In my previous post, I wrote about Women's Institutes but in October 2005, the month of my most recent WI Speaker Selection Day (East Sussex Federation), I also took part in two other, very different auditions. The results varied enormously but I gained something from both experiences.

An entertainment agency's showcase audition

There is a highly successful entertainment agent in Devon who I've known for many years. I mentioned to her that I was wondering about the possibility of doing stand-up in some of the hotels in a major national chain she supplies acts for, hotels where the guests belong, almost exclusively, to the age group that I deliver many of my humorous talks to. She told me that she was soon holding one of her regular, Sunday afternoon auditions for cabaret acts in one of her hotels in front of a small audience.

I said that I was used to delivering sober-suited talks so I didn't have any of the sometimes rather loud costumes associated with cabaret acts. She said she'd prefer to see some colour so I went shopping in Westover Road here in Bournemouth, home to a number of expensive clothes stores. I didn't want to spend too much but I was lucky enough to find a designer shirt in bright red which was vastly reduced in price.

The following morning I set off on what was a very long journey for a 10-minute audition: 8am start, train from Bournemouth to Brockenhurst and then a replacement bus to Southampton due to engineering works, train from Southampton to Westbury (where I had a very long wait in the cold), then Westbury to Newton Abbott and Newton Abbott to Torquay, about five and a half hours' travel altogether. I had put together an observational routine based on everyday topics which I felt would be recognised by a mature audience and on the journey, I scoured the Sunday papers for topical stories to joke about.

I got off the train at Torquay and walked around to the hotel (a fair distance when lugging a change of clothes, piles of newspapers, etc). It had started to pour with rain. I was greeted by the agent and noted that the audience was indeed very small, no more than 20. Now that's fine for a talk but not so brilliant for stand-up.

I got changed and was soon introduced as I didn't have too much time to spare due to having an equally long journey back...

And, boy, did I bomb! And it takes you aback when you've had years of good to excellent responses at speaking engagements.There was very little reaction from the tiny audience, a laugh here, a couple elsewhere, but never all of them together - what comics sometimes call 'tumble weed!'

It was obvious within a couple of minutes that I wasn't going to be getting booked for fairly well-paid 45-minute stand-up slots at the local branches of this hotel chain, which was a real pity because one of them is only five minutes' walk around the corner from my home!

It was so frustrating; I can get laughs with (admittedly harder-hitting) observational and topical humour from younger audiences in comedy clubs but there are very few near me and so much of the stand-up circuit, whether in London or outside it, is about doing endless, unpaid open mic spots or earning tiny 'door splits' - and I gave them up years ago to focus on becoming a paid speaker.

And I knew that I could get a great response from older people like these - even in very small groups - with the type of (mainly anecdotal) material that I use in my public speaking but they weren't going for a gentle, mainstream stand-up routine.

With hindsight, I can see what I should have done: I should have made the stand-up much more like my public speaking to mature audiences, in other words, chatty storytelling about my own experiences, instead of trying to deliver this other material in a way that wasn't really 'me'. All those years of experience and I failed to utilise it! I'm not saying I would have gone brilliantly or that this would necessarily have been what the hotels would want to book for 45-minute evening slots for holidaymakers but I think the general response would have been better.

Public Speaking Tip #166: Our public speaking style and experience can be employed in many other areas as well as in giving presentations.

I chatted with the agent afterwards. I was a bit worried because she had booked me to speak about comedy writing at a weekend training seminar for the hotel chain's host-compères a few weeks later and I feared she might cancel because I had damaged my comic credibility but she soon set my mind at rest, saying that this was certainly still on as it was a totally different type of event. She said she thought the material I had used for the showcase would be ideal for after dinner speaking but obviously wasn't for the audience that day.

I walked back to the station in the rain. I caught the train from Torquay to Newton Abbott, another from Newton Abbott to Castle Carey and then - and don't ask me how on earth I managed to do this at such a small station - I got onto a standing-room-only train going in totally the wrong direction! Another change and back, then another train to Salisbury, Salisbury to Southampton, replacement bus to Bournemouth.

So what did I gain from this (apart from the nice red shirt you can see in a photo on this blog and at some of my less formal engagements)?

In a word: focus. I realised what my strengths are.

(Postscript: I did travel down to Torquay again a couple of months after this to speak at the hotel group's host-compère training weekend. They were an absolutely super, highly talented bunch and it all went very well. See? Playing to my strengths!)

Audition for Blah di Blah: Dorset's festival of words and voices

The following Saturday morning, I set off down to Weymouth College to audition to speak at the third Blah di Blah: Dorset's festival of words and voices.

The previous festival in 2004 had been a huge success, affecting a fifth of Dorset's population (around 120,000 people), whether they actually attended events or simply read the short literary extracts which the organisers had placed in public places like cafes all over the county.

In the event, there were very few of us auditioning in front of the audience of 25, who included organisers, librarians and fellow writers and performers. I did about 15 minutes which went extremely well.

Now, I must confess that I had been slightly irritated at having to audition; after all, other festivals much further afield had booked me solely on the strength of a mailshot which included my credits and testimonials and yet here I was being expected to prove myself in order to be booked to speak at a festival in my own home county.

(Not only that, I even had to prepare a packed lunch because Weymouth College is a bit of a trek from the town centre and its cafes!)

All I can say is that I'm really glad I did it. Besides the very good audience response and the chance to put myself and my CV in front of literary event organisers from all over the county (and I made sure every one of them took away a copy of the leaflets I'd taken along), here's what else I gained from the day:

Three bookings for the festival to give 30 minute talks and then act as question master for literary quizzes set as part of the BBC RaW project;

One of these events was in Bridport, a town where I had never spoken before;

Further experience as a quiz master;

As part of the day, we all had a (free) photo shoot with professional photographer Kevin Clifford. These distinctive shots have proved very useful since then for promoting other events where I have been speaking. One even graces (if that's the word!) my regular column in the Radio Magazine;

The press releases which I sent off to promote the events I was involved in resulted in a number of mentions in various local media including nearly a full page (with photograph) in the Dorset Echo;

I got to observe some other local performers;

One of these, the poet Christopher Southgate, gave me a copy of his excellent collection Beyond the Bitter Wind: Poems 1982 - 2000.

After the events, I began looking at how the festival co-ordinator Ros Fry had managed to get so many people involved. This led to me finally getting around to reading The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, a book which now heavily influences how I market myself - and this blog!;

And, of course, it was great therapy after the debacle of the week before!

Public Speaking Tip #167: Whatever your level of public speaking experience, putting ego aside and taking part in a showcase could pay off in a number of different ways, some of them totally unexpected!