Hopefully you’ve heard that SlideRocket is the official online presentation partner for the upcoming SXSW Interactive Festival, March 12-16, 2010 in Austin, Texas.

Are you presenting this year? If you are, we are providing you with a free Business Edition account. Sign up to claim yours today, and we’ll be excited to help you get started in SlideRocket!

As the official online presentation partner of the event, we are thrilled with the opportunity to work with those of you presenting at SXSW to maximize the impact, effectiveness and lifetime value of your presentation. And good news for SXSW attendees- SlideRocket now becomes your go-to resource for event content – since our presentations are embeddable, SXSW will be able to share them on their site post-event, and the presenters can also do so on their own blogs or websites.

An incubator of cutting-edge technologies, the SXSW Interactive Festival brings together the world’s most creative web developers, designers, bloggers, wireless innovators, content producers, programmers, widget inventors and new media entrepreneurs. Until SlideRocket, presentations have been limited to flat, static slides built with antiquated technology. SlideRocket’s application changes the way people think about presentations – now, they are completely interactive, engaging and collaborative.

If you are presenting at SXSW this year, we would love the opportunity to work with you on your presentation.

Let’s get started with our top 10 tips for presenting:

1. Engage your audience

Check out our recent seminar, “The Backchannel: Presenter’s Nightmare or Dream Come True?” and learn how to make your presentation a two-way experience for you and your audience using social media tools such as Twitter.

2. Know your audience and interact with them

Take time to gather insight about the people you’ll be presenting to and ensure that your presentation packs a punch. Take polls or surveys, ask questions, or solicit input at various points throughout the presentation.  Here are some things you should know to keep attendees interested.

3. Use color

Evoke emotion and reactions, garner attention and influence the mood of your audience by reading our tips on using color in your presentation here.

4. Consider your angle

Point of view is everything. Stephanie Silverman of SilvermanSpeechConsulting has a great guest post on our blog, outlining 10 things to think about as you create and deliver presentations.

5. Use body language to enhance delivery

While what you say is very important, most often it’s the non-verbal cues you give that will determine how the audience responds to your presentation. Here are some great tips on our blog.

6. Maximize your presentations to achieve success

It can be difficult to promote yourself with a clear message, in a compelling and engaging manner so prospects understand and relate to the value of your product or service. Take a look at our newly updated Customer Page to get an idea of how SlideRocket users are meeting their business goals.

7. Record Audio

Creating pre-recorded content is a perfect way for allowing your presentation to live on after you are done speaking. Here are some best practices for recording audio.

8. Structuring your slides for maximum visual impact

The way you display information on your slides can make or break your presentation. Check out our tips, which include ideas on font selection, image selection and color usage.

9. Know how to use charts and diagrams

As research proves that visuals increase information clarity and retention, charts and diagrams continue to play a prominent role in presentations.  Learn the right way – and a wrong way – to structure and use them.

10. Effectively use presentation handouts

- Handouts are a great way to enhance your presentation, serving as a valuable reference tool.  Avoid rendering your handouts useless with these tips.