Tip 207: Meet your guests
As a consequence of the previous tip, before your talk, try to meet as many people as you can. Meet people. Talk to them. Let them make contact with you. Even if you only talk to a few people, others will get the feeling that you are an approachable, interesting and likeable person. If you talk with someone, talk about them instead of yourself.
Try not to spend more than 2-3 minutes with any one person; but bounce around and circulate with your audience. If your session is large, you may only get to say hello with 5-10 people, but these folks could be your supporters that you focus on during the session.
Then when you get on the podium, your audience will recognise you as someone they were talking it. And you will recognise them as your new-found friends. This is a good way to heighten your audience's concern for you.
This allows for a more natural conversation between the speaker and the listeners, as all the preliminary introductions and ice-breakers have already happened and you can talk to friends rather than talking to strangers.
Establish rapport with your audience, and they become your partners in a dialog, allies in your presentation. They'll want you to succeed. They'll overlook your nervousness and lack of polish. They'll laugh at jokes they've heard before. And they'll give you the benefit of the doubt even if they lose the thread of your logic.
« Previous: Tip 206: Be a host, not just another speaker
Import citation into 
