My relevant You Tube favourites

For a while now, I have been favouriting videos on You Tube, the vast majority of which are relevant to public speaking. These include extracts from speeches, performances by comedians who use language effectively (such as one of my all-time heroes and influences, the late Dennis Wolfberg), film of performers I have written for (Roy Hudd), worked with (Justin Hayward, 10cc) or simply admire (such as the late Blaster Bates and Bill Hicks). There are performer friends, such as Mel Mellers and Jonathan the Jester and you can even see a short film of my home town of Bournemouth where my speaking career started.

There are also a number of clips from comedy films and sitcoms involving disastrous public speaking scenes.

Now here's a good tip (unfortunately I can't claim it's my own idea - I saw it being used very effectively at a training day where I was a guest speaker):

Watch a comedy scene involving a speech that goes badly and write down everything that the character does wrong and what they should have done to avoid this disaster. You'll write a lot because this type of comedy involves extremes but you will be amazed at how much theory you know, even if you have just started training as a speaker.

Two excellent examples to use are the hilarious book launch scene from Bridget Jones's Diary and the motivational speech given by David Brent in the second series of the UK version of The Office (this includes his preparation - or lack of it - for the event and also shows the aftermath).

Another good sitcom episode to analyse for this purpose would be The Botched Language of Cranes from the superb Frasier: Series 2.

Public Speaking Tip #216: You can develop increased confidence by watching films of bad speakers - including fictional ones - and listing every single thing they are doing wrong and how they could improve.

The You Tube channel is called apublicspeakersblog (parental advisory on some videos and comments).

Bournemouth East Conservative Luncheon

On 9 May, I was a guest speaker at a lunch at the Ocean View Hotel for the Bournemouth East Conservatives who were in a jubilant mood following the previous week's local elections which had seen a new local Conservative councillor elected, massive gains nationally and, of course, Boris Johnson's victory in the London mayoral race.

I have mentioned before that I do not support any party but I have often spoken at functions for Conservative Associations who like to book occasional non-political speakers. The other main parties in the UK don't appear to hold this type of event (or if they do, I have never been asked to speak at one!)

There were 66 present and the room was very warm on this muggy day. I decided to dispense with the microphone and delivered approximately 25 minutes of anecdotal material under the title The Comedy of Life. Although I was booked as a non-political speaker, being a writer of topical satire I always have material suitable for an engagement like this so I slipped in the odd line and also included some stories from my days writing for BBC radio satire shows, for example, in relation to some of the constraints on topical comedy programmes being broadcast during general election campaigns. Together with my other material, this seemed to go well.

The vote of thanks was given by their Chairman, Councillor Malcolm Davies, who got laughs with his self-effacing humour about his slightly long-winded style! Then the Bournemouth East MP Tobias Ellwood gave a short speech, part of which was a sort of second vote of thanks for my own.

I hadn't known that he would be there so it was a real bonus to observe a Member of Parliament speak at such close quarters (two seats away) and very flattering that he made kind comments about my talk.

He is an excellent speaker and he told a very funny anecdote (once again self-deprecating) about a case of mistaken identity on a TV programme involving himelf and a famous former government minister.

Later, I reflected on the fact that in little over three weeks I had been at functions where I had heard speeches by a Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords, a Conservative MP, a Labour Mayor and a Conservative Councillor, each with their own distinctive style and none taking themselves too seriously.

Public Speaking Tip #215: If you become a regular public speaker at a wide variety of functions, you will have the opportunity to hear, learn from and sometimes even meet  some influential and interesting public figures.

Postcript: Here is an extract from a letter written later that afternoon by their Deputy Chairman Carolyn Dennis:

"Thank you so much for coming to address the lunch today. We thoroughly enjoyed it and it made a change to have something non-political. We will be recommending you to other people".

Blackmore Vale Probus

My first speaking engagement last month was about My Life as a Freelance Comedy Writer for the Probus Club of Blackmore Vale in Marnhull, Dorset on 6 May. This involved a very early bus journey to Salisbury and then a train from Salisbury station (where the ticket office was as slow as ever) to Gillingham, from where I was given a lift to Marnhull by Mr Alan Lloyd.

Most Probus Clubs are similar: all-male or all-female who have a meeting followed by a speaker and then lunch or a slightly shorter meeting and talk after their meal. There are variations, though: some clubs are mixed and some meet for a coffee morning but not a formal lunch and there are Probus in North Dorset - such as the one at Marnhull - which are examples of both (the very friendly Stour Valley Probus in Blandford Forum is another).

There were about 30 members at the Village Hall and my talk was in two halves (a bit like a football match except that the speaker and audience didn't change ends at half time!) I had decided that I would play a recording of a comedy sketch I had written but using the dictaphone I use to record my talks instead of carrying a bigger player with me on public transport on a hot day!This has been a wonderfully reliable piece of equipment (I have been using it to record nearly all my presentations since 2000) but it doesn't have much volume so I walked out into the audience and stood with it halfway up the aisle, holding it up and checking to see if anyone appeared to be straining to hear the item so that I could move if necessary. You will find that once you are fairly used to getting up in front of people, you will not feel too self-conscious about doing something like this. 

Public Speaking Tip #214: Look out for ways to adapt at a moment's notice so that the maximum number of your audience can get the full benefit of your material.

There was a very good question and answer session afterwards and I was given a lift back to Gillingham by a member who told me some fascinating stories about her son who is a dresser working on major Hollywood films.