I once owned and piloted an ultralight and was taught by my instructor Martin Yeager to always do a thorough pre-flight check of the aircraft and my mental attitude before EVERY flight. And he taught me to do it the same way, each and every time. There was no clipboard or written list. I had to learn and remember over a hundred steps of the process - every nut, bolt, wire, surface & tube - my life depended on it!

In the same way, our professional life depends on proper preparation before each seminar. Don’t “fly”without first doing a careful analysis of the audience. As part of the planning, ask yourself:

□ What does the audience want to know?
□ What do they need to know? (Try giving them a bit of what they want before attempting to give them what you think they need)
□ Why are they at your seminar? (Sent by others? Curious? Desire? Knowledge?)
□ What do they expect of you? (Humor? Inspiration? Knowledge? Entertainment?)
□ What is their prior experience with your topic?
□ What will they want to do with any information that you give them? (Influence others? Provide report to another group? Ask others for action or follow up?)
□ What questions will they want answered by the seminar?
□ What remaining questions might they have as a result of the seminar?
□ How will they respond to PowerPoint^®? (Do they respond best to numerical figures? Pictures? Creative graphics? Graphs? All of the above?)
□ Will they want a “handout” of your presentation? (Should it be different than just a copy of your visuals? How will they use it?)
□ What do you want the audience thinking at the end of your seminar?
□ What do you want them em>to do as a result of having been at your seminar? (Begin planning your seminar with the answer to this question.)