Emsworth U3A

I had an early start yesterday: I was on the train by 07.30 to travel to Emsworth in Hampshire to speak to their U3A on My Life as a Freelance Comedy Writer. Despite major delays to most trains when I changed at Southampton, I still managed to arrive early which is always a major relief to anyone who books a speaker - especially one who uses public transport!

Public Speaking Tip #75: Most people who regularly organise speakers have been let down at one time or another so they will be delighted to see you turn up. Very few will complain if you arrive early!

Public Speaking Tip #76: Arriving early at a booking may sometimes involve sitting through a business meeting/other speakers before it is your turn to address the audience but it is amazing how often listening to others can inspire a relevant addition to your own presentation. If this happens, be prepared to make a quick, brief note and mentally rehearse this additional tailored material.

There were 90 in the audience (a very pleasing turnout) and the talk went extremely well, the only technical hitch being (as is so often the case) a microphone problem. I had been asked by the group's very friendly chairman Ken if I could use the mic as a number of members with hearing difficulties depend on the loop system and I was happy to agree. Ken told me how one previous speaker, an ex-Naval officer, with a rather loud voice had been outraged at the suggestion that he should use any amplification but loop systems are an excellent aid for those who are hard of hearing and should be used by a speaker if requested. I have spoken to less than 20 but used a microphone for this reason and I have I have spoken to well over 100 without one because nobody there was hearing impaired. Surely a speaker wants as many people as possible to get the maximum effect from their presentation?

Towards the end of my talk, there was a definite tinny squeal coming from the microphone clipped on my shirt collar so, after a little experimentation, I found that this could be reduced by my actually holding this tiny device (as I remarked to the audience, holding a tiny microphone made me feel a bit like Terry Wogan on Blankety Blank!)
 
Public Speaking Tip #77: However prepared you are, things will occasionally go wrong. A good speaker needs the ability to keep calm and make some inventive changes at short notice so that the presentation can continue and the audience's enjoyment will not be affected. It's even better if that inventiveness stretches to ad-libbing!

I had been asked to speak for an hour and there were a decent number of questions afterwards. I got some of the longest applause I can ever remember and many requests for my details to forward to other organisations. All in all, a very good engagement.

I had been to Emsworth earlier this year and really liked the place. It's a charming small town (less than 10,000 inhabitants) with a long history and is situated at the top of Chichester Harbour. Once again, I had a leisurely walk around, enjoyed lunch in the very good cafe called The Greenhouse and visited an excellent, very reasonably priced second-hand bookshop, Bookends, where I picked up a couple of items which will be most useful for researching talks.

Here is a website about Emsworth.