(Image: “Be prepared”, by pink hats, red shoes on Flickr)

In January I am flying to Latin America to conduct a week long workshop on social media marketing and sales strategy. There are many differences in language and culture and research and preparation is more essential than ever.

Here are a few steps I am taking to ensure the presentation will be helpful and relevant.

1. Do.  After listening to your talk, what do you want members of your audience to do? Conduct a meeting? Ask their customers a question? Read a book? Use analytics tools to determine what consumers are saying about the brand? The action you want your audience to take will inform your presentation content and structure. Start there.

2. Expectations.  What does your audience expect to hear? If you’re an established speaker, the expectations will come from your brand. If you are an unknown speaker, the expectations will come from the title of your speech. Before you focus on wowing them beyond their wildest dreams, start by delivering the content which brought them to your talk and captured their interest in the first place.

3. Confirming expectations.  When I am invited to speak to clients, I always confirm the three outcomes I am aiming to achieve with my presentation. I do this by emailing the client, asking them to review the outcomes I have selected and provide feedback. This makes sure you don’t show up to talk about “how something works,” to an audience that wants to know “how to make it work better,” or “why consumers use social media,” when the client really want to know “how their company should use social media.”

4. Be relevant.  Know to whom your audience is primarily held accountable and to what they are held accountable. Shape your presentation accordingly. If you are in a room of CEOs who believe marketing should be the first expense cut in a recession, you have to not only address why social media marketing is effective, but also justify the broader category of marketing as well. When possible, I conduct brief discussions with people of a similar backgrounds to my audience to understand what they are thinking.

5. Ask the simple question.  If the audience only understood one point from this presentation, which one would it be?

6. Be proleptic.  What are the three most likely questions your audience will ask about the presentation? Make sure you address these questions early in the presentation

7. Say the unsaid.  Your presentation just ended. Your audience files out of the room. What comments are running through their minds? While you may never know, this exercise helps you see things from their perspective.

What has worked for you?  Please leave your speaking preparation tips as a comment below.

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