• Technical People These members of your audience will know whether you understand the concepts you are presenting and are technically sound. They will see the elegance (or lack of elegance) in your design. They will know whether you have appropriate backup procedures, and have handled the multiple-update problem. They might ask you some tough questions. Someone will ask them, "Do they know what they are doing? Can we trust them?" They will know whether your design is a good solution to the problem.

• Management and Money People These too might be very sharp members of your audience, but their emphasis will be different. Do they feel that your idea will sell? Is it practical in the marketplace? Have you done your due diligence to see if someone has already better solved this problem? These people will look closely at the management of your group, and decide if you are operating efficiently. They will make assessments about your ability to handle problems that might arise. They will look at your presentation style. They have to decide, from a business standpoint if they trust your professionalism. They will look at your business plan—is it workable?

You should speak to both audiences in your demonstrations, but can be explicit, if you wish, about who your primary audience is. You can split a presentation into two parts, one for each type of audience.

You should always be conscious of both types of audience members. For example, if you are showing code and discussing internal record locking in a database, be sure to put in comments and give the one-sentence "general" idea so that the non-technical people feel comfortable too.