Preparing an Oral Presentation: Know your audience and venue

Knowing your audience and venue is one of the key steps in creating an effective presentation. Speaker needs to fine-tune the presentation based on the information they collect about the audience and location.

Consider following elements when preparing an oral presentation. These elements will help you determine the most appropriate style of a speech:

1) Audience characteristic:

• Age range
• Gender (Male/Female ratio)
• Education background

It is necessary to tailor the presentation to suit the specific group’s interest and need

2) Location where the presentation is taking place

Visit the venue in advance to learn more about:

• Seating arrangement and capacity
• Appropriate visual aid
• Appropriate volume of voice
• Possible distractions

3) Will your audience benefit from the presentation?

• prepare a presentation based on the level of audience’s knowledge about the topic

In depth research about the audience and venue is necessary to build a solid foundation of a presentation. The more knowledge you have about your audience, the easier it will be to effectively prepare and share the message.