Last week I addressed an audience I thought would be out of my range on a topic I have prepared and presented before. I had the sense this particular audience was more informed in the topic than my previous one and had concerns about my content being meaty enough.
I worked and worked and re-worked the presentation, spending much more time on it than I have on recent well-paid presentations. At length, I decided to involve them more than I had my previous audiences. That afternoon, I addressed them simply and involved them often. Still, I was preparing to hit the wall.