If the presentation you are about to give is the culmination of a sales campaign, then there is every likelihood that you know these people and their expectations.
But do you know them on the day of the presentation?
If the opportunity presents itself, get to the venue way ahead of your agenda time. Set-up way in advance to give you time to mingle.
Whether its coffee time or lunch, get in there and socialise once again who you are by just being there, purely by association being one of the team, so when you stand-up the gulf between you, the presentation environment and them has been softened.
Its an American thing. To say to a perfect stranger in downtown Minneapolis on farmer’s market day, ‘How are you’ - ain’t on, it pre-supposes a previous relationship, but to say ‘How are you today’ accepts that we must have had a previous shared experience
i.e. today means we are both around this day to be asking each other the question, ergo we both must have been around somewhere yesterday – its association by existing, and even that breaks down barriers.
By such pre-presentation socialising you will get a feel for how they are today.
So often, presenters are getting that last minute peek at their content and totally ignoring opportunities to look their audience in the face prior to the formal start, then standing up to be ‘rocked’ by the overwhelming attention of these alien human beings looking right back at you.