How do you create compelling presentations?

Great points, I would add the following: Identifying the emotion you want your audience to have after your presentation is the most important point in preparation. Do you want them to be inspired? Motivated to take action? Confident? Something else? Build the presentation to create that. Sounds obvious, but is usually overlooked - you have the power to control this. Also make sure to identify three to max five key take-aways you want your audience to have from your presentation. Tell them at the beginning, and repeat at the end.

True, but in reality, every audience will have a variety of listeners with different experience, angle, knowledge, and motivation. Establish common ground with universal language and metaphors. The greatest speakers and speeches are understood by kids, irrelevant of the complexity of the topic. As Einstein said ”If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

Plan your transitions ahead of time. If the transitions from one section to the next don’t come naturally to you, your material is probably out of order. Well planned transitions provide the “glue” that helps your audience understand the logical flow of your content.

Action titles work wonders: great such will allow the reader an executive summary just by reading them. The worst examples are titles like ”The market”, and then your audience should read how it is. Their conclusions may be different than you intended. Guide your audience through the presentations with well thought titles.

All great advice – and remember to use the “slide master” to insert slide numbers. Slide numbers make it easier during the question and answer session for your audience to interact with you. Presenters often use the excuse that they use several slide decks and don’t want to go to the trouble of renumbering them. That is why you use the slide master; it changes numbers automatically any time you adapt your deck.