Know your audience and purpose

The most common presentation mistake happens before anyone opens a slide program: talking about what you want to say instead of what they need to hear. Every strong pitch starts with two questions: who is listening, and what should happen when you finish?

Know your audience

Find out, or think carefully about:

• Who they are: funders, customers, a hiring panel, community members, your team, a school assembly.
• What they already know about you and your topic. Don't explain the basics to experts or skip them for beginners.
• What they care about: return on money, solving a problem, saving time, community impact, safety, their own reputation.
• What worries them: risk, cost, change, being let down by suppliers before.
• How they decide: alone or as a panel, quickly or after reading documents, by numbers or by trust.
• The practical setting: how long you have, the room or platform, their language, the time of day.

If you can, ask the organiser, or someone who has presented to them before.

Define your purpose

Write one sentence: "After my presentation, I want [audience] to [think, feel, do] [specific outcome]."

• "After my pitch, I want the panel to invite us to the next round."
• "After my talk, I want parents to sign up their children for the holiday programme."
• "After the meeting, I want my team to understand the new schedule and raise any problems by Friday."

The purpose decides what to include. Anything that doesn't serve it, cut.

Match the message to the audience

The same business can be pitched in very different ways:

Audience	Focus
A bank	Ability to repay, cash flow, security
A grant panel	Impact, who benefits, how you'll measure it
An investor	Market size, growth, the team, return
A customer	Their problem, your solution, price, proof
A community meeting	What changes for them, and what you need from them

One message they'll remember

Most audiences remember one idea. Decide yours and say it clearly near the start and again at the end.

A South African example

Sibusiso presented his solar-powered phone-charging kiosk twice in one week: to a municipal economic development office and to a group of taxi rank traders. For the municipality, he focused on jobs created, safety lighting and how the kiosk fitted their trading plans. For the traders, he focused on cost per charge, opening hours and where the kiosk would stand. Same business, two different presentations, and both audiences said yes.