Be they friends or strangers?
In 1989 I addressed a Rotary Dinner Meeting of 18 Rotarians, putting the case for needed funding to start a community garden in Esperance.
Rotary is made up of Business leaders, lawyers, Judges etc. I had never before done such a thing and was a nervous wreak awaiting the time when I would be called up to speak.
Dinner was served and consumed. The chairman gave a short speech to introduce me and my purpose for being there and then it was time for me to stand and deliver.
getting to my feet I began thus,
There is a misperception that unemployed people are all lazy and will do anything to get out of working. We see all around us plenty of people who seem to do nothing but wander the street looking for mischief to get up to or people to terrorise…
I spoke for 25 minutes, unscripted, because I believed in what I was talking about. I was passionate about helping the downtrodden, those that Society looks down on. The Rotarians were almost mesmerised by my speech and I received a round of applause at the completion. Questions were asked of me by various members to which I supplied honest answers.
They granted not only funds, $10,000, for the project but also said they would approach Council and recommend 5 acres of Council land be granted along with Plant Machinery to prepare the plot of land.
Yes on the spur of the moment , the person who was suppose to do a Reading in Church didnt turn up , so I volunteered, got up into the Pulpit and did my bit .
No one was expecting me to do it least of all the Vicar ,. I was part of the Church Choir you see ,
I do speak with groups of about 10-20 people about a multitude of topics when asked.
It’s more informal, you can tell they are interested and engaged. It’s also rewarding to be asked to share more about the topic in a month or so. Also, I enjoy the responses shared, and experiences they have had.
I did once a long time ago as BT were running an internal charactor building/confidence course I suppose you would call it.
If you know your subject then iving a talk on it makes things a lot easier
When I joined Guys and St Thomas’s Trust, on my training day we were put into groups to make up a poster, and I did the talking in front of the whole room. I was a bundle of nerves.
Then, when I started to help a library employee with computer classes I would chip in. After a year or so he let me take my own classes. Numbers did whittle down, unfortunately, but we did have some large groups.
Many times. During my life long career, one stage saw me lecturing at RAF Cardington where government departs had in-house education for those needing to improve their knowledge of particular civil engineering disciplines. Most ‘students’ were from within departments, but we also saw outside industry sending staff along for the latest up-to-date trends and new developments. For my sins, I was ‘volunteered’ to run a few courses and also lecture in some classes. I could have refused, but I was always keen to climb the ladder and of course Cardington was a good way to promote myself and prove my abilities to those with the all important power to assist my ladder climbing
I used to teach evening classes in London. I’m happy to talk to a room of people
Do you remember your first class, were you nervous? If so, long long before you settled down?
I wasn’t particularly nervous for the first lesson. I went on a course at a local ollege that enabled me to teach evening classes and that really helped
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Murphybear: