THE speaker and not his tools make interesting and memorable business presentations, according to a new survey.

Despite the increased use of technology, when it comes to grabbing the audience's attention during briefings it is the speaker who makes all the difference.

Research by The Aziz Corporation consultancy found 70 per cent of directors believe a poor presenter cannot hide behind a laptop computer or technical wizardry.

"The use of presentation technologies has greatly increased in the last two years," said Aziz chairman Khalid Aziz. "While there is no doubt that technology can be extremely beneficial to a presentation, it cannot make up for the failings of an inexperienced public speaker."

Three-quarters of directors quizzed felt too many presentations were over-complicated and contained too much information.