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Improve Your Presentations: Steal From the Pros

What's the secret to presentation greatness? Hint: it's not killer PowerPoint slides. If you really want to "wow" your audience, consider modeling yourself after professional speakers.

Business consultant/speaker Michael Angelo Caruso rounded up five cool speaking tips from famous orators, including John F. Kennedy, Robin Williams, and Zig Ziglar:

Tell a good story. Everyone loves a good story. Motivational speaker and legend Zig Ziglar mesmerized audiences with his funny and informative stories. A Zig story could go on for five or six minutes as he interjected anecdotes, developed motifs and leveraged humor.

Zig used to drop to one knee for all of six minutes. He would often prompt a rousing ovation just for finally standing up again!

Okay, so taking a knee in a conference room might seem a little weird. But you get the idea: Doing something unconventional can wake up your crowd and keep their attention. (Maybe you'll even get them to stop texting and e-mailing.)

Got any presentation tips of your own to share? You know where: the comments!

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