Chandlers Ford Civil Service Retirement Fellowship

Last December, I blogged about speaking to the members of Chandlers Ford Retirement Fellowship at their Christmas lunch. I was back with them once again on 5 September - and it was the fifth time they had booked me since 2004. This time I was speaking about Dorothy Parker and the Algonquin Wits.

I had four bookings for this talk in September and although I had delivered it for a fair number of audiences and felt that it was generally improving, I had begun to sense that the opening needed some improvement. For those unfamiliar with the subject matter, the Algonquin Round Table were a large group of celebrated wits who met for lunch each day in New York for a decade, starting in 1919, and so I decided to ask the audience to imagine what it would be like if some of today's nearest UK equivalents, such as perhaps Stephen Fry, Clive Anderson and Sandi Toksvig, did the same and they could sit nearby and eavesdrop. Together with some other additions, I felt that this would really improve this presentation.

Public Speaking Tip #242: Adding contemporary comparisons to the subject matter of a historical presentation can make it much more accessible for your audience.

The usual gathering of around 60 were in the hall at the St Boniface Centre and, as at my previous engagement, their excellent Speaker Hostess Mary helped me set up. The meeting was due to start at 10.30 and I was scheduled to speak after their business and the raffle. I decided to wait outside and further familiarise myself  with the new additions to my material while keeping an ear open for when I was about to be introduced.

The  business meeting had only been underway for a few minutes when a gentleman came out of the hall, leaned back on the doors and collapsed. I signalled through the windows for help (the members had heard the noise anyway) and then gently moved him a few inches so that some could squeeze through the doors. A paramedic turned up very quickly, followed soon afterwards by an ambulance crew. After examining the patient, they decided to take him home.

Meanwhile the meeting and raffle had resumed and finished and frantic signals through the windows of the still-blocked doors told me that there was another entrance to the hall all around the other side of the building.

You may be wondering how you handle a speaking engagement - especially a humorous one - after something like this has happened and you can see in the Comments section of a blog post last month the reply I gave to a reader who suggested that humour may be risky to use at any time in case anything unexpected occurs.

I knew that the gentleman was being taken home, not to hospital, and that the other members were being kept informed (if something more serious occurs at an event, the whole meeting may well be abandoned anyway). I quickly ran through my content mentally in case there was anything now obviously inappropriate and kept my wits about me while I was delivering the talk in case there was any reference that hadn't previously occurred to me as being tactless in these altered circumstances but, overall, I believe the humour was much-needed light relief. Of course, an audience may still be a little muted after something like this (and the ambulance doing a U-turn in the car park outside the windows a few minutes after I had started speaking was a further reminder) but it went pretty well, all things considered.

I really like this group and they will be among the first that I offer any new titles to. My thanks to the Goughs for once again giving me a lift back to the station.

Public Speaking Tip #243: Unexpected events, such as an audience member being taken ill during one of your presentations, should be dealt with in a calm, sensitive and sensible manner. Be prepared to alter parts of your material if they now seem obviously gauche but remember that gentler humour can bring welcome relief.