Hengistbury Head Townswomen's Guild

On 5 October, I gave my fourth talk to Hengistbury Head Townswomen's Guild here in Bournemouth. The title this time was The Comedy of Life - Part 2 and I was a little concerned about filling the allotted time as they have heard many of my tried and tested anecdotes already in Life as a Freelance Comedy Writer and The Comedy of Life - Part 1 and although it's been years since those two bookings, I make a point of trying avoid repetition of material I have delivered before (although a certain amount is unavoidable due to recapping, etc).

I therefore decided that if I under-ran a bit then after the talk I would invite questions about comedy generally including on TV and radio, not just the humour in everyday life which I was booked to speak about. Sure enough, I was a bit under but doing this led to a lengthy discussion taking in great comics and shows of the past and the generation gap which now exists in humour (like so many of the mature groups I speak to, the 25 or so ladies at this TG are not impressed with the bias towards younger audiences where TV comedy is concerned!) The only problem with questions about this is that sometimes one or two audience members seem to think that I am some sort of BBC representative rather than a self-employed sub contractor who has written freelance radio material for them! Nevertheless, it filled the time and I ended up covering my topic in broader detail for the audience.

Public Speaking Tip #142: You stand more chance of getting questions if you invite your audience to ask about other areas related to your topic, not just the main subject itself. Obviously you need to have the additional knowledge/experience to be able to answer them!

They're a nice bunch at this TG and I was pleased that some of them are, like me, fans of the Radio 4 sitcom character Count Arthur Strong, a washed-up variety star who seems to have a disastrous public speaking engagement or other public performance in every episode. His three series so far have been hilarious and this is a show which seems to appeal to a wide age range. His CDs are in my amazon.co.uk store on this site, along with a range of public speaking guides and other items all related to the content of this blog.