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Know your topic: Take pains to understand the finer aspects of the topic you wish to present. In case of an academic presentation research the previous work done in your topic and also the latest advancements in that field of study.

Keep in mind the audience for whom you are making this presentation. Extensive use of technical terms is appropriate only when the audience comprise of experts in your field of study.

Make an outline for your presentation such that it follows a logical order.

Select a good template for your slide. Slides with harsh or multicolored backgrounds make it difficult to read the text. Choose a simple font like Arial and font size of 18 to 20 for the text and 22 to 24 for the headings.

Never overload the slides with too much information. Write in bullet points and include key words and phrases instead of lengthy sentences to put your point across. You can always explain the points during or at the end of the presentation, if an audience needs any clarification.

Try to present the information which includes numbers in the form of line graphs, bar graphs or pie charts. Never forget to give a title to all the graphs and charts. Any audio-visual clips relevant to the topic can also be made a part of the presentation. Animations can be used to lay emphasis on key points. But overuse of animations can leave the audience distracted and bored.

Make sure your first few slides give an introduction to the topic and provide an overview of the presentation. The presentation should end with a summary of the entire agenda or the topic which was presented and can suggest future plans or research avenues which open up from the present study.

Time your presentation by practicing before hand as really long presentations prove to be dull and annoy the audience and really short ones seem to end abruptly.

Finally proof read your slides for spelling mistakes, repeated or missing words and grammatical errors.