Your success in life will be determined largely by your ability to speak, your ability to write, and the quality of your ideas. In that order.
If there is one presentation that everyone interested in public speaking should watch, it is the one above by the late Patrick Winston. There are far worse ways to spend an hour, and this one may help you in many ways.
I’ve wanted to summarize the most important points for a while, so I’m writing this post both to promote the video and to help myself remember the key takeaways.
Don’t start with a joke; start with an empowerment promise.
One simple tip is not to start with a joke. 
So what should you say instead at the start of your talk or presentation?
You should give an empowerment promise.
What is that exactly? Imagine your audience stepping through a door, as a analogy for listening to your presentation, and consider what kind of person reappears on the other side. 
What new ideas will they have? What new tools will they learn to use? What skills will they gain? Doing this helps people pay attention because they can clearly see what they will gain by listening.
But you need to keep your promise during the talk and, piece by piece, deliver those gold nuggets in exchange for their precious attention.
Give listeners chances to get back into the talk
We’ve all gotten distracted during a talk,by a word that triggers a story, by other people, or by daydreaming. That’s a fact of life, and it’s not something we as speakers can prevent with any technique.
However, there are a few things we can do to help people reengage and still absorb the main points. One is to keep reiterating your main points: say them once, twice, three times.
Unless we’re studying the topic seriously, we’ll forget most of a talk, unless the speaker keeps repeating the main points. 
Another trick is to use clear transition phrases that signal the previous topic is over and a new one is beginning, one that can be understood without having followed the last section. You can do this by saying things like “Let’s move on to the next point,” “Now we get to the important part,” or even “If you’ve zoned out, this is a good place to start listening again.”
Choose the best time and place for your presentation
The best time for a presentation is 11:00 a.m., in a well-lit room. At 11, most people are fully awake, not nodding off again, and not yet in the post-meal dip. 
It’s important to keep the room well-lit, because a dark room makes people sleepy. If you don’t expect many attendees, choose a room that feels full rather than a giant auditorium that feels empty. If you have to use a big room, create a smaller one within it: cluster the seats, have people sit next to each other, and consider standing closer to them when giving a talk or workshop.
These are just three of the many techniques that Patrick Winston taught in the video. If you thought they were useful, I’d encourage you to watch the whole video.