An alternative is to target your presentation at the people who will be in the room and prepare a bunch relevant questions/anecdotes/start a discussion with a c

An alternative is to target your presentation at the people who will be in the room and prepare a bunch relevant questions/anecdotes/start a discussion with a couple of people you know will participate. As in—know your audience. This usually relaxes everyone and kicks off the interaction. My experience is that nobody wants to ask the first question because it sets the bar. But that doesn’t mean nobody wants to participate.