A few powerpoint rules

With a huge presentation, the Share Point on tour, coming up, I found myself sliding into PowerPoint hell. So I stopped, tossed my work so far, and laid down a few rules to be effective while using PowerPoint.

1. No, or very few, bullet points. People cannot read and listen and think at the same time. Use images that convey the story you are using to make your point.
2. Hand out the notes after the presentation and make sure your audience knows it. It's helpful to get the audience to relax and form a frame of mind to learn. Whatever you do, do NOT use copies of your slides as notes. That is a clue you did it wrong in the first place. The slides shouldn't work without you, and vice-versa.
3. Use stories. We are hard wired to understand stories, use it to get your major point across and then delve into the ugly details.
4. Avoid Hierarchy. Nothing will kill a presentation faster than drill down slides.
5. Tell the story with pictures (see #1 above) not cheesy images (except when cheesy is part of the story)
6. Use jokes. Jokes are stories that play; great at holding onto an audience's interest. But they can't hang out there by themselves, they have to be part of the point you are trying to make.