Southbourne Literary Society, Bournemouth

I have blogged before about speaking to Southbourne Literary Society, a group I will always have a great affection for because they booked me for my first-ever paid speaking engagement back in January 1996.

Early last year I received a phone call from their Honorary Secretary, Mr Tom Hall, wanting to book me for a seventh visit. They had already heard all of my talks that are suitable for such a group so I suggested an idea I had in mind for a new presentation but Mr Hall surprised me by wanting me to speak about Dorothy Parker. Now, I had no doubt that a presentation about her could fill an hour but I had already delivered my talk about the Algonquin Round Table for Southbourne Literary Society in early 2006 and a fair proportion of it had been about Dorothy Parker so wouldn't I just be repeating material that this audience had heard already?

Mr Hall felt that it would and he booked me. Thinking about it afterwards, I remembered that this society occasionally books 'repeats' of entire talks they have had some years earlier and this seems to work very well - some members would have missed the first one, new members may have joined since and the talk has probably evolved over time anyway. I remembered hearing Professor Sean Street deliver a repeat his talk on the Dimmock Poets for Southbourne Literary Society and this had been very well received. And all I was being asked to was expand on one part of a previous lecture.

Public Speaking Tip #357:  It may be possible to repeat a presentation for certain organisations, especially if  a long period of time has passed, there has been some turnover of audience membership and the content has evolved.

As I researched the additional content for the Dorothy Parker talk I could see what a difference this extra background knowledge was going to make to future bookings for the  'parent' presentation about the Algonquin Set and, despite my initial reluctance, I was now glad of the opportunity to share further this material with the Literary Society.

On the night, there were around 35 members present and the talk went really well. I was able to include many of Dorothy Parker's quotations which had not been featured in my original Algonquin Round Table lecture nearly four years earlier. I showed the audience the Folio Society's beautifully-produced edition of Dorothy Parker's works and some audience members came up afterwards to look at this. And I received a super, warm vote of thanks from the speaker and author (and former Deputy Headmaster of my old grammar school) Mr David Hilliam. Overall, I have to say that it one of the most successful of my seven engagements for Southbourne Literary Society.

Afterwards, I spoke to Mr Hall. 'I could tell you weren't keen on the idea!' he chuckled. He was right - and he was also right about how well it could work!

Public Speaking Tip #358: Is there some topic in any of your presentations which could be developed into a full talk in its own right? This could lead to repeat bookings and additional markets for you as a speaker and the additional research may also enhance the original presentation it comes from.

The second speaker at that meeting was Mr Hall himself, looking back over the Society's history as it approached its 65th year - and he has been a member since its inception! This was itself an updated version of a talk that I had heard Mr Hall deliver in 2005, the Society's 60th year, but the content had evolved since then.

Listening to his account confirmed my belief that, in some ways, the 1950s saw the heyday of public speaking in Britain. The Southbourne Literary Society's attendance of 30 - 40 hasn't really altered since I started speaking to them but back then, in the years before television ownership really took off with the Coronation, the Society could expect a three-figure audience of people turning out to hear an evening lecture about a literary topic. Further afield, broadcast talks were a regular part of radio scheduling and whereas today's celebrity speakers will perform for at dinners for thousands of pounds, some household names of the 1950s would happily speak for no payment at all. There may be more people required to give presentations as a requirement for their work nowadays but in terms of audiences having the interest and attention span to regard listening to talks as a leisure activity, I think the golden age was probably sixty years ago. Fortunately, even with so many home entertainment options available today, there are still thousands of clubs, societies, theatres, arts centres, functions and festivals with (admittedly often mature) audiences who will gladly listen to a speaker - even one without visual aids - for an hour or sometimes much longer.

POSTSCRIPT: I have since delivered my Algonquin Round Table talk to a different audience and discovered, as I had suspected, that the additional information I have been able to add to the part dealing with Dorothy Parker has greatly enhanced the presentation as a whole so many thanks to Mr Hall.. Unfortunately I have recently heard that he has not been well lately so my best wishes go to him and his wife Ros.