http://www.presentationzen.com/ might just be your new best friend.

What defines a good presentation really depends on the type of presentation. Steve Jobs is excellent at emotional presentations. If you pay attention, you will realize that he doesn't communicate a lot of information. However, the product announcements are about hype rather than data. This presentation style is more appropriate for external rather than internal settings.

Regardless of the setting, one of the most important elements that I've noticed is the Story. Successful presentations have a unifying thread throughout.

I don't think Steve Jobs is that great a presenter, Ballmer is (much) worse though.

A good presentation and a good presenter are two different things. A good presenter can give a presentation about essentially boring material and make it live, be memorable. A bad presenter can turn a great presentation in to an ordeal.

I've linked here once to a youtube video of Joe Ades, have a look at it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCUct4NlxE0&feature=relat...

The subject is 'potato peelers', from a street vendor no less.

That man has more feeling for presentation in his little finger than any amount of high flying consultants that lecture on the subject.

Watch the crowd he draws and how well he interacts with the people.

Of course he's had years to hone his 'patter', but still, I can't imagine watching someone trying to sell a car, much less a potato peeler, and presenting is essentially a sales job.

He manages to turn the mundane in to something interesting and engaging.