Make notes, use notes, keep notes

I read recently that the script for a wartime speech by Winston Churchill fetched £140,000 at an auction (although not £140 million as the Daily Mirror headline stated!) Well, I've got quite a few sheets of A4 from my talks if anyone wants to make an offer...

Seriously, it's a good idea to keep the notes from all your past speaking engagements for a number of reasons:

- you may be asked to give the same presentation somewhere else

-you may be booked to speak to an organisation and wish to ensure that you don't repeat yourself

-as you develop the content of a particular presentation over time, you can look back and see how much it has progressed

Of course, all of the above also apply to recordings of yourself but if you just want to look at content rather than listen to vocal delivery, it's much quicker to look at your notes.

The very popular entertainer Bob 'the Cat' Bevan has written a book about his adventures as an after dinner speaker. It's an interesting read (although I would have preferred less content about his sporting endeavours and even more about his speaking). He writes that he still has notes from his earliest engagements back in the 1970s!

Public Speaking Tip #221: Keep the notes from your past speaking engagements - they can be invaluable for future ones.

Bournemouth 2 Probus

22 May found me speaking - once again - to Bournemouth 2 Probus, this time about The One, the Only...Groucho Marx!

They last booked me in October 2005 and I had forgotten just what great fun their business meetings are (unlike some other organisations!)  A succession of committee members, all of them very good public speakers, gave reports, made announcements, etc, and the humour was really flowing. It set the mood wonderfully for my own talk.

Public Speaking Tip #220: A humorous business meeting before your own presentation can act as an excellent 'warm-up' act for you.

At one point, a gentleman held up an envelope which had been sent to him in the post with nothing inside. When I mentioned in my talk about how the supposedly mute Harpo Marx used to send people telegrams which said 'No message. Harpo', I was able to get a laugh by inserting 'Perhaps it was him who sent that envelope!' (The fact that he died in 1964 didn't stop the gag working - it was a good example of a tailored, impromptu addition. And besides, our postal service can sometimes be very slow!)

The talk went down extremely well with the 51 members present, the odd Marxian one-liner even drawing applause. The only problem I had was that I had to move to a different, dimly-lit position which made it harder to see my notes. The reason? Water was leaking through the ceiling from one of the first floor rooms at the hotel!

As always, I really enjoyed the lunch with the members after my talk and I must thank the gentleman who gave me a lift into Christchurch afterwards.

This super club is already making plans for their 20th anniversary celebrations in 2011! Long may they continue to meet - but preferably in non-leaky venues!

Tadley and District History Society (TADS)

On 21 May, I spoke about An Attractive Impediment: the Life, Literature and Laughter of Patrick Campbell for the Tadley and District History Society in Hampshire. I was able to discover a little about them from their website.

Public Speaking Tip #218: You can often find out about an organisation that has booked you by looking at their website. Sometimes even some fairly small groups have one - it's always worth finding out.

This was the first time I had ever spoken to a history society and I tailored the material accordingly. Although this talk is primarily about a brilliantly funny Irish journalist who became an unlikely TV celebrity in the 1960s (he had a severe stammer), his story takes in Irish politics, famous figures in the arts in the 1920s and 30s, Ireland during World War II and the early days of satire on British television. I did extra research/revision so that I could highlight the historical parts, for example, Campbell's brief period working for Lord Beaverbrook.

The result was that I had additional material to consider including in future versions of this talk which are not for history-related clubs.

Public Speaking Tip #219: Tailoring an existing, long-standing presentation for a specific type of interest group can produce new material which may then be considered for any future audience.

I was met at Basingstoke station by Derek Heath who had a little trouble recognising me as he'd been looking at the website of a different Nick Thomas and was under the impression that I was an ex-RAF officer born in 1941 (which was actually the year in which my mother was born!) 

There were about 40 at St Paul's Church Hall in Tadley (a pretty respectable turnout considering that I was competing against Man Utd v Chelsea in the European Champions League final!) and the society had very thoughtfully laid on some refreshments for me for before the talk.

My talk was, I think, a bit of a departure from the usual type of presentation at their meetings but it went well.