Ringwood Clover Group

On 23 October I arrived for my talk at the Clover Group in Ringwood, Hampshire, in very good time - I was at the venue even before the caretaker was!

Before I spoke, a cheque was presented to local builder Mr Raymond Brown on behalf of the appeal to refurbish the Ebenezer Hall in the Greyfriars Community Centre where this group usually meets (they have moved temporarily to the Activities Centre nearby while this work continues).

Public Speaking Tip #262: Although organisations often meet in the same room, year in, year out, you should be prepared for the fact that you may occasionally be asked to speak in an alternative venue, for example, while building work is completed. This may even involve speaking in a church itself if the church hall is unavailable!

Mr Brown gave a short report about how the work was progressing and then it was my turn to speak. The Power of Humour in Everyday Life went down very well with thr 35 ladies who had turned out despite the very bad weather.

One interesting point is that when I had accepted the booking a few weeks earlier, their Speaker Secretary said that I had spoken to this group a couple of years earlier and my talk had been much appreciated.Now, I have almost perfect recall where my hundreds of bookings are concerned but I couldn't for the life of me remember speaking to a group with this name. On the night, I asked whether this had changed from Ringwood Homemakers. They had, mystery solved. Just one thing, though: I certainly had spoken to them before when they used that name (and a great audience they were too) but it wasn't a couple of years ago - it was in January 1999!

But I could understand the lady thinking that because the years have flown by for me as well!

Public Speaking Tip #263: A nervous, novice speaker may feel that time is dragging as they deliver their first material to an audience; 20 minutes may feel like an hour or more. But when you get into the habit of accomplished, regular speaking, the presentations - and the years - start to pass by very quickly!