How to make a good presentation?

presentation

[caniram]

Hello all.

A big potential customer wants my studio to do a presentation for their management about their future website. I've never done this until now, so, I'm a bit uncertain what excatly should I look for?
I've tried to read some txt's over this issue, but nothing concrete came up.
I'm interested in both, the technical and human factor of the presentation - from the form of the presentation (i.e. plain white background or rich color decorations in a powerpoint file, sound effects or no sound at all, how many bullets per page, what to put the accent at, how much time should I aim to spend in the whole presentation, etc...).
Looking in the eyes, a good suite and stuff like that are okay with me and also my confidence is high. The client is a foreign citizen, so his english is not quite as good, but neither am I, so that should be ok :)
And links, tutorials, personal experiences would be highly appreciated.

[benevolent001]

Hello caniram
Welcome to WebmasterWorld

Are you looking for presentation in
Power point or
Flash?

I made my college project presentation in flash and every one was struck by my hidden ablity to present things :) i didnt did anything but flash did

[caniram]

Hi, benevolent001

Tnx for the welcome msg.

I'm interested in whatever technology/software that is able to fulfill the task to make a _really_ good, effective presentation. So, in short - yes, I'm good with flash, of course.

Can you tell me some more info?

[benevolent001]

Start of with flash

you will find there are many built in templates there to use in flash for making presentations.
using those u can make sizling presentations within few hours :) and impress every one.

If you can tell me something more abt your client i can help you better

[johntabita]

The problem with the "razzle dazzle" approach is, what if for some reason, your technology fails to work (hey, it's happened to both Steve Jobs and Bill Gates). Will you still be able to make your presentation without it?

There are some inherent pitfalls in making presentations. Here's a good article on the topic:

The Presentation Trap: Why Making Presentations Can Cost You the Sale
www.eyesonsales.com/articles.php?a=473&6da3fa997dd4b2a47eb46d16a10c8592

[leadegroot]

From the technology side, if your html skills are good then you could use Eric Meyer's S5 - [meyerweb.com...]
The advantage is that you can take the presentation straight to the web if needed.

[caniram]

@johntabita:

Tnx for this great link. I know that making a good presentation doesn't depend only on the choice of the technology for illustrating the goals of the presentation, but also on a number of other, non-tech related issues.

Regarding the Eric Meyer's CSS slideshow, I was aware of this (great) solution, but for some reason I forgot about it. Tnx for the reminder!

[thinkaholic]

I suggest Powerpoint, as your client will have more control of the presentation, and can bullet point each topic. It's a very simple program to learn, yet very powerful.

There are numerous websites that provide pre-designed PPT templates that will save you lots of time. Just google "powerpoint templates" or "powerpoint graphics" and look around.

Powerpoint has a flash plugin that will play flash files within a slide, which would be good for short demos or scenarios that need a visual along with a description.

Using Powerpoint is also easy to edit. A simple text edit will take seconds. And of course, you can export the entire presentation as a website (if there's no animated effects).