I created my first PDF-format presentation, using LaTeX + Beamer. The slides were for my oral presentation of the general exam. I passed the exam, by the way.
A few comments about the use of figures...
For better quality, vector formats, such as EPS or PDF, are prefered. Figures created by Matlab can be directly save as EPS. Outputs generated GNUPlot can also be redirect to an EPS file. Using EPS files in TeX is as simple as
\includegraphics[height=0.5\textheight]{demand_supply_interaction.eps}
We can compile TeX files into DVI files and then convert them into PDF files. We might prefer to use pdflatex if we use Beamer, however, because Beamer changes many settings in order to create an document that fit for presentation and the DVI file we generate will look ugly. Using pdflatex, on the other hand, will give us the direct output we want.
One subtle but important change for using pdflatex, unfortunately, is that it does not support EPS file! We need to convert EPS files into PDF files. MikTeX provides a small program named as "epstopdf" to do that for us. Note that some EPS files do not have the bounding box calculated. Then one thing we can do is to use GSView PS->EPS command and select the "Automatically calculate Bounding Box" option to create another EPS suitable for conversion. Of course we can convert the EPS file into JPG, which is supported by pdflatex directly. But JPG is not a vector format and the output may not be as clear.
For figures/graphs generated by Excel or other program, which do not provide a good way to output EPS files, our best option is directly print the figures into PDF, using a PDF printer. Alternatively, we can use the "Print to file" option for any PS printer to get a PS file and then use GSView to do the rest of the job, following the same procedures as described above.
Once we have a PDF figure file, inserting it into the TeX file is as easy as the EPS case. For example,
\includegraphics[height=7cm]{fig/NetworkSize.pdf}
One thing that I have not yet figured out is how to create a suitable handout. I used the handout mode, which worked fine for most slides except the one with "\againframe<2->[plain]{zooms}". I used that command for zooming in to see details of the original figure.