Talking about pollution in Houston? Instead of giving me four bullet points of EPA data, why not read me the stats but show me a picture of a of a dead bird, some smog and even a diseased lung? Is this cheating! Is it unfair... IT WORKS!

3. create a written document. A leave-behind. Put in as many footnotes or details as you like. Then, when you start your presentation, tell the audience that you're going to give them all the details of your presentation after it's over, and they don't have to write down everything you say. Remember, the presentation is to make an emotional sale. The document is the proof that helps the intellectuals in your audience accept the idea that you've sold them. 'I challenge this part of Seth's experience and opinion. For some people the activity of writing notes is imperative to their retention and manner of learning, so let it be, Seth you are out of order on this one.'

Important: Never hand out the written documentation at the beginning! If you do, people will read the material while you're talking and ignore you. Instead, your goal is to encourage them to sit back, trust you and take in the emotional and intellectual points of your presentation.

4. Create a feedback cycle. If your presentation is for a project approval, hand people a project approval form and ask them to approve it, so there's no ambiguity at all about what you've all agreed to.

The reason you give a presentation is to make a sale. So make it. Do not leave without a 'yes,' or at the very least, a commitment to a date or to future deliverables.

1. No more than six words on a visual. EVER. There is no presentation so complex that this rule needs to be broken.

2. No cheesy images. Use professional stock photo images.

3. No dissolves, spins or other transitions.

4. Sound effects can be used a few times per presentation, but never use the sound effects that are built in to the program. Instead, rip sounds and music from CDs and leverage the Proustian effect this can have. If people start bouncing up and down to the Grateful Dead, you have kept them from falling asleep, and you have reminded them that this isn't a typical presentation.

5. Do not hand out printouts of your visuals. They do not work without your presence.

6. The home run is easy to describe: You put up a visual. It triggers an emotional reaction in the audience. They sit up and want to know what you are going to say that reflects what is in the image. Then, if you do it right, every time they think about what you have said, they will see the image (and vice versa).