Your three rules are the problem, they result in
presentations that are visually stimulating, but does not carry any
information that sticks.
Such presentations are very simular to TV news. If you ask people
after watching a TV news broadcast, they in general answer that they
feel informed. But if you ask them about what was in the newscast,
they remember very little.
PowerPoint presentations have the same effect, they give the
subjective impression of being informative, but the audience learn
very little from them.
Your advice are fine if you want to be popular. If you'd rather want
to be informative, here are some better advice:
- Blackboards rule, if have the skills. But they require a lot of
the teacher in organization talent, multitasking, and handwriting.
For most people, transparents are better. Handwritten is best, if you
can write so everybody can read it.
- The basis should be the oral presentation, the slides should
support it by providing structure. This mean they should be mostly
text, but not much. A good slide has 5 plus/minus 2 bullets (yes, it
is cliche, but it works), each containing 1-3 words highliting a point
in your presentation. Never complete sentenses, they are an aid to
your oral presentation, not a replacement for it. Using handwritting
helps avoid overloading the slides.
- A bit of carfully chosen color is fine. Avoid animations at all
cost. Some topics will need diagrams, but remember, you can not
actually present raw data in this form, only the conclusions and
highlights. Keep the diagrams few, and if you have any drwaing
skills, prefer handdrawn diagrams.
- You will obviously need to know what information you want to get
across, and you should attempt the presentation at least once. But do
not learn it by rote, unless you are an actor or other professional.
For most people, a bit of improvision on the spot makes the
presentation feel more alive to the audience.
Of course, if your job depends on a positive evaluation from the
audience, or you are doing this as part of an entertainment gig,
follow the other guys advice. The audience will feel entertained, and
give you high marks (or suggest friend to hire you). My advice only
pertain to the, perhaps rare, case when you have some information it
is important to you to deliver to your audience.