New Milton Townswomen's Guild
On 19 January, I was booked once again by New Milton TG, a group which I have a great deal of affection for. They were the last audience my late mother ever spoke to just a month before she died and they gave her a lovely write-up in their local paper and even mentioned her in the introduction to my own talk all these years later.
This was a well-attended meeting (60 - their numbers have been maintained as a result of new members joining after a couple of other local groups closed) and I was booked for my Patrick Campbell talk,
The room where they meet at the New Milton Community Centre is very long with windows at the back so the speaker is facing a fairly busy town centre road as well as the audience.
I was about halfway through my presentation when a couple of teenagers, one male, one female, glanced through the windows as they were passing, noticed someone with a microphone speaking to an audience and stood gormlessly grinning and waving! Obviously the ladies with their backs to them couldn't see this and I didn't spend too much time looking at them either. As a speaker, I am constantly looking all around the audience without dwelling on any one area and I treated them rather like the occasional frowner or snoozer that every speaker gets - by concentrating on everyone else. After a very short time, they got bored and walked on, Mr Campbell apparently not appealing to their literary tastes! On the scale of anti-social behaviour in this town it was a very minor incident but if they had started cat-calling then I am sure the TG ladies would have chased them off!
I didn't lose my flow and it was another successful talk for this lovely group.
Public Speaking Tip #282: A distraction does not always need to become an interruption for a speaker,
It is possible for an audience to be distracted without the speaker even realising it. When I spoke at the Somerton Summer Arts Festival (as you may have guessed from the wordplay, it's in Somer-set!) in 2002, I was in a room above a pub in this small, rural town. There was a window behind me and I was told that at one point of my talk, a cart piled high with hay passed by very slowly as I was speaking!
Now, I'm all for speakers making hay while the sun shines but this was at about nine o'clock at night!
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Saturday, January 31
The Law of Distraction
by
Nick R Thomas A.L.A.M. (Public Speaking)
on Sat 31 Jan 2009 12:58 PM GMT
Precious seconds
by
Nick R Thomas A.L.A.M. (Public Speaking)
on Sat 31 Jan 2009 01:06 AM GMT
Alpha Club, Highcliffe
My first speaking engagement of 2009 was on 7 January when I made a return visit to the Brendoncare Alpha Club in Highcliffe, this time to speak about Patrick Campbell. Anyone who has read this blog since its earliest days might remember that one of my very first posts was about when I spoke at this club in July 2007 and was delayed by transport problems. This time, I turned up early and got everything set up in very good time, ready to speak to the friendly audience of 24 members and helpers. Public Speaking Tip #281: If something goes wrong at a speaking engagement but you still get a repeat booking, this is a great opportunity to put things right! Thursday, January 29
A fee, some tea - and advertising for free!
by
Nick R Thomas A.L.A.M. (Public Speaking)
on Thu 29 Jan 2009 04:58 AM GMT
Another write-up in the New Milton Advertiser and Lymington Times
A while back, I wrote about my talk on 19 November for the Highcliffe Evening Women's Institute. A report about this meeting appeared in the New Milton Advertiser and Lymington Times issue dated 3 January. Public Speaking Tip #279: Reports about presentations may sometimes take a while to appear in publications, either because their editors are catching up on a backlog or waiting until they have a number that they can publish together on the same page. Don't give up hope of seeing your name in print just yet! Featured on the wonderfully-named Local Women's Activities page, part of this report reads: "The Power of Humour in Everyday Life was the subject of a talk given by Nick Thomas at the November meeting. He writes scripts for the radio as well as teaching public speaking...and writing speeches for those that need them". Now, my talk was not a sales pitch - the above activities were all mentioned as part of my anecdotes and observations or in response to questions - but as well as getting laughter, applause, payment and refreshments, I have received the added bonus of free advertising in the write-up about my talk in a local newspaper which sold around 22,000 copies that week! Public Speaking Tip #280: By mentioning your subject matter, a report about your presentation in a newspaper or magazine or on a website can also sometimes become a free advetisement for you - and not just as a speaker! |
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