What are the first things you should do?

Well, let’s assume you’ve already chosen your topic, and you know a little about your audience. You will probably need to find out more about them.

Know your audience – this is the first step.

Who are they? What are their interests? What do you have in common? How much do they know? What do they want and need to know? How can you satisfy their needs and how can you measure that satisfaction? What value can you add to their lives?

Think about what the great Stephen Covey said: “Start with the end in mind.” Where do you want to be at the end of your presentation? Focus on creating a clear, succinct and actionable objective statement. How you go about doing that will be covered in a future tip.