Your data is not boring - you are.

Your PowerPoint is not crap - you are.

Your audience is not asleep because of boring data or crappy PowerPoint - they are asleep because you decided that there was something more important than producing an interesting, relevant, engaging presentation for your audience. They are asleep because you decided that all the rehearsal you needed was to fiddle with your slides for a couple of hours and mull over a few half-formed ideas the night before your talk. If 90% of presentations are average-to-poor, it's because 90% of presenters don't treat their audiences with respect.

I was working with some fabulous Neuroscientists and Psychologists last week who were talking about their experiences of presenting to audiences of peers and professors at major conferences. Their number one piece of advice?

"Don't waste your audience's time. Time is precious, and if there are 250 academics in a room, you are wasting 125 person-hours that could be spent reading, writing and researching, instead of listening to a bad talk for 30 minutes. Don't present unless you have something to say."

Great advice.

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The inimitable Dr Rosling shows how it is done. Forget the fancy, floating graphics and just watch how he does it. Observe how he sets the whole thing up; how he takes pauses to point out the big things we need to pay attention to; and how he chooses every syllable he utters with care and respect. This is a man who cares deeply about communicating his message. He is hugely passionate about his subject and takes whatever time and trouble is needed to ensure that he is communicating it to maximum effect. If he did this on a flipchart, it would still be amazing. Watch and learn.