should be limited to key points in order to avoid overwhelming your audience. Graphics, layouts and custom colors can do a lot for your presentation. However, a presentation that has too many disparate colors and fonts, or a misaligned flow chart will not make a very good impression.

These key points will really help in making your presentation effective. Remember that at the end of it all what matters is whether the audience has actually been able to grasp your key messages. Thorough preparation along with strategic visuals and multimedia  go a long way in making powerful presentations.