(photo by Sociable Media)

Beyond Bullet Points is a Web site and book that helps you make more effective presentations. I just watched the first -five-minute screencast to help me get started using the story template you can download from the Web site.

Just going through the video and applying the ideas to my presentation, I was able to iterate quickly from a boring, traditional theme to a more interesting take on the same information. There's much more there but this is a great start. 

You might think, "how can I make a compelling story from these boring charts and bullet points I need to present?"  As Merlin Mann says, "suck up your pride and make yourself fill out Cliff’s Word template for telling your story."