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Presentations can be boring or fun. I prefer the latter. My experience is limited to the classroom so far, but I try to approach it the same way I do other things: a little effort, some humor when possible and some creativity. When I speak, I like to include lots of layered animations and try to keep the text simple, just enough to provide an outline and keep me on track.
Slide presentations are meant to illustrate verbal information, to add clarity and understanding, to keep your audience's attention, and to provide them with visual cues meant to enhance memory for the information. The more active and interesting you make your slides, the more likely you are to keep the audience's attention and burn your message into their memory.
Slide presentations should not contain the full text of your speech, nor should you read from them. Full text is only appropriate when the sideshow is meant to be viewed without a spoken presentation. When you place the actual text of your verbal presentation on your slides, your audience will concentrate on reading the information rather than listening to you. You might as well just skip speaking, or showing up at all. Human beings, in general, are drawn to visual communication more powerfully than to verbal communication.