Rob Weir on how to be a better presenter by being clear and interesting:

Lectures are not conference papers. You should be interesting, authoritative, and informative, but the point is not to show how clever or erudite you are. Most of what you will teach is already second nature (even simplistic) to you. Your task is to help students expand their knowledge, concepts, skills, and thinking. Being clear is far more important than being impressive.

One could argue that the same principles should apply to conference papers, too.

(Via kottke.org)