I run a mixture of theatre of the mind combat (where there’s no map) and and combat with maps and minis (or virtual tokens as the case has been lately). I like both and would generally prefer theater of the mind, but my players often prefer the latter and I think that’s because I forget about vision during combat.
When preparing a game I try to think about the various plot threads. They’ll vary from ones I’ve introduced to something in the player’s backstory or even something they’ve found along the way that I never thought would be part of the story. The important part here is to work on the threads that the players feel are important and develop those if possible.