Most of the time, attendees don’t know what to expect from a session before it starts, while at the end, people walk out thinking that the talk has or hasn’t met the expectations.
This may seem a contradiction, but can be useful, especially when you don’t know well the audience, or when exploring new topics or talking to completely new audiences,
It’s important to ask people, while you wait for session start, what are they expecting from the session. Then, near the end of the talk, you can ask if it has met the expectations.
In every case, try to understand which objectives were met by the session, and which it has failed to reach, especially the hidden ones.
Everybody has expectations when they come to a session, even if they think they don’t. Try to understand what attracted them, what they received, and what they missed from the talk.
(Post originally published in Italian on LinkedIn.)
