Your audience will attend your presentation with certain needs and interests, and it's your job to discern what they are before preparing your speech. Having relevant and current information is a critical factor in producing and delivering a successful presentation. So how can you proceed in the right direction on the road to producing a presentation that is relevant to your audience's needs? Here are some pointers:

• Outline your plans and main points before starting to work on your presentation. You must remember that the main purpose of a presentation is to share information on an interactive level with the audience. Preferably, this information is such that they cannot acquire it simply by reading a readily accessible book, article or handout. Therefore, you must ensure to cover all the main points that are of interest to your audience. The presentation should offer something different that will act as a magnet to attract the interest of your viewers, so figure out what that extra something is that you can offer to the audience to give them that "wow" factor that separates most presentations from the truly effective ones.
  
  
• Do extensive research on the background of your audience, their needs, and factors such as age and gender, their level of familiarity with your subject matter, and what their expectations might be. Take into account the purpose of the presentation in the first place, and try not to deviate from the main theme. You need to respect the fact that the viewer has also taken time out to attend your talk, so the speech should reflect appropriate effort and impart information that is appropriate to their needs.
• No matter how attractive or professional the supporting visuals to your presentation or delivery are, you will succeed only if the presentation is based on content that is informative and solid. Try not to bore the listener with too much unnecessary information; stick to simplicity. Also, be careful not to confuse simplicity with condescension; the audience shall not be taken for granted or assumed to be ignorant. This is where your research regarding the audience's background will help most.
• The structure of the presentation shall be sound, clear and forceful. Without this, even the most appealing delivery, style or visuals will fall flat. It is difficult to design an understandable structure if your objectives are not clear . It is not enough to have a rough road map or a general agenda that pertains to your presentation; it is clarity and flow that is important. In fact, the audience might get exasperated if the presentation lacks focus or is muddled.
• When you are in the process of building your content, try to visualize yourself in the place of your audience. Try to figure out what points would interest them and what answers they would like to know. If the content fails to interest you, do you really think your viewer will care about it? So plan out your speech accordingly. A presentation can be called successful if the audience remembers even three points from the talk.
• Stories and anecdotes are an integral part of a good presentation. The best presenters interweave their content and material with lots of illustrations and personal stories. These anecdotes are also easy to remember and have good recall value. However, a story or an illustration should be concise, crisp and to the point and should support the main content.

In the end, it is vital to remember that it is your level of confidence that will help you out in even the trickiest situations. The key to turn up the confidence level is to get plenty of practice and rehearsals before the actual event. That will ensure that fear and anxiety that is produced from unforeseen events is removed. This in turn will raise your level of self belief and confidence which will help you in making the best presentation possible.

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.