Presentation Skills!

Wow.. thats a really huge topic to think about.
I am in a class that teaches about the power point (are you wondering a class on PPT? yes, it is a class about it. If you dont know people make money giving lectures about PPT, word, outlook etc. and you always wondered if it was difficult to quit your job and do something else! huh!). Ok! PPT is for presentation. And this lady here is freaking me out. Half the time she laughs for no reason. I should term it as guffaw. And every once in a while she guffaws and says I have been teaching this class for probably15 years.
If someone is teaching this for 15 years, I expect that they know a good deal about the PPT and more so, I would expect they have better presentation skills. Lets leave this lady aside. It is no fun postmorteming her.
But this beckons a question. What are good presentation skills? What are the things you should keep in mind while preparing a presentation? How should you have your animation in a presentation? How do you keep your audience captivated? How important are these fancy stuff available in ppt?
(oh! btw, she laughed again : ) )
What are the differences between a report and a presentation? Both provide information, but what are extra points to take care of while preparing a presentation?