UNITE, Christchurch

The former National Federation of Royal Mail and BT Pensioners is now known as UNITE and on 11 August, I made a return visit to their Christchurch branch. Once again, I was speaking at a holiday park, this time Hoburne Naish between Highcliffe and New Milton.

My eczema had cleared up enough for me to able to wear normal shoes for talks again but I had a very long walk from Somerford to the venue due to some alterations to the bus services! Nevertheless, I arrived just in time.

The Clubhouse was (as usual) sweltering and because of its size and layout, even an audience of about 60 there is always rather spread out. In the end, I condensed my Groucho Marx talk into about 10 minutes less than usual and I was worried that they might feel short-changed but from the number of very positive comments afterwards, it seems that I judged it just about right on that very hot morning.

Public Speaking Tip #239: As speakers, we like to give value for money but - just occasionally -  the best option for everybody may be to cut the presentation a little short, for example, when speaking in a very warm venue on a muggy summer morning!

The Probus Club of the New Forest

August is often a quiet month for speakers and I only had two talks booked this year, the first of which on August 5 was for a Probus club which I hadn't even heard of until they booked me!

I have delivered well over 100 talks for Probus clubs all over the south of England but somehow the Probus Club of the New Forest had escaped my attention, despite having been in existence for over 30 years (this was actually Meeting #403 for them!)

Their Speaker Secretary David Bankes gave me a lift from New Milton station to a venue which I have blogged about before: Shorefield Country Park, near Milford-on-Sea.

The last time I spoke there, I had great difficulty in finding any of the four microphones I was offered which worked properly but there was no problem at all on this occasion and I used a handheld. I always prefer this when I'm speaking on Life as a Freelance Comedy Writer because there are elements which are very like stand-up and, apart from the odd prop and the unintentionally funny press cuttings I read out, I know it well enough not to need notes, so my other hand remains free to gesticulate.

The room where the club meets is also used for the holidaymakers' cabaret entertainment and even though I was speaking from floor-level and not on the stage, my table was lit by some of the stage lighting. I like my talks to have a touch of theatricality where possible and this added it.

Public Speaking Tip #238: Public speaking is a performance and (depending upon your subject matter) may benefit from some theatrical atmosphere, for example, with the lighting. What touches could you add?

There were around 50 at the meeting and the talk went very well and was followed by a good question and answer session and an excellent buffet lunch.

Mr Banks ran me back to the station and left a super message on my answerphone the next day to say that the members had loved my talk.