Event: Public Speaking | Adequate to Excellent In One Day
LOCATION: TBC
EVENT DATES: Wed 20 November at 10.00 GMT
This is a public event, open to individuals.
For corporate enquiries please get in touch directly.
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First time I did this was 2023
I was given a superb venue, at VERY short notice. I started by texting a handful of people, and posted about it on social media.
The replies and comments suggested that despite the short notice I might possibly get enough attendees to make it worthwhile.
Much to-and-fro ensued, as I shaped and reshaped what I offered to do.
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What People Wanted
“This sounds interesting and also quite scary (I can’t think when I last did anything in a group as my default setting is to be alone preferably hiding beneath the duvet); that said, I think it would be a good thing to do. . . My tendency is to be fairly scripted and funny(ish), so I think your challenge to try the untried is very valuable.”
“I’m delighted you’d like me to come, and despite all the experience am strangely quite nervous.”
“I’m really grateful to have a group as I need to get back on the horse. I’m completely out of practice. I don’t even know what I know. I never have a script, I always riff and my favourite bit is the q & a. If I had a bit of a practice when it’s my turn I’m hoping I’ll get my confidence back.”
“I want to be free to bring myself to any engagement without fear getting in the way. So to allow my self – or rather the public self – to be front and centre, rather than a cowed version of that self… I want to connect with audiences. I want to be confident enough to be spontaneous. . .”
Taking all this into account, I designed a full day of “Adequate To Excellent” public speaking, combining classical rhetoric with impro.
Afterwards, we took a selfie and I drew a picture of it:
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Classical What?
If classical rhetoric sounds like a yawn – it really isn’t. It’s terrific. Here’s a drawing of Me In Specs On A Greek Vase, just to give a sense of how much it amuses and pleases me:
I like teaching classical rhetoric because it seems so deeply unfashionable – and it connects me to the great traditions of Ancient Greece, Rome, the Bible, Shakespeare – you name it.
If you want to make classical rhetoric even more fun, try doing it “all wrong”.
You’ll soon see that if you DON’T follow the basic principles of classical rhetoric your speaking will be – well, less than ideal.
Improvise? You?
The fifth part of classical rhetoric is the bit that comes after all your planning: Delivery.
My aim is to make you confident either
- delivering your prepared talk
- chucking it aside and improvising because – let’s face it – sometimes the prepared material is not appropriate any more.
Crumbs! How can you possibly do that?
Well, I’ll teach you with exercises I did myself when I trained in Impro with the late great Keith Johnstone, author of The Book:
Till You Are Blasé
Finally… I’ll encourage you to record videos, with help from others, into your own phone.
I want you to do it again and again and again, so that you become blasé (Dictionary: unimpressed with or indifferent to something because one has experienced or seen it so often before.)
You’ll be able to use the video subsequently for, eg, social media.
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What Happened?
The session went well. I was happy, and it seemed participants were happy too.
The drawing at the top of this page shows participants at the end. It’s based on a group selfie, and I said at the time that I wouldn’t share the photo. I think the drawing is wonky enough to conceal identities.
Happily, three participants were kind enough to post about the session online.
One, Isabel Berwick of The Financial Times, posted this on LinkedIn:
Then came this, from another author who was there:
And later still came this, from Philippa Perry, who has tons of experience as a speaker (she’s also presented TV shows). She joined my speaking course as a kind of refresher before embarking on a HUGE book tour.
I’d messaged on Instagram, where she uses the alias KevinKittyCat, to ask how it was going. She replied:
The Price
What’s it worth to be a confident speaker?
In 2023, when I had little time to prepare, I sought advice and decided to charge £1000, all inclusive.
One would-be attendee instantly agreed to pay that amount and did so immediately (out of her own pocket, incidentally, and not on work expenses).
But the next person baulked, and countered with a lower sum. So I went back to the first person and asked: would she mind if others paid less, so long as I told them the full price?
She said, that’s fine.
So with the remaining members of the group I stated the full price, and stated that one person HAD paid that amount but another had paid less.
I said, “Pay me what you can afford.”
They did, and the average payment on the day worked out OK for me.