Farnham N.H.S. Retirement Fellowship

Things got off to a difficult (and somewhat slapstick start) when I was in my rehearsal room (ok, the Gents) just before my talk and a jet of soap from the dispenser flew straight into my eye!

I mentioned this to the audience and it got a laugh. I also forewarned them about my chest infection. Sure enough, the inevitable coughing fit interrupted me a few minutes later (I must say I felt as if I was in the right place as they were retired NHS staff!) but the glass of water wasn't enough to deal with the problem so I kept a lozenge in my mouth and that seemed to do the trick.

Public Speaking Tip #8: If you have a problem, such as a cough, briefly forewarn the audience, preferably in a humorous way. It prepares them for the fact that you may have to stop. They will also appreciate the fact that you have still turned up.

Public Speaking Tip #9: If you do have a coughing fit which interrupts your presentation, try slipping a lozenge in the corner of your mouth and keeping it there for the rest of your speech. And take a supply with you for your next few engagements, even if they are weeks later - sometimes these ailments linger more than you realise!

I had never spoken in Farnham before but I told the audience that my partner Val's son Iain Blackwood has an accountancy firm in the town.

Public Speaking Tip #10: Mentioning a local connection helps to personalise your speech.

All told, it went very well. The Memorial Hall is a pleasant venue and the friendly audience of 50+ gave me a good reception.

Alpha Club, Highcliffe

I was speaking much nearer to home on 11 July but sometimes these local talks can be more problematic in terms of transport than bookings in far-flung counties.

I was travelling to this one by bus but unfortunately some Wilts & Dorset vehicles seem to disappear without a trace. One moment, the electronic display at the stop is telling you that your bus is approaching and then a minute later the information has vanished - but so has the bus. This Black Hole/Bermuda Triangle (Dorset Branch) has given me problems on more than one occasion - including on this boiling hot afternoon. I rang the organisation which runs the club which had booked me and asked them to pass on a message that I was on my way but would be late.

Public Speaking Tip #11: When you set off for a speaking engagement, always try and take some contact details for the venue in case of hold-ups (it may be no good just having the home number of the person who booked you as they might have already set off by the time you ring).

The audience of 20 or so were all still waiting when I finally arrived and gave me a big round of applause when I walked in (after all, some speakers never show at all!) but I hate being late for engagements. Travelling on public transport can be useful in that it gives me a chance to work on scripts on the way to bookings - something which I couldn't do if I was driving - but there are occasions when it can also be a real pain, in fact, for me, transportation is now the nerve-wracking aspect of public speaking!

Peter Hickey R.I.P.

I received an email on 18 July from my old BBC writing colleague Gerry Goddin informing me that Peter Hickey, our script editor from Week Ending and the News Huddlines, had died in a fire in his Brighton flat. He was 67.

I learned a lot from Peter. It took me several months to get my first gags broadcast on Radio 4's Week Ending until I finally got three on one show.The first had been rewritten by him into the form that worked best, the other two were used exactly as I'd submitted them. I realised that nothing I'd written in the preceding weeks had been usable but Peter had carried on reading my ideas (along with hundreds from other writers) until I'd learned through trial and error what was required.

Later, when I became a commissioned writer for the News Huddlines, I would sit with him on Wednesday afternoons as he patiently read through the mountain of gags that had been sent in that week (many of them hand-written) and compiled the show's opening and middle monologues. These routines were superbly well-crafted; gags on similar subjects (politics, sport, show business) were linked together logically and Roy Hudd was given some funny bridging lines to take him from one topic to the next.

As a speaker, I will often include a topical monologue linked together in the way that I learned from Peter Hickey.

Public Speaking Tip #12: Logical structure is hugely important when you are speaking in public: it demonstrates the thought that has gone into preparing your material, it makes your subject matter easier for the audience to follow and it also makes the script easier to remember so that you are not too reliant on your notes.

While Peter was sifting through all the gag submissions, I would be finishing off a sketch but he was never too busy to suggest an appropriate gag if I needed any help. He also kept his fellow writers entertained with outrageous, hilarious (and invariably true) show business stories. We owe him a great deal.

Andy Williams Interview

The Daily Mail published a fascinating interview with Andy Williams on 28 July and it was an example of how techniques from another area of performance - in this case singing - can be applied equally to public speaking.

He told how he sang the Battle Hymn of the Republic at the funeral of his close friend Senator Robert Kennedy who had loved that song. It's hard to imagine what an moving occasion this must have been: Bobby Kennedy was a much-loved Presidential hopeful who had been assassinated, just like his brother, the revered President John F Kennedy, he left a widow and a very large, young family, the Battle Hymn of the Republic is a stirring song - and his friend Andy Williams was expected to sing it. He said in the interview: 'The only way I got through singing in church that day was by saying "This is my job. I can't let emotion get in the way of the song". I really concentrated on not thinking about him. It was the hardest performance I've ever done'.

It must have been similar when Elton John sang at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales.

When I delivered a eulogy at my mother's funeral, I coped by rehearsing certain phrases over and over until I could get through them without getting too emotional. That way I could say what I wanted to.

A few years ago, I was a guest speaker at a dinner and a lady mentioned to me during the meal that she hadn't spoken at her mother's funeral because she thought she'd break down. I told her that I'd only managed to deliver a eulogy by distancing myself from some of the words and she replied, rather disdainfully, 'Well, I wasn't prepared to do it on those terms'. Perhaps not - but she seemed to be regretting not having spoken that day.

You don't have to be speaking at a funeral to find yourself overcome with emotion. I was once coaching a father of the bride who had written his own speech and he found that whenever he came to the simple line 'We are very proud of our daughter', it was too much for him. Once again, I advised him to keep saying that phrase over and over again to himself until he was used to it.

Public Speaking Tip #13: You can reduce the risk of breaking down when you speak at an emotional event by rehearsing the most difficult phrases repeatedly until you can say them automatically. Sometimes you have to distance yourself from your script in order to be able to perform at all.