The first thing you must do as a presenter is (drum roll please) CARE!  If you don't care about your audience, give the task of presenting to someone who does, I beg you.  You must turn your focus 180°.  Think about the people who will be sitting in the seats listening to you.  It is they who are the MOST important part of your presentation.  They are trusting you with their valuable time and attention.  The LEAST you can do is design your presentations with YOUR time and attention.  Right?
 
Here are a few guidelines to keep in mind as you design, develop, and deliver this audience focused presentation.
 
DELETE BIG WORDS:  I've said this before, but from what I'm seeing out there it needs repeating, keep your super-smarty-pants words to yourself.  Impress your spouse, your siblings, your co-workers all you want.  Go crazy.  But do NOT subject your audience to 5 syllable words that require either a PhD or a 25 pound dictionary to figure out.  Here's a news flash;  making audiences feel stupid does not make you a winner.  (Unless you're running for the Alienator of the Year award.)  Grown-ups are not big on raising their hands in the middle of a presentation and asking you to define a word that they probably can't even pronounce.  They'll simply start surfing their Blackberries instead.
 
DO the HEAVY LIFTING for THEM:  It takes time, attention and thought (the same three things we're asking of our audience) but it is up to us, the presenter, to organize our material BEFORE we present it.  This means we can't just copy and paste slides from various decks the night before a presentation.  It means we should sit down with a blank piece of paper and create a (gulp) outline.  We should figure out what our main point is, and what the three supporting points will be.  Then we must decide what points will support those three points.  Lastly, we need to give thought to any stories that will give these points teeth, and then decide how we want to begin and end the whole thing.  Now we've developed a presentation that our audience can easily follow.  One they can remember, and in following and remembering easily, feel a sense of accomplishment about.  THAT'S a win win.
 
DELIVER on YOUR PROMISE:  Your presentation has a title.  Odds are good the audience came to hear you speak about that title.  Keep that in the forefront of your mind as you design and deliver your presentation.  I recently heard big time complaining from some pretty peeved women who attended a workshop that promised something and then didn't deliver.  These women had chosen this workshop hoping, trusting that they would learn how to use a specific tool, and left having learned not a thing about it.  Mad?  You bet.