I recently gave a presentation that involved the use of a handout at an Advanced Toastmasters club.
  It was a precursor to making a presentation to service clubs and non-profit organizations.
The presentation did not go over as well as I anticipated, but I learned quite a bit, and I made my mistakes in a "sandbox" environment where it did not cost me anything to make a mistake.
Hear are some of the things that I learned:

1. People really liked when I moved about the room and made eye contact with each person.
   
2. Don't do a speech-in-a-speech.
   It steals valuable time, and reduces clarity, and reduces the opportunity for humor.
   I was trying to achieve two purposes.
   
3.  There was huge amount of audience participation, which was appreciated.
   
4. Make a stronger call to action at the end.
   
5. It might have helped to have given out little token gifts when people responded to a question.
   
6. Make it more of a pep talk.
   Good feelings = excitement and $$$$.
   (Per my evaluator - Tim Mullen)Change the format of the handout that I used to be easier to follow - vertical instead of horizontal in a pretty 3-fold flyer.
   
7. I was expecting people to follow a certain pattern, based on my previous efforts.
   When they did not I regarded it as a form of harassment, but it wasn't.
   
8. Participants were frustrated because they regarded my response as not respecting their opinion.
   My attitude needed to be adjusted.
     I had to make sure to give credence to what each person said.
   
9. To preclude the problems with the perceived harassment, present sample data instead of making all input interactive.
   This speeds the presentation, and assures that I will not get input that may require me to contradict someone.
   
10. I used a whiteboard, which worked well, but if I had an assistant write down numbers on the board, it would have been easier for people to follow, and more polite, as I would not have to show my back to some of the room.
    

I'm pleased that I was able to learn, or alas relearn, these lessons in a safe environment.
  For the cost of a dinner, I was able to obtain valuable, candid feedback.
  One other idea came out of the presentation: Create customized webinars for service clubs and non-profits.