Preparing to speak at Herefordshire Federation of Women's Institutes Annual Council Meeting

Much of the week following the New Milton talk was spent in preparation for my next engagement: speaking at the HFWI Annual Council Meeting on 15 April. This all had to be fitted around my daily scriptwriting for radio presenters, some speechwriting commissions, and dealing with the usual emails, phone calls, etc. For a start, it was now very urgent that I should  see my GP and get some treatment for the persistent ear infection. I also had to deliver and collect dry cleaning, buy some other clothes, research and purchase the cheapest rail tickets in advance and order and collect enough booklets to sell and leaflets to give away to an audience which I was told could number up to 300.

Public Speaking Tip #192: Although you will find that when you have a certain amount of experience you will be able to cope with pretty much any size of audience, there are numerous additional reasons for finding out in advance how many will be hearing you speak. These include:

determining your fee, obviously (although some tiny organisations pay surprisingly well and some large ones remarkably little, audience size is a reasonable guideline);

preparing enough free materials to distribute, such as leaflets;

calculating the approximate quantity of merchandise to take along if you are allowed to sell any items related to your presentation;

giving you some idea of the venue in which you will be speaking.

Then I had to sort out some accommodation as this engagement would involve staying in Hereford the night before my scheduled mid-morning talk.

The book Mortification: Writers' Stories of their Public Shame is a fascinating collection of authors' tales about embarrassments at readings, including the odd horror story about accommodation. When you are preparing for an important speaking engagement, it is very important to have (as motivational gurus like to say) an environment which supports you and, due to having had a couple of bad experiences involving less-than-supportive digs over the years, I now choose my accommodation very carefully if an engagement involves an overnight stay.

There was the literary festival a few years ago where I was booked for two talks, one in the evening and the other the following afternoon. It was in a tiny country town which I had visited in the past and I knew there was unlikely to be anywhere open to get a meal after the evening event. The festival organiser was arranging my accommodation and when I discussed this with her a few days before my arrival, she said she was sure that my landlady would have something for me. I took this to mean the owner of a hotel or at least a small B&B but when I arrived in the town, I discovered that I would be staying in a private house owned by an elderly woman who supported the festival by providing lodgings for guest speakers. Despite the fact that she appeared to live alone in a rambling four-bedroom, four-reception room house, the room I was allocated was crammed full of her personal effects; the drawers were packed solid and there was no space in the wardrobe for me to hang anything up.

I delivered the evening talk. It barnstormed and I did well on merchandising. About 10pm, I left the hall and the organiser said she would call in the morning to take me to her house for breakfast as my landlady had to leave very early for a meeting in London.

I went back to the house. The old woman was wearing a dressing gown and a huge amount of face cream (I've seldom seen that outside of comedy programmes!) She asked if I'd like a hot drink as she was just going to bed as she had to set off early in the morning. Then she disappeared. There was no meal, not even a sandwich. I went back into the town. The fish and chip shop was closed and there was no other restaurant, takeaway or late night shop open (all that merchandising money and nowhere to spend it!) I walked the length of the town up to the by-pass, figuring there might be a service station. There wasn't. I trudged back. It was now gone 11pm. My 'dinner' that night (the only food I'd had since lunchtime) consisted of two packets of crisps and three packs of Mini Cheddars from the pub.

Reading what other festival speakers had written in the visitors' book at the house, I got the impression that they were only really interested in liquid refreshments!

In fairness to the organiser, I think she had a certain amount of mortification of her own when I told her, judging from the huge breakfast and lunch she gave me. She even plied me with cakes for the coach journey home that afternoon after the second talk, even though this was only a couple of hours long!

Having discovered when I got back to Bournemouth that I also appeared to have left an important key somewhere among the jungle of bric-a-brac in the room, I resolved that from then on I would always stay in hotels and guest houses rather than accept free accommodation, even if this cut into my speaking fee. At least these would be uncluttered and I could find out beforehand whether food was served and, if not, buy some sandwiches beforehand if the town was too small to have anywhere open after an evening presentation.

But hotels are another minefield. The first time I spoke in the Midlands, I found a cheap hotel in Edgbaston which looked promising enough in the Yellow Pages (I wasn't using the internet back then). I collected a key from reception, walked past the back of a kitchen emitting a foul stench of greasy fry-ups and opened a door with a sign announcing in huge letters that the management took no responsibility for any thefts from the rooms. I wished someone had stolen some of the dirt from mine along with the long black hairs which decorated the bathroom. It struck me as the sort of hotel room which was, shall we say, rented by the hour rather than by the week. I stayed long enough to take photos of the state of it in case they tried to charge me and then handed the key back. The receptionist just said 'I'm so sorry', as if this happened all the time and she was only working there until she got something better (which wouldn't have been difficult).

After explaining my story, I got a low rate at the Quality Hotel further along the Hagley Road which was fine and I was refreshed enough to deliver a presentation the following morning which was very well received and led to some great testimonials and repeat bookings. The first hotel didn't charge me (I assumed they must have had a very high percentage of people who checked out before they'd really checked in) but I could have done without the stress they caused.

I was really looking forward to this Hereford booking - WI Council meetings are enjoyable events - and I wanted somewhere reasonably priced but pleasant to stay so I looked online. I had missed out on the cheap advance deal at the Travelodge (I'm not a huge fan of theirs anyway, especially as the rate is for room only). There is an old hotel right in the city centre, very near the station and the venue, but the reviews from guests of the accommodation, staff and food were just dreadful.

So I decided to consider hotels just a little further outside the centre and made an excellent choice: Brandon Lodge.

Very shortly after I had made the booking online, Monique who runs it left a very friendly message confirming the booking. On the morning before I set off, I rang to let her know what time I would be arriving that evening. They don't serve evening meals but she gave me the most clear, accurate directions to every possible restaurant near the station and said I should have a meal first and only check in at the hotel after that even though this would be late, rather than having to travel back into town afterwards.

There were no delays or overcrowding on the train journey from Bournemouth to Hereford (I had been dreading travelling with First Great Western from Reading after seeing so much negative press about them. I could have done without the rather loud New Age family in the 'quiet' carriage, though) and after having dinner at Ask, I took a (very reasonably priced) taxi to the hotel.

My room, located in a small unit in a courtyard, was clean, comfortable and attractive. A huge amount of thought has obviously gone into this place and others could learn so much from it. After staying up to fold 300 'Twelve Tips for Terrified Speakers!' leaflets (one of the jobs I didn't get around to before I set off!) I got some sleep.

I woke up a little later than I'd planned the next morning and didn't get to breakfast until 8.45 but I was still cheerfully served a very good meal by Kath. I then paid the very reasonable tariff and waited outside in the sunshine for the taxi.

I really can't recommend this hotel enough, especially for the price (and no, I don't own shares in it!) It's just the sort of place to stay  before a big engagement. I hope to go there again one day.

Public Speaking Tip #193: It is most important to stay somewhere relaxing before an important speaking engagement. It's worth investing some time to choose the right accommodation, taking into account proximity to transport links, your venue and local restaurants, check-in times and tariff in relation to your overall fee. You need to be able to focus on preparing for your performance - the only 'stress' that should concern you should be the emphasis on a word as you rehearse!

Traffic was heavy so the journey to the venue took quite a while but the taxi fare still seemed surprisingly cheap and I arrived at Hereford's Courtyard venue in very good time.