It was all a bit of a rush tonight, I had completely forgotten that I had to give a trucking talk to the W I in the next village. I suddenly remembered at 6.20pm, there it was written on the calendar. They even rang last week to remind me, but I still forgot. It was a mad rush to get some scrambled eggs on toast for my tea, a quick change of clothes, then out.
The ladies were waiting so I quickly set the projector and screen up and started immediately. They loved the talk, my sense of humour can be a bit erm, down to earth, no fancy big words, just open my mouth and see what comes out. I look around the room to read the expressions on their faces, that tells me a lot. Shock horror means tone it down a bit, fits of laughter means keep going, tell them some more stories like that. It's knowing how far you can push boundaries, and adapting your talk to suit the type of audience.
I have no problem speaking to a large group of people, in fact the bigger the audience the easier it is. A few months back I had an audience who hardly raised a smile, nothing I said made any difference, they all sat there with blank looks. My goodness I worked hard but it was hopeless, what a miserable lot. But that is very rare, tonight the ladies went home very happy, which made me happy.
Thank goodness for side streets!
12 hours ago
I love WI ladies ... they are usually quite a hoot when it comes to talks... at least that is my experience! I agree its hard when the audience is very quiet... I once did a talk which I thought very entertaining until I noticed a chap asleep in the front row... lol!
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