It's an old Boy Scout saying, but particularly true here: be prepared. In order to effectively present your project, you need to know about the audience. Make sure you're prepared to address the concerns that they may have about your project and convince them that it is worth their time, attention, and money.

Ways to prepare good presentations. The first step on the road to giving a good presentation is being prepared. Ask yourself questions you think your audience will ask. Put yourself in their place and look for gaps, mistakes, confusion, past experiences, and points of view that could lead to questions about your idea and its feasibility.

Methods for identifying audience concerns, biases. Think carefully about your audience. Your presentation style and content may change depending on who is in your audience. Some of the audiences you may encounter include: elected officials, appointed policy makers and key staff, government colleagues, professional organizations and unions, community groups and organizations, private sector interests, media organizations, and the public.

Ways to manage meetings. When planning a meeting to deliver your presentation, be sure you know who will participate, who will speak, what they will say, what you want to accomplish, and what specific actions or decisions you want from the audience. Create and send an agenda to all participants, and brief all those who are attending the meeting with you about their roles and duties. It's important to give a brief overview of your case. The details should be included in the printed materials you leave behind. Be prepared to answer questions. And have someone in your group record the comments and questions raised, and the main points of the discussion.

Computer-enhanced presentations. It helps to have an outline from which to build your slides. One general rule to follow when creating your slides: less is more. Stick with one typeface, or two at the most. Make your key points with simple, short bullets. Be sure to carefully test the computer and projection equipment at the presentation site if possible. Have backup equipment or media available, since technology failures can occur at any time.

Effective deliveries. Be yourself and be enthusiastic about your project. Think of your delivery as an interaction with your audience, rather than a presentation to the audience. Make eye contact with the members of the audience instead of looking at the overheads. Speak clearly and at a pace somewhat slower than normal conversation. Let your confidence, conviction, and support show.

Effective communication. You already know all about your project. But knowing about your audience helps bring you much closer to securing the support you need for it go forward. Allow your project and audience knowledge to drive your presentation.

Knowing what to present and how. A thorough knowledge of the audience, its concerns, biases, and priorities will help you tailor your presentation. The contents and presentation style will vary depending on your audience. It's helpful to have a core set of basic facts and materials that you can customize for each audience.

Information-gathering problems. You may run in to roadblocks when it comes to gathering information about certain agencies and organizations. No matter the cause, you may have to make-do with what you can find. The key is to use whatever information you have to your advantage when designing your presentation.

Running out of time. No matter how prepared that you are for your presentation, you still can not control the amount of time that you will have with your audience. The meetings and presentations that went before yours may run long, or other circumstances with your audience may squeeze the amount of time with your audience. It is vital to be prepared for abridging your presentation and providing material that you can leave with your audience for when they have more time to focus on your initiative.

http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadpres.html is a site devoted to giving presentations. [accessed June 11, 2003]

http://www.public-speaking.org/public-speaking-articles.htm is another comprehensive public-speaking site. [accessed June 11, 2003]

http://www.presentations.com/presentations/index.jsp this is a site with many articles about presenting. [accessed June 11, 2003]

http://www.ukans.edu/cwis/units/coms2/vpa/vpa.htm University of Kansas' "Virtual Presentation Assistant". [accessed June 11, 2003]