Tip 11: Find out about your audience
If you already know exactly who your audience will be, then you can probably skip over this tip. If you are presenting to people who you already know, then you have an enormous advantage over someone who is going to face an audience they have never previously met.
Your aim in giving this presentation is to give your audience:
Something that they want - (See: Tip 12: Give your audience what they want)
Something that is important for them - (See: Tip 13: Have something important to say)
Something that is interesting to them - (See: Tip 14: Have something interesting to say)
Something that is relevant to them - (See: Tip 15: Have something relevant to say)
Clearly you cannot even hope to achieve these aims unless you have a good idea of who your audience is.
So before you begin to formulate the content of your presentation, make detailed enquiries into the makeup of your audience. You need to know who they are, why they are listening to your presentation, what their previous knowledge of the topic is, what they intend to do with the ideas you will convey through your presentation, and what their expectations of you are.
You need to know whether they are experts in the field, how much knowledge and jargon you can take for granted and how much background you will have to explain. You would feel better armed if you knew precisely what their opinions, prejudices, preconceived notions and agendas were.
You may also want to know whether the members of your audience already know each other, or whether they will be strangers amongst themselves. Also vitally important is an in-depth knowledge of their cultural and ethnic background, their likes and their dislikes.
You will only be able to give your audience something interesting, important, relevant and something that they want if you know them very well. You need this information in order to become the best possible presenter for that particular audience.
« Previous: Tip 10: Confirm the date, time and venue
Import citation into 
