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It’s important that the focus of your presentation is your audience. You should do all you can to research your audience so that you can pitch at the right level. Here are eight things to think about.

1 How many people will be at your presentation? The way you give your presentation will vary greatly if the audience is five people, 20, or 200.

2 What does the audience already know about the subject? If you don’t know, ask the organizer. Knowing this will enable you to decide whether to go over the basics and how much you will need to explain jargon.

case study Adam’s failure was when he presented the keynote speech at a major conference. He knew that the company had paid a lot to secure the keynote slot, and he therefore assumed incorrectly that he had to do a hard sell. In reality, the audience was a group of distinguished analysts, and they were interested in industry trends. They reported later that the company still didn’t understand the enterprise. What Adam should have done was simply inform them of the trends the company sees, and that would have built credibility and even positioned the company as market leader.

3 What are the attitudes or feelings of the audience likely to be towards the subject you are presenting – and to you?

4 What expectations does the audience have of you as the presenter?

5 Do members of the audience know one another? Do they have good relationships with one another?

6 Will members of the audience be present because they have to come to your presentation or because they want to be there?

7 Are there any hidden agendas or underlying tensions that you should be aware of?

8 Who are the decision makers in the audience? What are their opinions?

Find out as much as possible about your audience in advance.