Chapter 9 of our textbook, Envision, is all about delivering presentations. No one, at least no one that I'm aware of, does this better in front of a live audience than Barack Obama.
The chapter starts by introducing the different types of oratory, something that's interesting but not particularly important to most students.
The chapter then moves on to describing audience, purpose, and persona. Speakers have to be able to effectively identify, whether consciously of subconsciously, all three of the above categories. They have to know what type of audience they're talking to. Is it an agreeable, friendly audience, or is it a hostile audience that doesn't agree with anything the speaker is saying? That's very important.
The speaker also has to know what their purpose is with their speech. I know that sounds ridiculously simple, but it's surprising how some speakers seem to trip over what they're actually trying to say. Identifying purpose, in all reality, should be done with a primacy over everything else in preparation for a speech or presentation.
Finally, a speaker must know how they want to come across. In Barack Obama's case, he usually channels a sense of leadership as well as calmness. These are qualities that we associate with "good" presidents, and he's very effective at channeling those attributes. Those things may not fit in every situation, and the speaker has to be aware of what attributes are appropriate and which ones aren't.
The chapter moves on from there, but those three points, in my opinion, are the three best things to focus on as a speaker giving any kind of presentation.
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