The first question you should ask when preparing a presentation is, who’s my audience?  But that question requires more than a one-word answer.  It’s the beginning of an exploration of the exact circumstances of your audience – who, what, when, where, and why – everything about them you can determine. 

Why should you care?  After all, isn’t it a matter of integrity to say the same thing to everybody?  Yes and no.  The message, fundamentally, has to be the same.  But the shape that it takes may need to be entirely different.  Would you use the same words to describe World War II to a group of six-year-olds as you would to a group of adults? 

This time let’s think about gender and age.  Some of the clichés are, by and large, true.  If your audience is mainly women, avoid the football metaphors.  If your audience is mainly under 30, don’t talk about the stagflation of the 70s. 

But how do you balance authenticity and a desire to sound hip, if, for example, you are in your late 40s and have only a passing familiarity with social media?  You’re talking to an audience of 20- and 30-something techies – do you do your best to sound like an expert, or do you stick to examples of 8-track tapes and CDs?  

The solution is to make it real.  Spend a little time grappling with the issue in a real way, but be honest about your own perspective.  Authenticity means being able to say something like, “I’m not an expert on social media, but I do understand campaigns, and what I’ve learned from working on the Truman campaign is that….”

It’s your job to meet the audience more than half way by finding connections with them – but not by faking it.  Lose your authenticity and you’ll lose your audience in a heartbeat.