Nick R Thomas - A Public Speaker's Blog

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Friday, October 3

Ask a simple question

by Nick R Thomas A.L.A.M. (Public Speaking) on Fri 03 Oct 2008 05:10 PM BST

Brirish Gas Retirement Poole

Another repeat booking! On 16 September, I paid my fourth visit to speak to the Poole branch of the British Gas Retired Employees. I made a further alteration to the beginning of my Algonquin Round Table talk by asking a very basic question: who had heard of them? It turned out that a number of the audience had. I asked this because I had found at so many previous bookings for this talk that a people seemed t beo intrigued by its title. Some even thought it was something to do with the service organisation Round Table!

Public Speaking Tip #246: Sometimes asking a very simple question at the start of a presentation can give you some useful guidelines. Asking who has actually heard of your subject matter may seem incredibly obvious but it lets you know how many in the room will be totally unfamiliar with what you will be speaking about and perhaps also that there is already some interest/knowledge where others are concerned.

There were about 60 there and this is always a friendly club to address and chat to afterwards. One lady asked me to write down a couple of the quotations I finished on. I think it is time for me to start giving out a handout with some of these sayings after the talks.

I was amazed to learn how many of their members are now in their 80s (you would never know it) and the club was making preparations for its 30th anniversary dinner. I have since heard that it was extremely well-attended and much enjoyed. Long may they continue.

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Thursday, October 2

Questions at the beginning of a presentation?

by Nick R Thomas A.L.A.M. (Public Speaking) on Thu 02 Oct 2008 11:57 PM BST

Stour Valley Probus

Regular readers must realise by now just how many of many of my speaking engagements are repeat bookings, such as 11 September when I paid my third visit in just over three years to Stour Valley Probus in Blandford Forum in Dorset. They have recently moved from the hotel where they met for many years to a new venue for them, the Constitutional Club.

This is a mixed Probus which has a morning meeting and there were about 50 there. I was very pleased with my new improved way of introducting my talk about the Algonquin Round Table which I mentioned in my previous post but I had already thought of a way to make this even better, Instead of asking the audience to imagine what it would be like if today's wits met each day for lunch in a place where they could eavesdrop, then giving them some names of contemporary humorists who I thought might appeal to them, I asked them to suggest some names. This got everyone's attention, had an element of competition and even threw up the odd totally unexpected name! It was a very good way to begin the presentation and I think I will be sticking with this.

Public Speaking Tip #244: Audience participation, for example, in the form of asking them for suggestions, can be an excellent way to open a presentation.

The date wasn't lost on me, either: there I was, talking about New York in the 1920s, on the anniversary of a recent, tragic event there. One of the legacies of the Algonquin Round Table was the New Yorker magazine, founded by one of its members, Harold Ross in 1925, and I mentioned that this has continued and about how the issue immediately after 9/11 had a totally black cover, a poignant reference in a generally humorous talk.

Public Speaking Tip #245: Look at the date of your speaking engagement. Does it tie in with your content in any way, for example, as an anniversary?

The talk went very well, the quotations getting some big laughs. My thanks to Lt. Col. Wiener for the lifts to and from the venue.

Back in the centre of Blandford, I spent some time in a very hospitable secondhand bookshop (they have free coffee-making facilities for browsers! Compare that with the expensive chain concessions in major bookstores!) and for £4 I managed to pick up a little volume about extemporary speaking, published in 1910!

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Wednesday, October 1

Changing presentations, changing circumstances

by Nick R Thomas A.L.A.M. (Public Speaking) on Wed 01 Oct 2008 11:59 PM BST

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.

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