Fordingbridge 93 Club, Hampshire

On 20 August I spoke for the third time to Fordingbridge 93 Club, a men's group similar to a Probus and named after the year of its formation.

This is a popular club (they have to limit the attendance at their meetings to 80) and their morning talks are delivered from a low stage at the award-winning Sandy Balls Holiday Centre following a lively business meeting.

As I was setting up for my talk, assisted by a very helpful Speaker Host, I noticed a 1p coin on the floor at the back of the stage. My presentation about Groucho Marx includes the story of the Marx Brothers unsuccessful shows in the UK before they became famous worldwide and how Groucho came out with a brilliant ad-lib when an unappreciative audience threw pennies at the stage. When it came to the point in the talk when I was about to deliver this material, I mentioned the coin, went and picked it up and then told the story. It was too good an opportunity to miss, using this to lead into the tale and transport my friendly audience from looking at a small stage in a holiday centre to imagining a large, hostile crowd glaring at performers in a London theatre some 90 years earlier.

Public Speaking Tip #348: You may have carefully planned what material to include in your presentation but sometimes on arriving at the venue you may notice something that enables you to introduce part of your content in a totally different way.

As always, the 93 Club were a great audience (when I sold booklets, they handed over their coins instead of throwing them!) and I enjoyed a very nice lunch as their guest afterwards.

My thanks for the lift from Fordingbridge town centre and back.