Nick R Thomas - A Public Speaker's Blog

Speak up - you never know who might be listening!

Nick R Thomas A.L.A.M. (Public Speaking) — Sat, 03 May 2008 18:20:47 +0100

Milton Green Women's Institute

I mentioned New Milton Community Centre in my last post and I was back there on 7 April when I spoke to Milton Green WI about Dorothy Parker and the Algonquin Wits, a talk which was followed by a good question and answer session about comedy and humour generally. This was the first time I had spoken to them since July 2001 and they told me that in recent times, one of the other afternoon WIs in the town had folded so I was pleased to see that this Institute still met.

Afterwards, I was talking to one of their members who turned out to be involved with the National Executive and we had a very useful discussion about possible opportunities for teaching on training courses for WI members. What is interesting about this is that there were only 17 at the meeting and yet they included someone with this connection. I have written before about how rewarding small audiences can be and this was another example.

I once read that early on in their careers, the British comedy double act Hale and Pace were performing at the Edinburgh Fringe. One night they discovered that only 4 people had come to their show (not that unusual for the Fringe, as anyone who has been there will know). They were very tempted to cancel and give these punters their money back but decided that the show must go on. Of those 4 audience members, it turned that 3 were producers, including Alan Nixon who went on to produce their highly successful TV series!

Public Speaking Tip #191: Don't be put off by small audiences - you never know who might be amongst them!

In the days following this talk, I set about preparing for what would be my biggest and most far-flung engagement for quite some time...

Lend me your ear (or how I became Disgusting of Tunbridge Wells!)

Nick R Thomas A.L.A.M. (Public Speaking) — Thu, 01 May 2008 21:11:37 +0100

Tunbridge Wells Luncheon Club

My first speaking engagement last month was on 3 April for a ladies' luncheon club in Tunbridge Wells. I got the 05.20 coach from Bournemouth to Victoria (so much cheaper than the train!) and our very well-spoken driver announced that no-one should drink alcohol, smoke, eat hot food or pee with loo seat down. He then told us to enjoy our trip. That will be difficult, I thought; he's just banned every pleasure known to Man! Seriously, I wouldn't do any of the above but I did marvel at how fresh he made an announcement which he must have made so many times sound.

Something else I don't do (well, not very often and certainly not at this time of year) is swimming but, nevertheless, I had managed to develop a condition called Swimmer's Ear which causes muffled hearing and a runny discharge but I was more worried about the latter as far as the upcoming talk was concerned.

There have been times in the past when my ears have been blocked (listening to music, comedy - and yes, speeches - too loudly on headphones, plus a period when I had to wear wax earplugs to try and get some sleep when I had the Neighbours from Hell left quite a build-up!) but this never gave me problems with public speaking other than struggling to hear questions from the audience. Once you get into the habit of projecting your voice adequately for the size of room and audience, you can 'feel' how loud you are.

Public Speaking Tip #188: Voice projection becomes second nature over time - even if you develop a hearing problem.

But my right ear started running during the journey and plagued me for most of the day...

The coach got into Victoria an unprecedented 30 minutes early and I had breakfast, went through the papers for topical gags for the radio presenters I write for and then caught the train to Tunbridge Wells, once again with my ear giving me problems.

Tunbridge Wells (or Royal Tunbridge Wells, to give it its proper name) is a very attractive town - even when you struggle to find the venue where you are booked to speak. It is also very hilly - the area where the Spa Hotel is located is called Mount Ephraim. After going off in totally the wrong direction and ending up about a mile away from where I was supposed to be. me walking, my ear still running, I managed to get there a few minutes before the lunch was due to start.

The club dates back to the 1950s when it was mixed and, like so many in those days, attended by hundreds. Today it is a ladies' club and still attracts a very respectable attendance of around 65.

The meal was very enjoyable (their Chairman, Mrs Paddy Day, was most insistent that I should eat her pudding as well and who was I to argue?) but I was a little quiet due to the hearing problem.

As it was, I was asked to use a microphone anyway. Wireless mics can sometimes be problematic when there are low ceilings so I made sure I was standing in a good spot. There was another potential problem was when I was briefly bathed in a golden shaft when a burst of sunlight came through one of the overhead windows.

I first came across this occasional hazard for speakers a decade ago when I delivered an entire talk in front of a window at New Milton Community Centre only to be made aware that the audience had been perhaps been more dazzled by the sunlight coming through the window immediately behind me than anything else! Since then, it's been something that I watch out for, either drawing curtains beforehand or moving to a slightly different spot - as I did on this occasion.

Public Speaking Tip #189: When you speak, you should give some consideration to what is behind you as well as in front, such as windows where dazzling light could come in or any other potential distractions.

The were an excellent audience (I have mentioned before how good they are in Kent) and I was just sorry that I could only partly hear the laughter but, as usual, I was taping it. Fortunately my ear behaved itself in other ways while I spoke!

After the talk, I sat in the hotel, wrote some more gags, emailed them by Blackberry and then walked out into the town, this time knowing where I was going! Tunbridge Wells is a fascinating place and I would one day like to explore it when I have more time and am not carrying bags with all my speaking props, etc (although these were a bit lighter thanks to the luncheon club ladies buying a decent number of booklets).

In Calverley Road, I reflected on the fact that the people you wish were timid about speaking in public never seem to be, for example, the extremely pushy chuggers (for overseas readers, chuggers - short for 'charity muggers' - are employed to accost shoppers in precincts to try to sign them up for monthly donations, the first year or two of these simply going to pay the chuggers' wages and commissions!) Then there was the remarkably inhibitionally challenged young man in a silly hat who danced around and shouted in people's faces that the world was about to end. Pick on the wrong person, I thought, and his just might...

After trying unsuccessfully to find anywhere selling a book about the 18th century master of ceremonies Richard 'Beau' Nash, who is perhaps almost as much associated with Tunbridge Wells as he is with Bath, I set off home.

On the train back to London, there was a third example of someone totally lacking in self-consciousness: a young mother reading a Dr Seuss book very loudly to her two under-fives. Muffled hearing or not, by the time we reached Charing Cross, I had been made fully aware of every possible rhyming objection to a particular dish, all expressed in only fifty words! (And now I can honestly say that I too do not like Green Eggs and Ham, Irritated-Man-I-am).

Postscript: I received a lovely testimonial letter from Paddy Day of the luncheon club shortly afterwards:

"From all the complimentary comments, you will certainly be taking a larger size in hats! You 'came alive' when you spoke to us and we thoroughly enjoyed your amusing anecdotes".

She added that she hoped I had a pleasant journey back home. Well, runny ear and Dr Seuss aside, not too bad, but that bit about me 'coming alive' raises an interesting point. Even though I was a little quieter than usual anyway during this particular lunch due to my hearing problem, people have often commented that they cannot believe how anyone who seems as reserved as me can suddenly become so lively later on as a speaker. Some even begin to have doubts about whether they should have booked me - until they hear me start to speak (and I must confess to sometimes deriving a perverse pleasure from surprising them in this way; it's a wonderful 'hidden power' for a shy person!)

Public Speaking Tip #190: Speakers who are not natural extroverts should at least 'come to life' during their presentations. With experience, this becomes almost second nature.

As my public speaking tutor Angela Brennan told me: 'You must be alive, vital, in control of your space'.

Audience Appreciation

Nick R Thomas A.L.A.M. (Public Speaking) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 08:12:08 +0100

My apologies for the lack of blogging recently; I have been pretty busy with talks and speechwriting over the past few weeks so I now have quite a few posts to add, each, as always, containing at least one useful presentation skills tip...

New Forest Veterans of Normandy

On 28 March, I spoke on My Life as a Freelance Comedy Writer to the Normandy Veterans Association New Forest Branch in Ringwood.

There were around 60 there for this morning meeting, including a number of women who, I assumed, were wives, widows or daughters of veterans. Many members travel considerable distances to attend, for example, Mr Ball, their Speaker Secretary, comes in all the way from Yeovil.

They were a very good audience and I received a number of compliments afterwards.

I mentioned last year that I had collected all the DVDs of the World at War TV series given away with the Daily Mail. The night before this talk, I made a point of once again watching the programme devoted to the Normandy Landings, not because I was going to mention anything about them in my talk, but simply to remind me of the incredible shared experience of this remarkable audience.

Public Speaking Tip #187: Doing some background research about your audience - even if none of it will be used for tailored content - helps to give a speaker a fuller appreciation of them.

So where do public speakers find their public? (Part 3)

Nick R Thomas A.L.A.M. (Public Speaking) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:02:11 +0100

Who books speakers?

In my last two posts, I mentioned how Sarah Rourke could use public speaking to promote her podcasting company, not only by addressing business clubs but also by giving a more general presentation about her radio production career to a wider range of organisations.

I am now going to list some of the types of groups I speak to on a regular basis (I have a feeling that this will be one of those posts where I keep thinking of further information to add afterwards so it might be worthwhile to revisit it from time to time!) Please note that although I have given links to the national websites of many of these organisations so that you can find out more about them, you should contact individual local branches if you want to be considered as a speaker, not their national HQs.

Probus: I have given more talks for Probus than any other organisation. These clubs hold monthly meetings for retired professional and business people (hence the name Pro-bus). There are thousands of these clubs worldwide, many with waiting lists, and members meet purely for social reasons, not charity fundraising. The majority are men's clubs but there are an increasing number of ladies' Probus and (certainly in my home county of Dorset) some which are mixed. The single sex Probus clubs have regular meetings where partners are invited and these pay a slightly higher fee. Although most of these clubs have meetings in hotels or restaurants that are based around a lunch (to which the speaker is always invited as a guest), there are some Probus which just meet for coffee mornings in village halls. Morning Probus talks can be up to an hour whereas speakers after a lunch may be asked for, say, 40 minutes. Some also have annual dinners with a guest speaker.

Attendances can range from around 25 to 80 for a meeting with guests. The audiences are welcoming, highly attentive and appreciative and ask some excellent questions.

Although Probus clubs usually meet every month, it is worth pointing out that there is a policy of encouraging their own members to deliver talks about their careers or interests so there are not necessarily twelve speaking slots for outside speakers to fill each year. This is more than compensated for by the sheer numbers of these clubs around the country; sometimes even tiny towns will have two or three very well-attended Probus clubs.

Ladies' Luncheon Clubs: Besides Probus, there are many other clubs for 'ladies who lunch' which book speakers. Some of these are actually Conservative ladies' luncheon clubs but they don't mention this in their names. I have found that politics is rarely mentioned at many of these clubs, except perhaps to announce that a well-known MP has been booked as a speaker at some future meeting.

As with Probus, some book speakers for the morning, others for a shorter spot after the lunch. It is very rare for a speaker not to be invited as a guest to the meal itself.

Ladies' luncheon clubs may seem a little overwhelming to some (male) novice speakers, especially as audiences can range in number from, say, 20 to well over 100, but they are generally very friendly audiences - provided your material is appropriate and you don't patronise them!

Women's Institutes: Although they are mainly thought of as a rural organisation, many urban areas also have WIs.

I wrote in some detail about WIs and their speaker selection process last month and in my very first post in this blog last August, I tried to dispel some of the preconceived ideas about what WIs are like as audiences.

Townswomen's Guilds: Seen by some as urban versions of Women's Institutes (there is a saying that you should never mention the WI to a Townswomen; in reality, many members belong to both!), there are also TGs in many small rural towns and larger villages. Their monthly meetings can be in the morning, afternoon or evening and attendances can range from around 20 to 80. Talks tend to last an hour with questions and they have special Federation events, such as annual lunches, and also residentials which feature instructional speakers.

There is no audition process for lists of TG speakers; they seem to be compiled according to recommendations from individual Guilds who have enjoyed a speaker's presentation.

Trefoil Guilds are (usually fairly small) groups of women involved in Guiding and Scouting. Again, they book speakers as entertainment for their meetings.

Rotary International: With the motto 'service above self', Rotary is the biggest of the service (ie charity fundraising) organisations in the UK. Until recently, Rotary was a men-only organisation but women are now allowed to join (although not all Rotary clubs have them yet!)

Rotarians meet weekly, either for breakfast, lunch or dinner meetings but it is usually only the evening clubs which represent much of a market for speakers - and then only monthly as the other meetings are devoted more to business. Rotary Clubs also have occasional Partners' Evenings and, as with Probus, these larger audiences may pay a slightly higher fee.

Audiences tend to be aged from 50 upwards and are very responsive. It is worth pointing out that annual Charter Meetings and Christmas dinners may be a little, er, boisterous in the case of some clubs!

Inner Wheel: These are the wives and partners of Rotarians. They also do a great deal of charity work and have their own separate meetings with speakers.

41 Club: These are former members of Round Table who have to leave when they are 45 (it used to be 41, hence the name which has not been changed). There are fewer of these clubs but, like Rotary, they do a great deal for charity. Their monthly meetings also feature speakers. Once again, it is worth pointing out that, perhaps because of their slightly younger age and their background in hard-drinking Round Tables, these audiences can sometimes be rather lively!

Tangent: Wives and partners of 41 Club members who used to be in the Ladies' Circle. They also raise funds and book meetings with speakers.

Another women's charity organisation which sometimes books speakers, at least for annual events, is Soroptimist International.

Two further service organisations which may book speakers for their monthly meetings are Lions Clubs International and Moose International.

There are numerous clubs for former members of HM Armed Forces, with local branches booking speakers on a wide range of subjects. These organisations include: the Royal British Legion, the RAF Association and Women's Auxhiliary Air Force Association, the Royal Naval Association and the Association of Wrens, the REME Association, the Normandy Veterans Association, the Royal Army Medical Corps Association...

Retirement Clubs are a huge market for those giving talks. Some examples are: the Civil Service Retirement Fellowship, the NHS Retirement Fellowship, the National Association of Retired Police Officers, the National Association of Retired Firefighters, the National Federation of Royal Mail and BT Pensioners... There are a phenomenal number of other groups, whose members may have worked for national organisations or for companies such as British Gas, Southern Electricity, Boots or Sainsbury's. I am approached all the time by organisations I didn't even know existed!

I have mentioned the University of the Third Age (U3A) in my blog. They hold monthly social meetings with guest speakers for their members, sometimes with audiences of up to 200, aged 50-plus.

Many churches have fellowships who book speakers. I should mention that their meetings often begin with a short service, perhaps consisting of a hymn and a prayer - something to bear in mind if you have differing religious beliefs or none at all. As far as these groups are concerned, I have noticed that although most of them book a wide range of speakers, Mothers' Unions only seem to book talks related to Christianity, charities, etc.

Your presentation might have a particular appeal to a group such as a literary or historical society. Which brings me on to special interest organisations. Now, you might think that a Decorative and Fine Arts Society, A Quilting Club and a Recorded Music Society would only book speakers concerned with those subjects - and you would be right. So the same would presumably apply to a Rose Society, a Wine Circle, a Morris Minor Owners Club, a Diabetic Association and a Welsh Society, right? Wrong! I have spoken to all of these types of groups on my usual topics which have nothing to do with horticulture, home brewing, classic cars, medical developments or the land of my grandparents!

Public Speaking Tip #184: Organisations connected with a particular field of interest may book speakers on totally unrelated subjects.

Try to obtain a copy of their events calendar for the year ahead to see what sort of speakers they have lined up.

How can speakers get booked?

The above list is by no means exhaustive but it should give you some idea of the range of organisations that might book you. I have mentioned about the Women's Institutes' speaker selection process for their Yearbooks in each Federation but how can you make yourself known to other organisations?

Firstly, I would forget about press advertising. Although advertising in magazines did result in a certain number of engagements for me in the past, many of the ads failed to 'pull' and the whole exercise was not very profitable overall. But a good newspaper interview or article about you which just happens to mention that you are a speaker could bring in some bookings: a profile piece about me in a relatively small circulation free community magazine years ago led to about half a dozen talks in that area over the next 18 months or so - plus some subsequent visits.

I have become very well known to a large number of organisations, often being booked anything up to half a dozen times by them. I also get a large number of recommendations, either from organisations I have spoken to or from other speakers, I have passed 12 WI auditions so I am in a very large number of their Yearbooks and this blog/site is starting to produce bookings as well but...I still have to keep approaching organisations who have not booked me before in order to keep the bookings at a certain level.

Here's how I do it...

At speaking engagements: the Twelve Tips for Terrified Speakers leaflet which I give out free contains a list of all my talks plus my contact details. People often pass these on to other societies they belong to and this does lead to bookings. Is there an informative handout you could distribute after your presentations which could include contact details as well?

The booklets I merchandise also contain my contact details.

I also have detailed leaflets with tempting details about my different talks which I send out by email or post to organisations. Where my original and most popular talk My Life as a Freelance Comedy Writer is concerned, I have a special version of the leaflet about this for Probus Clubs which mentions how many of these I have spoken to, the different types of Probus events and, of course, extracts from the dozens of unsolicited compliments I have received in letters from them or the write-ups they have given me in local newspapers, etc. I also have a special version of this leaflet for WIs, with details of all the auditions I have passed, WI testimonial extracts, etc. There are also versions for literary festivals and writers' groups, retirement clubs, Rotary, social clubs and functions, Townswomen's Guilds and women's groups, all with tailored CV additions and appropriate testimonials.

But I still use pretty much the same methods to get these around as I did when I was still a relatively new speaker and only had one subject and one leaflet.

When I speak in a venue such as a community association where many different groups meet, I look at the notice boards where they advertise to see if they look as if they would book any of my talks and then take down the contact details. Many centres publish a regular newsletter with details of all the activities of the organisations who meet there and how to get in touch with them.

I read local papers, church magazines, etc, which have club reports. Often there will be a contact name and phone number which I can match with an address in the telephone directory so that I can write to them. If there is no name, just a phone number, I will ring and ask if there is an address where I can send details of my talks to. People don't mind once they find out that I am a speaker and not some other cold caller trying to sell them home improvements!

Which brings me to an important point because I know that some of you will be thinking about these unsolicited approaches to speaker secretaries and wondering whether they are likely to complain. All I can say is that I have found that organisations are always looking for new speakers and are genuinely pleased to be given details of something new. I have never had one complaint about this. The 'worst' responses that I have had were some phone calls telling me very nicely that certain clubs no longer meet or that they do not book outside speakers.

Public Speaking Tip #185: Speaker secretaries are always on the lookout for new speakers for their members to hear and welcome non-pushy approaches.

There seems to be no such thing as 'speaker spam' (yet!)

I look at websites of clubs and societies. Not all of them have a site, of course, but a huge number do have at least some details listed in online directories published by local authorities. Then I email a leaflet with a covering message. So that these attachments are not filtered out as potential spam, I put the name of the club followed by 'Speaker Details Attached' in the subject box and they seem to get through. If there is no email address, I will post a leaflet second class to the snail mail address given. Again, I put 'Speaker Details Enclosed' on the envelope.

And if I cannot find any contact details for an organisation but I know where they meet, I will write to them care of that hotel or hall. I have obtained bookings this way.

Some bookings come in almost instantly if your details arrive just as another speaker has cancelled; others may take longer.

But if you have already spoken well on one topic and then send out details of a brand new one, the results can be quite startling. At the beginning of 2004, I mailed out just over 100 leaflets to organisations who I had spoken to in the past, this time with details of my new presentation about Patrick Campbell. Within a month, a third of them had booked me to come and deliver this new talk sometime over the next 18 months and the bookings just kept coming in, in fact, of the 11 engagements I had in March 2005, 8 were for that talk!

Public Speaking Tip #186: One of the questions a speaker is most frequently asked after a successful presentation is 'Do you have any other titles?' As soon as you have some, let everyone know - it's virtually a guaranteed market for you!

So where do public speakers find their public? (Part 2)

Nick R Thomas A.L.A.M. (Public Speaking) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:30:51 +0100

Cross-promotion between presentations

Last time, I wrote about how a reader of this blog, Sarah Rourke, could promote her podcasting business by speaking to business networking and arts-based events and clubs. Now I'm going to suggest some other speaking engagements which she might also consider.

Although Sarah is mainly interested in speaking about podcasting, I notice from her CV that she has worked as a BBC radio journalist and producer. I am going to suggest that she develops another presentation all about her experiences of this, perhaps entitled 'My Life as a Radio Producer', 'A Day in the Life of a BBC Reporter' or even (depending upon which part of the Beeb she worked in) 'Behind the Scenes at BBC Radio'. The talk should be up to 50 minutes long and include interesting/amusing facts and stories, with at least some involving famous people (although audiences don't want to hear a catalogue of name-dropping, they will appreciate - and expect - the odd tale involving well-known broadcasters/entertainers). Having listened to Sarah's own podcasting on her website, I can hear that she has a lively and enthusiastic delivery aided by the bonus of a regional accent and I think she could make a talk like this work very well. Sound clips will add further interest. Towards the end of her presentation, she could mention a little about her current work and its relationship to radio and play an extract; this may be lost on some audience members but many others will appreciate what it is about, especially as so many national radio and newspaper websites' own podcasts are catching on and attracting highly respectable audience figures.

All told, this subject matter will have a much wider appeal and attract far more bookings than a presentation about podcasting. She is also far more likely to be paid to deliver it.

But why should Sarah develop a separate talk about work she has done in the past and deliver it for audiences who are mostly retired when what she really wants is to use public speaking to promote her current activities to potential (working) clients?

Firstly, it will give her some additional income, either for when business is slow or perhaps to invest in her company. Fees for talks to clubs and societies may often seem modest but as a rate-per-hour if you don't have to travel far to the venue, they're not too bad at all!

Secondly, by mentioning podcasts at some point in this talk, playing extracts and then offering free literature about them, she might still possibly get some business as a result.

Thirdly, it will give her a higher profile. Many talks for clubs and societies are publicised in advance in the local press and some are reported in great detail afterwards. She may receive write-ups which mention to a large readership that she is now involved in podcasting and these could then result in commissions or at least requests to talk to other types of groups about the podcasting itself.

Public Speaking Tip #183: Don't overlook the indirect ways in which public speaking can act as a promotional tool for you, your business - and your other presentations.

So where do public speakers find their public? (Part 1)

Nick R Thomas A.L.A.M. (Public Speaking) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:48:24 +0000

Finding the right audience for your presentation

Not for the first time, a reader has contacted me with a query (and if anyone else wants to use me as a 'public speaking agony uncle' then please feel free to do so. I'll help if I can - but it may sometimes take a while, depending upon my commitments!).

Sarah Rourke, The Audio Pod Artist, is a former BBC journalist and producer and is therefore not nervous about public speaking but wants suggestions for finding the right organisations to speak to in order to promote her podcasting, audio resources production and training business.

First of all, here are the more obvious suggestions. Let's start with business networking clubs. Now Sarah could certainly join some and get to speak at their meetings, ranging from one minute per week to say what sort of business referrals she'd like from other members at some clubs, to a six-minute presentation about her business at others. Some will cost hundreds of pounds a year in membership fees, others just the cost of a meal.

But with her BBC background and type of business, I feel that she really should be the guest speaker at business clubs. Her local library or free business paper should have details of all the business groups in her area and, if it's anything like here in Bournemouth, a very large proportion of these will be solely for businesswomen. It will then be up to her to decide whether she wants to widen her net and obtain details of similar clubs further afield.

Meetings can be at any time from breakfast to evening and from weekly to bi-monthly. Some organisations pay (very well), others may just pay her travel and for the meal but, whatever the arrangement, her presentation will have to be informative and entertaining, not simply a sales pitch, and she will need to take some interesting recordings along with her to play - using her own equipment.

A good organisation for Sarah to contact might be Businesslink. In my area, they run a number of rural business clubs and I have delivered 40-minute presentations as a guest speaker at a couple of these and obtained some coaching and other work as a result but they also run much larger training events in urban districts.

So these are some of the business clubs.There are also the service organisations whose members are business people who raise funds for charity: Rotary and their wives and partners in the Inner Wheel, 41 Clubs (ex-Round Tablers) and their female offshoot Tangent, Lions clubs, etc. They certainly all book - and pay for - speakers but the age range is pretty wide, from 40s to 90s, with many of them obviously being retired and although there are certainly older people who are very enthusiastic users of the internet (sometimes rather patronisingly described by the media as 'silver surfers'), many others have no interest in it at all. The same, I think, applies to BPW (Business and Professional Women UK Ltd) as a market. But perhaps Rotary's 'youth arm' Rotaract (18 upwards) might be a better bet, although these clubs tend to be very small.

Here are some less obvious suggestions. Podcasting is, like blogging, a form of self-publishing - so how about writers' groups? The audio aspect could be of interest to film-making and AV (audio visual) clubs, too (despite so much of my work being in radio, I have spoken to both a film-making and an AV club - and they approached me!) The logical progression from these might be carefully selected arts festivals. And how about contacting libraries where events are often held?

Sarah offers training so she could also consider becoming a lecturer for other educators. This would probably not bring in any extra business for her company but it would give her additional income as a speaker and increase awareness. She could be a guest lecturer on a university media studies course (as I was on the MA in Radio Production at Bournemouth University) or teach adult education classes (although she would be required to study for a basic lifelong learning teacher's qualification if she doesn't already have one).

She could also find out if there are any agencies representing subject-specific speakers for training days who would take her on their books.

Public Speaking Tip #182: Sometimes the market for a particular presentation is wider than you think so don't just look for the obvious speaking opportunities; instead, consider all aspects of your topic and think who else it might possibly appeal to.

Even politicians sometimes have their uses...

Nick R Thomas A.L.A.M. (Public Speaking) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 20:38:05 +0000

Political Biographies

Last weekend, the top UK blogger Iain Dale published a list of his Top 75 Political Books.

Political biographies often include a great deal about the preparation, delivery and impact of their subjects' speeches. A favourite audio book which I am just listening to yet again is A Different Drummer: My Thirty Years with Ronald Reagan by Michael Deaver. Throughout the 4 cassettes, there are constant references to Reagan's public speaking.

Oratory obviously also features heavily in political fiction, as viewers of the superb drama The West Wing are aware; some of the most interesting and entertaining characters are the speechwriters.

Public Speaking Tip #181: We may never wish to go into politics but we can still pick up some excellent public speaking pointers from political biographies and fiction (although, admittedly, the two are sometimes difficult to distinguish!)

An underrated technique for controlling public speaking nerves!

Nick R Thomas A.L.A.M. (Public Speaking) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 19:41:52 +0000

Controlling panic attacks

In a recent interview, Madonna revealed that she still gets panic attacks on stage.

Now, you might be thinking that if a performer with her experience still panics after a quarter of a century of superstardom, then what hope is there for anyone else?

But then we are not performing as part of a multi-million pound tour where we are expected to remember and deliver outstanding songs and dance routines while knowing that every second we are up there, the world's critics are scrutinising us for any sign of weakness as we grow older.

Madonna has her own techniques for dealing with her panic. I am now going to enlarge on one of the suggestions on my Thomas's Twelve Tips for Terrified Speakers web page which can help you if you get really nervous at a speaking engagement. I was delighted when Liz Fuller recently referred to this list - and this tip in particular - in her highly-acclaimed blog for women entrepreneurs, More Than WE Know.

Between the ages of 15 and 23, my life was blighted by severe panic attacks. As this is a blog and not a therapy session, I have no intention of going into the childhood reasons for these, but I developed a full-blown social phobia which severely restricted my educational, social and working lives. Numerous medications were prescribed, conventional and homeopathic, which had little long-term effect (apart from very unpleasant side effects in some cases). And I was less than impressed by the doctor who felt that he would be able to cure my problem over two years of talking it out - despite the fact that he appeared to speak very little English!

Then, at last, I met a therapist who described all these tablets as 'cr*p' and introduced me to an incredibly fast-working and effective technique. Whenever I felt panicky, I was to give my fear a rating on a scale of 0 - 8.

Of course, if you are feeling terribly nervous, you're naturally going to give your fear a 'score' of 8. Well, if it was 8, you would probably be dead while 6 or 7 would mean you would be unconscious! But psychologists say that actually 8 = avoidance: you simply refuse to undertake the activity you are so nervous about. In public speaking terms, it would be the equivalent of running out of the venue during your introduction.

Realistically, a severe panic attack rates a 4. And the wonderful thing is that once you start giving your fear a score, you start to take control over it. You are treating it as something separate from you; you are acting as its critic. And when you start to do this, the score begins to descend: 4 becomes 3, becomes 2.5, becomes 2...I'm not saying that it will necessarily go right down to 0 straight away but the event will certainly become a lot more manageable.

When you get used to doing this, you will find that your starting point for these scores gets lower anyway: 'How nervous am I on a scale of 0 - 8? Well, I'd say 3. Is it really a 3? Well, no, actually it's more like a 2...'

As Liz Fuller points out, 'it helps you move from right brain emotion to left brain logic very quickly'.

It certainly helped me; within weeks, I was starting to do many things which I had totally avoided for years. It changed my life and I will always be grateful to Peter Henderson and his assistant Arthur Poropat.

As far as public speaking is concerned, this technique alone will probably not be enough to help a nervous speaker; you will need to know and rehearse exactly what you are going to say and you may also need some regular practice in the supportive environment of a class, workshop or club or at least in the presence of a coach at a one-on-one session (I certainly had to join a class to overcome my own fears about public speaking, despite my many years of scriptwriting experience). But when used in conjunction with thorough speech preparation and public speaking practice, rating your fear can be invaluable in helping a speaker to overcome any nerves just as they are about to be introduced.

The tricky part is remembering to do it when you have so many other things on your mind!

On 2 January 2003, after 7 years of relatively fearless public speaking, I began to get very nervous on my way to deliver a speech. There was an understandable reason why I felt a certain pressure that day: the speech was a eulogy at my mother's funeral. But then I remembered the technique - and a fear of 3.5 quickly went down to 0 over the course the last couple of miles of the journey and I was able to deliver this most important address in the way that my mother deserved.

In terms of what I consider to be effective tools for speakers, this technique is right up there with Mind Mapping and commonplacing.

It works; remember to try it for yourself if you need to.

Public Speaking Tip #180: If you feel really nervous at a speaking engagement, remembering to give your fear a rating on a scale of 0 - 8 starts to put you in control of it, instead of it controlling you. Your panic will begin to subside.

The more often you do this, the lower your starting score will be.

And after a while, once you are used to feeling more relaxed before speaking engagements, try to make yourself feel more nervous - you will find that you can't! This is when you know that you are really starting to control your nerves.

You're a public speaker? Hang on a minute...

Nick R Thomas A.L.A.M. (Public Speaking) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 01:53:00 +0000

Royal Air Force Yacht Club Ladies' Luncheon, Hamble

On 14 March I spoke to around 50 ladies at the Hamble Royal Air Force Yacht Club in Hampshire.

They were a very good audience and, despite the talk being scheduled for after the (very good) lunch, attentive enough for me to speak for the best part of an hour on My Life as a Freelance Comedy Writer (often a presentation following a meal has to be somewhat shorter!)

Afterwards, as always, I chatted to members, gave out my Twelve Tips for Terrified Speakers! leaflets and sold and signed booklets. Even back in the days before I gave people handouts or did any merchandising after my talks, I would still be available to chat with audience members. It is only on the rare occasions that I have to get away quickly to travel on to another engagement miles away that I make a quick exit and even then I cut it fine by spending at least some time with the people who have just given me their attention, laughter and applause.

Years ago, a Women's Institute member told me that she had been to a national event where the speaker was a very famous actress who was there in her capacity as a representative of a campaigning countryside organisation. Despite her decades of stage and TV experience, she had read her entire speech with her face buried in her script. Afterwards, she had rushed off so quickly that they had to persuade her to come back just to receive her vote of thanks! Result: a disappointed audience.

Contrast this with a Rotary club in Hampshire which organises a charity lunch each spring with a celebrity speaker. They sell around 250 tickets and raise thousands. The speakers they book always seem to go well but one they remember as being particularly good value is Christine Hamilton. She and her husband Neil may still be controversial figures to some people but they have worked hard to become successful and popular entertainers. This Rotary club really appreciated the fact that she not only gave a successful speech but had so much time for her audience afterwards instead of rushing to get away.

Public Speaking Tip #179: Unless there is a really pressing reason for you to get away (or you feel your presentation has been a sheer, unmitigated disaster - which it probably hasn't!) you should spend time with your audience afterwards, not just the ones who want to buy something from you or book you for another engagement, but also those who want to chat about your presentation.

You will sometimes even find that what some of them have to tell you - perhaps an anecdote of their own related to your subject matter - will enhance your future talks.

Another reason is that some people may be too shy to ask a question in front of the audience so making yourself available afterwards means that they can talk to you one-on-one.

The Royal Air Force Yacht Club is a very pleasant venue in a lovely setting. My thanks to Charlotte Jarmain (who booked me) for the transport from Southampton Parkway and also for the coffee in the village before the talk.

A presentation and a pasty - an unbeatable combination!

Nick R Thomas A.L.A.M. (Public Speaking) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 22:56:39 +0000

Bournemouth Cornish Association

My second speaking engagement last Wednesday was a talk, once again My Life as a Freelance Comedy Writer, for one of my home town's oldest clubs: Bournemouth Cornish Association (founded 1921).

They were all extremely friendly and I decided to speak from up on the stage in the Charminster Moose Hall. Once again, I was asked to use a microphone. This was a good one, detachable from its stand and not battery operated - for once!

The agenda for their meeting is a little different from other clubs, in that I was asked to do a spot of about 30 minutes and then stop as the food would be ready by then. There would be a raffle after the meal and, if there was time, I could speak for a few minutes more and take the odd question - but they had to be out by ten o'clock!

I have often done 'two-parters', especially at literary festivals, but for those bookings, I have known that there will definitely be a second section of my talk.

In the end, I did about 35 minutes, picking a good cross-section of my usual talk but leaving out its longest anecdote, the story of my appearance on What's My Line? I finished with the usual quotations I end with just in case there wasn't time for a second segment of the talk later.

Public Speaking Tip #177: You may sometimes be asked to deliver a presentation in two parts with a break in-between, perhaps for refreshments. You should try to make both sections as self-contained as possible and try to time the first so that the break is a natural one.

Then we had the food...

It is quite possible that at some time in your life you have eaten an item from a service station, supermarket or baker's which was described as a Cornish pasty. All I can say is that unless the bakery was actually in Cornwall, it probably was nothing like one. The pasties served at this club had been made down in Cornwall and collected especially for this meeting. They were being heated as I spoke, hence the time limit on my talk! No 'pasty' I have eaten anywhere else ever tasted like this! Nothing in a corner shop chill cabinet could ever compare from now on!

There was also a large selection of desserts. I chose rhubarb crumble (I was encouraged to have two helpings and I have to admit that I put up very little resistance!) I'm not sure whether this was a traditional West Country dish - but the clotted cream with it certainly was!

Chatting over tea, I found that I knew a couple of the 41 people there but had never realised that they were from Cornwall. I was told that there are Cornish Associations all over the world, with flourishing branches in countries like the United Stated and Australia.

The raffle came next so I found myself drawing tickets for the second time that day (no problem!) and there was actually time for me to do about another 15 minutes so I decided to do the What's My Line? story as a self-contained anecdote. There is a certain humorous way in which I usually end this tale; I point out the great achievements of all the other contestants who appeared on that same edition of the programme as me and then say, in a rueful, from-the-sublime-to-the-ridiculous manner, '...and I've been booked to speak to - ' and insert the name of the club or venue. It always gets a big laugh but as I was reaching the end of the story, I realised that I could deliver these same words but in a totally different, non-self-effacing, warm style that would convey my gratitude for the super evening I'd had and would also be a great way to finish as I had already used my usual 'closers' during the first part. Sometimes you get an idea of how to adapt existing material seconds before delivering it!

Public Speaking Tip #178: Over time, you will find that ways to improve the section of material you are just about to deliver will suddenly suggest themselves to you. When you have the experience and confidence to deviate from your prepared script a little, you will find that acting on these instincts can make your presentation even more effective.

I took the odd question, had a very interesting chat with a member who speaks on cruise liners (a market which I am very interested in exploring) and was given a lift back by their President.

What with the NSPCC lunch earlier, it really was one of those days when there was nothing in the world that I would rather do than be a public speaker.

A charity appeal - and the appeal of repetition in a presentation

Nick R Thomas A.L.A.M. (Public Speaking) — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:55:36 +0000

NSPCC Bournemouth Branch Ladies Day

Last Wednesday morning, I gave an hour-long talk on My Life as a Freelance Comedy Writer as part of the annual NSPCC Bournemouth Branch Ladies Day held at Canford Magna Golf Club, a popular local venue where I had never actually spoken before.

This was a very well-organised and well-attended event with around 110 women there. As well as the guest speaker's talk and the lunch afterwards, there were stalls, raffles and donated artworks to be auctioned.

As far as my talk was concerned, there were one or two challenges. It was a large, wide room and I was asked to use a microphone, a battery-powered, hand-held model. I had to choose a spot to speak from in quite a cramped area, allowing for the fact that the room had a sloping ceiling (low ceilings can cause problems with this type of mic). Another thing I had to bear in mind was the fact that the members of the audience furthest away were on a lower floor level than the ones straight in front me (normally tiered seating goes upwards, not down!)

For the whole of the talk, I was uncertain about whether the mic was working or not - and I had been asked to use it because one or two attendees were hard of hearing. Certainly, if I brought it up very close to my mouth, the volume increased but keeping it there the whole time was hardly practical, especially as I'm fairly mobile when I deliver humour!

But this is where good eye contact while speaking comes in: I was regularly looking towards the far corners and could see that everyone was laughing at the humour. This, along with the fact that no-one was shouting out 'Can't hear you!' meant that I felt able to carry on without feeling the need to break off and ask if the mic was working - despite the fact that it didn't sound as if it was.

Afterwards, I was assured that I had been audible and I even received a compliment about my regular eye contact!

Public Speaking Tip #173: Regularly sweeping the room with your eyes while speaking (the 'lighthouse effect') not only keeps you connected with your audience but also alerts you to any potential problems.

As this was a function in aid of the NSPCC, I had carefully considered whether there was any material which I normally include in this talk which might not be appropriate. In the end, I decided to omit two items: one is a self-effacing anecdote about a rather aggressive Latin teacher I had at school and the other is a piece of 'found humour', an unfortunately worded press item about the infamous John Wayne Bobbitt. In the case of the first, it's about violence towards a pupil, while the second is about a domestic dispute (albeit one between adults). I don't suppose the audience would have turned against me if I'd used either but their inclusion would have made me look a little thoughtless and less professional.

Public Speaking Tip #174: Sometimes tailoring a presentation to a particular audience can be as much about the material you decide to leave out as the content you include.

The speech I really must write about, though, is the one which followed mine, from Eleanor Pack, the NSPCC's Community Appeals Manager for Dorset, South Wiltshire and the New Forest.

She began, as speakers often do if they are scheduled after a humorous talk, by saying 'How on earth do I follow that?' Well, in the case of Eleanor and her subject matter, very easily and to great effect.

She spoke for just under 7 minutes without notes or a microphone and began by referring to the smiles and laughter to lead into how the NSPCC is about putting smiles and laughter back into children's lives.

Her speech included a number of statistics but all were necessary and powerful, for example the fact that Childline can only afford to answer half of the 4,000 calls it receives each day. She introduced a new fund-raising scratchcard which produces £30 - the cost of answering just one Childline call.

Repeating words and phrases in groups of three can be very effective in public speaking and Eleanor did this twice. First of all, after giving examples of many other ways in which funds could be raised, she asked the audience if more of them could look to take

"one hour out of your year, one week out of your year, one month out of your year doing something more for children".

Cards were available with details of the charity's work and a space for the name and address of anyone who could help in any way.

Secondly, after thanking everyone, she said that

"When you look into the eyes of children who have heard things they really shouldn't have heard, seen things they really shouldn't have seen or felt things they really shouldn't have felt"

we would understand why she wanted to do as much as she possibly could and raise as much money as she could.

Eleanor then told the audience to put the smiles back on their faces and have a lovely day. She was applauded warmly.

Public Speaking Tip #175: Repetition of words and phrases in threes, especially when you have an important message to get across, will make key points in your presentation more powerful and memorable.

After a very nice lunch, there was the raffle, with a staggering array of donated prizes. The speaker is often asked to draw tickets and announce numbers at engagements. I don't think I've ever called out so many! There was also a separate raffle for an wonderful cake made by Committee member Ginnie Phillips.

Public Speaking Tip #176: A speaking engagement may occasionally involve other duties as well as the talk, such as drawing raffle tickets or judging competitions at Women's Institute meetings. This can be a lot of fun!

Then Suzy, another the Committee, auctioned off two artworks. Despite claiming that she doesn't like public speaking, I thought she was a very good charity auctioneer. This is something I have never been asked to do at an event but watching her made me think it's another aspect of public speaking that I wouldn't mind trying.

All told, it was a very enjoyable day which raised well over £2,000 for the NSPCC.

My thanks to Penny for the lift in and to Suzy for taking me back.

A title, a talk and a toad in the hole!

Nick R Thomas A.L.A.M. (Public Speaking) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 22:51:43 +0000

Another talk for Hythe and District Probus

Repeat bookings can sometimes be for very soon after a speaker's last visit and on 6 March I was back at Hythe Probus near Southampton. My talk just before Christmas had been for the members and their partners but this one was for the men only.

I have slightly altered the title of the talk I delivered. I used to call it The Wits of the Algonquin Round Table but found that some people thought that the 'Round Table' part referred to King Arthur's Knights while others thought it was something to do with the hard-drinking, charity fund-raising group which goes by that name! I have also decided to include Dorothy Parker's name, not only to make this talk more appealing to women's groups but also because, as perhaps the most famous female wit of the 20th century, hers is a name that more people will have heard of so the subject seems less obscure;the title of this presentation is therefore now Dorothy Parker and the Algonquin Wits.

Nevertheless, when Clive Young, the Speaker Secretary, suggested this talk to the Committee at Hythe Probus, I understand that he met with some resistance as some of them had never heard of Mrs Parker! It got booked all the same and the classic one-liners soon had the 25 or so in attendance laughing.

I am happy with this title now as this is a talk which organisations book for a second, third, fourth (or more!) visit from me. They know me by then and are confident that any presentation I give will be humorous. The only people who book it for my first engagement with them tend to be literary and historical societies who are well aware of what it will be about anyway.

Titles require a bit of thought, whatever your topic. Doesn't Why Garden Organically? sound more interesting than just Organic Gardening?

Public Speaking Tip #171: Some organisations may book you on the strength of recommendations but there may be others you might wish to approach directly and the title of your presentation will be at least as much of a selling point as your CV. Give careful thought to whether you need to make it:

humorous
intriguing (but not too obscure!)
challenge a perceived notion
or promise the audience practical advice.

It can be useful to use a subtitle, as I do with I Must Write That Down! (A Commonplace Book).

I added a few new historical facts to this version of the talk. Having now delivered it about half a dozen times, I can see certain points where I can modify my existing script, for example, by changing the order of some items.

This is how I hone a presentation over time. It may be going well at each engagement but, every so often, the script will nag me to make further alterations so that it just keeps improving as the years go on. I am still making occasional small refinements to My Life as a Freelance Comedy Writer after 12 years!

Public Speaking Tip #172: With a presentation that you deliver on a regular basis, however long you have been doing it and however successfully, you will still keep spotting opportunities to improve it even further. This also keeps it interesting for you as well as your audience.

The lunch afterwards was unusual. The Dibden Golf Centre has a new chef and instead of telling the Club what the set menu for their meeting will be, he lets them suggest a dish so Joe, the Treasurer, chose toad in the hole! I can honestly say that I have never had this at a Probus before but it was very good and made a real change!

As well as the food, another perk of speaking at lunches and dinners for mature audiences is the fascinating conversation with well-travelled people. On this occasion, this ranged from collective reminiscences about interesting characters members had encountered in the Netherlands, Germany and the Far East to a man Joe had once noticed shouting aggressively at no-one in particular on a crowded train in this country. He turned out to be the comedy actor Derek Deadman rehearsing a part to himself (oh, to be that uninhibited!)

Clive and Joe gave me a lift back to the station afterwards. As I have now spoken at this Club three times in under two years, it may be a while before they book me again - but you never know in this game.

Speaking to church groups, a £5 overpayment and early retirement!

Nick R Thomas A.L.A.M. (Public Speaking) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 17:04:29 +0000

All Saints Church Mudeford Women's Fellowship

On 4 March I spoke for the third time to the Women's Fellowship at All Saints Church in Mudeford, just outside Christchurch. There were 26 there (including one gentleman who helps out with transport for their members) and I delivered my new-ish talk I Must Write That Down! (A Commonplace Book) which went well with this friendly bunch.

The last time I had spoken there, I noticed later on that they had slightly overpaid me (£5 over the amount we had agreed). They were appreciative of the fact that I had pointed this out to them and we adjusted my fee this time to allow for this. Clubs and societies mainly derive their income from subscriptions, raffles, etc, and, as new members are not always easy to attract, every penny counts. I always stick to the fees and expenses that I have quoted.

Years ago, a speaker told me that he had just passed an audition for inclusion in a county's WI Speakers List and had submitted details of his fee and petrol costs, charged at so much per mile. He wondered if would be able to get two talks per day in the same town, say afternoon and evening, and then charge the full mileage to both Institutes - even though he would be in the area anyway!

I doubt if he was ever able to pull this off, firstly because bookings rarely fall so conveniently close together in distant towns and secondly, organisations know - and publicise - when they meet and what speakers have been booked; a stunt like that would soon have led to him being struck off their list!

Public Speaking Tip #168: When it comes to fees and expenses, deal honestly with organisations who book you. You may well be found out and harm your reputation if you don't!

Tuesday Link, St George's Methodist Church, Boscombe

I had a second talk at a church that day, this time speaking on My Life as a Freelance Comedy Writer for the Tuesday Link Club, who meet fortnightly at St George's Methodist Church in Boscombe (a group very near my home which, nevertheless, I hadn't heard of until they booked me).

There were about 30 there and I was really able to personalise this one by mentioning that the last time I had been in that building was in 1973 when I was a (lip-synching!) member of the Bournemouth School Choir (the rehearsals for this performance feature in one of the anecdotes in my booklet Nick R's in a Twist!) and also when I talked about teaching public speaking, I was able to bring in the fact that I taught adult education classes for seven years at the Bournemouth Centre for Community Arts which is just across the road from them (or will be until its planned demolition). There were also a number of other Bournemouth references along the way and the two long-standing anecdotes which mention the fact that I am a lifelong teetotaller also had particular relevance for a Methodist audience. All told, it was pretty effortless tailoring of material!

Public Speaking Tip #169: Sometimes tailoring speech content involves no extra writing at all, just recognising the opportunities to highlight certain points in your existing material.

Before my (hour-long) talk started, a gentleman apologised for the fact that he would have to leave after thirty minutes, along with a couple of others, because they had music practice.

This often happens; people have other commitments but want to hear as much of a speaker's presentation as possible before they have to leave. They usually slip out with the minimum of disruption. If they are at the back of the room, I just carry on speaking but if they are nearer the front, and therefore a little more noticeable to everyone, then I may give them a smile or nod or even say goodbye in a friendly way, just so my audience knows that I am aware of why they are leaving!

Public Speaking Tip #170: People seldom slip out early during a presentation because they don't like the speaker but for a variety of other reasons, such as family commitments, transport arrangements and, very importantly, getting the refreshments ready for when the speaker finishes! Do not let this put you off and do not make these audience members feel self-conscious.

They'll let you know: lessons from public speakers' auditions (part 2)

Nick R Thomas A.L.A.M. (Public Speaking) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 00:48:20 +0000

In my previous post, I wrote about Women's Institutes but in October 2005, the month of my most recent WI Speaker Selection Day (East Sussex Federation), I also took part in two other, very different auditions. The results varied enormously but I gained something from both experiences.

An entertainment agency's showcase audition

There is a highly successful entertainment agent in Devon who I've known for many years. I mentioned to her that I was wondering about the possibility of doing stand-up in some of the hotels in a major national chain she supplies acts for, hotels where the guests belong, almost exclusively, to the age group that I deliver many of my humorous talks to. She told me that she was soon holding one of her regular, Sunday afternoon auditions for cabaret acts in one of her hotels in front of a small audience.

I said that I was used to delivering sober-suited talks so I didn't have any of the sometimes rather loud costumes associated with cabaret acts. She said she'd prefer to see some colour so I went shopping in Westover Road here in Bournemouth, home to a number of expensive clothes stores. I didn't want to spend too much but I was lucky enough to find a designer shirt in bright red which was vastly reduced in price.

The following morning I set off on what was a very long journey for a 10-minute audition: 8am start, train from Bournemouth to Brockenhurst and then a replacement bus to Southampton due to engineering works, train from Southampton to Westbury (where I had a very long wait in the cold), then Westbury to Newton Abbott and Newton Abbott to Torquay, about five and a half hours' travel altogether. I had put together an observational routine based on everyday topics which I felt would be recognised by a mature audience and on the journey, I scoured the Sunday papers for topical stories to joke about.

I got off the train at Torquay and walked around to the hotel (a fair distance when lugging a change of clothes, piles of newspapers, etc). It had started to pour with rain. I was greeted by the agent and noted that the audience was indeed very small, no more than 20. Now that's fine for a talk but not so brilliant for stand-up.

I got changed and was soon introduced as I didn't have too much time to spare due to having an equally long journey back...

And, boy, did I bomb! And it takes you aback when you've had years of good to excellent responses at speaking engagements.There was very little reaction from the tiny audience, a laugh here, a couple elsewhere, but never all of them together - what comics sometimes call 'tumble weed!'

It was obvious within a couple of minutes that I wasn't going to be getting booked for fairly well-paid 45-minute stand-up slots at the local branches of this hotel chain, which was a real pity because one of them is only five minutes' walk around the corner from my home!

It was so frustrating; I can get laughs with (admittedly harder-hitting) observational and topical humour from younger audiences in comedy clubs but there are very few near me and so much of the stand-up circuit, whether in London or outside it, is about doing endless, unpaid open mic spots or earning tiny 'door splits' - and I gave them up years ago to focus on becoming a paid speaker.

And I knew that I could get a great response from older people like these - even in very small groups - with the type of (mainly anecdotal) material that I use in my public speaking but they weren't going for a gentle, mainstream stand-up routine.

With hindsight, I can see what I should have done: I should have made the stand-up much more like my public speaking to mature audiences, in other words, chatty storytelling about my own experiences, instead of trying to deliver this other material in a way that wasn't really 'me'. All those years of experience and I failed to utilise it! I'm not saying I would have gone brilliantly or that this would necessarily have been what the hotels would want to book for 45-minute evening slots for holidaymakers but I think the general response would have been better.

Public Speaking Tip #166: Our public speaking style and experience can be employed in many other areas as well as in giving presentations.

I chatted with the agent afterwards. I was a bit worried because she had booked me to speak about comedy writing at a weekend training seminar for the hotel chain's host-compères a few weeks later and I feared she might cancel because I had damaged my comic credibility but she soon set my mind at rest, saying that this was certainly still on as it was a totally different type of event. She said she thought the material I had used for the showcase would be ideal for after dinner speaking but obviously wasn't for the audience that day.

I walked back to the station in the rain. I caught the train from Torquay to Newton Abbott, another from Newton Abbott to Castle Carey and then - and don't ask me how on earth I managed to do this at such a small station - I got onto a standing-room-only train going in totally the wrong direction! Another change and back, then another train to Salisbury, Salisbury to Southampton, replacement bus to Bournemouth.

So what did I gain from this (apart from the nice red shirt you can see in a photo on this blog and at some of my less formal engagements)?

In a word: focus. I realised what my strengths are.

(Postscript: I did travel down to Torquay again a couple of months after this to speak at the hotel group's host-compère training weekend. They were an absolutely super, highly talented bunch and it all went very well. See? Playing to my strengths!)

Audition for Blah di Blah: Dorset's festival of words and voices

The following Saturday morning, I set off down to Weymouth College to audition to speak at the third Blah di Blah: Dorset's festival of words and voices.

The previous festival in 2004 had been a huge success, affecting a fifth of Dorset's population (around 120,000 people), whether they actually attended events or simply read the short literary extracts which the organisers had placed in public places like cafes all over the county.

In the event, there were very few of us auditioning in front of the audience of 25, who included organisers, librarians and fellow writers and performers. I did about 15 minutes which went extremely well.

Now, I must confess that I had been slightly irritated at having to audition; after all, other festivals much further afield had booked me solely on the strength of a mailshot which included my credits and testimonials and yet here I was being expected to prove myself in order to be booked to speak at a festival in my own home county.

(Not only that, I even had to prepare a packed lunch because Weymouth College is a bit of a trek from the town centre and its cafes!)

All I can say is that I'm really glad I did it. Besides the very good audience response and the chance to put myself and my CV in front of literary event organisers from all over the county (and I made sure every one of them took away a copy of the leaflets I'd taken along), here's what else I gained from the day:

Three bookings for the festival to give 30 minute talks and then act as question master for literary quizzes set as part of the BBC RaW project;

One of these events was in Bridport, a town where I had never spoken before;

Further experience as a quiz master;

As part of the day, we all had a (free) photo shoot with professional photographer Kevin Clifford. These distinctive shots have proved very useful since then for promoting other events where I have been speaking. One even graces (if that's the word!) my regular column in the Radio Magazine;

The press releases which I sent off to promote the events I was involved in resulted in a number of mentions in various local media including nearly a full page (with photograph) in the Dorset Echo;

I got to observe some other local performers;

One of these, the poet Christopher Southgate, gave me a copy of his excellent collection Beyond the Bitter Wind: Poems 1982 - 2000.

After the events, I began looking at how the festival co-ordinator Ros Fry had managed to get so many people involved. This led to me finally getting around to reading The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, a book which now heavily influences how I market myself - and this blog!;

And, of course, it was great therapy after the debacle of the week before!

Public Speaking Tip #167: Whatever your level of public speaking experience, putting ego aside and taking part in a showcase could pay off in a number of different ways, some of them totally unexpected!