2009 will most likely be as slow for many businesses as 2008. But you don’t have to participate, a good tip for 2009 is to work on a presentation that you can start giving to local associations and businesses. 
All you need to get started:

Pick a topic to present on

It must be aligned with your business, or in some way establish credibility for what you do and your profession.  Make sure it’s something people are willing to learn more about, and would take an hour out of their day to come and see.

Develop your content

You won’t need to generate all your own content, start with Amazon.com.  Purchase two or three books on the topic you want to present on, read them and outline the most relevant and unique content.
Create your PowerPoint presentation.  Keep it simple, a few bullets per slide, and including lots of imagery helps.  You want them to focus on you and your content, not your slides.

Target & Market

You need to market your presentation.  Consider your chamber of commerce, a relevant local association, a business group in the area or a business.  You may want to target HR Directors, Marketing Directors, Chief Technical Officers, or some occupation that your content will be tailored to. 

Connect

Remember, you want to provide value to your audience and also increase your business network and contacts. Don’t think about making a sale, that’s not why you are there.  But, you do want to make as many good connections as possible – be genuine.

Follow up

After the presentation follow up with members of your audience, thanking them for coming to your presentation and giving them some type of take away or action plan to take some next steps with elements of your presentation.

In the last 6 months I have had speaking engagements with the Lansing Chamber of Commerce, Consumers Energy, JP Morgan Chase and some local associations.  Each one of these has resulted in valuable business contacts and leads for Web Ascender.