The presentationblogger.com website identified the following tips as the most short-sighted.
Use animation effectively
OK… that doesn’t really tell you much, does it? It’s kind of meaningless. For slides, it's best to only use fade in – and very fast. Better yet, don’t use any animation at all. It's a presentation, not an amusement park.
Let your slides guide you through the talk
No no. You guide your audience. Slides are there to support you, not to do all the work. If you feel like letting the slides do the talking, you become the support of your slides. There's no point in being there if you want to deliver document-like presentation. You might as well send an email.
You need nice slides
To make a good presentation, you don’t need nice slides. What you need to do is deliver the slides you have. It's the delivery that counts. Your audience shouldn’t be thinking about whether your slides are good or not. Even the best slides can be boring – it depends on who is talking when they are being displayed.
You need a good template
No. A template doesn’t hurt, but it won't solve your problems. Don’t think of a template, think of a plan. That's what you need. Then practice and revise. You need to become comfortable with presenting and talking. Slides come after this.
Brand all your slides
Well, branding may be important when you're presenting to people who aren't from your company. However, this is by no means a tip that has any chance of somehow improving your presentation.
-jk-