Category: Public Speaker

Public Speaker

What Makes a Good Workshop

carolyncordon

 

Why I love Workshops, but only good ones!

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Obviously, the workshops I’m talking about here are mostly writing related ones, but some of what I write here applies to many kinds of workshops. A good workshop involves someone who knows things about something, teaching what they know to interested people.

It’s that simple, but so easy to get it wrong. If the workshop presenter isn’t happy to be presenting their workshop, a good number of those present will know, and the workshop won’t have an interested audience, and things could go very wrong.

I love to listen to a presenter who knows their topic, and who speaks I interestingly about it. But even if their topic knowledge is a bit scratchy, they can still do a good presentation, by going on a learning journey with their audience. But with this kind of presentation, the material must be put forward in an inspiring way, and with total honesty. Pretend knowledge can be found out, and then you’ll lose the respect of your audience

And if the audience is an uninterested one, unless the presenter can turn that around, quickly, things could go wrong in this one too. How to turn the audience from uninterested to eager to hear more?

Tell them a shocking and honest story about yourself. If you can get the audience feeling sorry for you, and emotionally connected with you, they are now an interested audience.

Another way to go is to shape your material so it becomes more about people like those in you audience. If you know the demographic of your audience, talk about how your whatever your topic is, can or could relate to them.

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Keep your eye on the media headlines too, and talk about something there, that relates in some way to your topic. Don’t be afraid to look vulnerable, but always remain in control, as though you’ve faced trouble, but won through.

After all, we all love winners, don’t we, as long as they have at least some level of humility. No-one wants to be lectured by an arrogant person, who looks down on others, do they?

So a good workshop presenter is relevant, humble, in touch with what’s happening, knows their subject, isn’t boring, and treats their audience respectfully, as peers. Even if the idea of giving a presentation frightens you, as it does with most people, take comfort in the fact that the people in the audience want you to do well, they are definitely on your side.
Public Speaker, Writing

3.5% Famous – Aiming Higher!

carolyncordon

In my previous blog post, I wrote about fame. I was going to post some more about the subject, hoping to bring some more insight to the subject, but you know what? I’m struggling to find much in the way of insight here.

I am known to my family and friends, obviously. The people who live near me know who I am, and may or may not know that I am a writer – I expect most of them neither know, nor care about what kind of books I write, or what the content of my blogs is all about.

Certainly some of my neighbours, and people living in the town close to the townlet I live in, know that I and the editor of the monthly newsletter I publish and distribute around town and beyond, every month. And I’ve been on the ABC, talking about things I and members of the writing group I lead, are doing, and so some people will have heard me doing that.

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That’s not fame though, not like authors who are published by big publishers, who give them thousands of dollars in royalties, and take them on country-wide speaking tours … The closest I get to anything like that, is to drive myself to the radio station I’m a volunteer presenter at every fortnight or so, and they’ve interviewed me a couple of times, when I’ve self-published another book …

I do still get royalties for a book I had published by a children’s educational publisher, quite a few years ago. My most recent payment was possibly the smallest one yet, but my book is still out there, being sold. I also have books in (school) libraries, and have received payments from that. That isn’t fame, but it’s being known, which is kind of the same thing, in a way, isn’t it? I think it is. 

At the moment, I have a book I’m reading off and on, by an English person, Caitlin Moran. The book is cleverly titled “Moranifesto”, and is full of amusing and thought provoking things.

One of the thing she writes about there is fame (how coincidental is that?), and she says she is 35% famous. Based on what she writes in her book, I suspect I am around 3.5% famous …

I’m thinking about possible ways to lift my percentage, so that’s a start, well it’s better that sitting on my bum thinking about nothing … I’m going to be seeing some friends tomorrow, and if I remember, I will ask them for some ideas about possible ways I could up my fame percentage … The three people I am thinking about all have higher percentages than I currently have, I would think. We’ll see how those discussions go.

In the meantime, I will post this to my Author Website/Blog, and see if I can get more that a couple of people looking at it, and maybe even leaving a comment … I do enjoy writing though, so it’s not like sitting here on this sofa tippity-tapping away on the keyboard is an onerous task for me, I love doing it.

Writing and talking, playing words, that is certainly one of the funnest things to do, for me. If you ever need a speaker, look me up, I’m 3.5% interesting, and can be quite funny too, and at the moment, my speaker fee is low!

Public Speaker

On Being Well-Known

carolyncordon

When (or if) a person becomes well-known, or famous, they may face new duties they hadn’t considered previously. And there isn’t really any training in how to handle these duties, because each well-known person may be well known for different reasons, and in different ways.

Everyone, though should know what is a good thing to do, and really, that’s what all of us should think on, famous or not. The better known a person is, the more responsibilities they may have put on them, like it or not, but they may also have more money, and can afford to off load some of those responsibilities.

This would certainly take off some of their pressure, but there will always be some tasks only one person can do, and if you’re that person, you owe it to everyone to do your best. You owe it to yourself too, of course, and nobody gains good things for being infamous, rather than famous. Infamy may bring notice, but not in a good way.

If I go into my local town, many people will say hello Carolyn to me, and I’ll say hello back. I’ll name them if I do know their name, but often I won’t know. I’ve been closely involved in this town for over ten years, as the editor of the local newsletter, and many townspeople know me in that role.

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Some of them also know I am a writer and poet. Is this fame, am I famous? No, I don’t think so – in that town, I may be well known, but calling ‘famous’ is going too far. I am known in other places too, in my role as poet and writer, as President of my writing group, where I lead the way to some events that are become more and more ‘known’.

Being well known gives a person a bit of an audience, a range of others who will listen to what you say. Certainly, my most recent writerly ‘thing’ being the judge of a poetry competition came about because I was known as a poet who knew what she was doing, regarding poetry, to the relevant person.

I am very small biscuits though, on the ‘famous writer’ list of people to talk about, or listen to. I would get a publicist, if I had the money to pay for one, but if I could get the money to pay for one, I would have proved I was capable of doing the job myself, and my Methodist mind set would tell me I shouldn’t pay money for it, if I could do it myself … It’s a bit like the old ‘which came first the chicken or the egg’ story …

Things happen when they happen, I will continue with my writing, my blogging, attending/running/being involved with poetry and writing things. It’s what I do, it’s what writers do – we write and if we are good enough or lucky enough, we may finally write the ‘big thing’ that makes us famous!

Do I dream of fame? Oh yes, fame, requests to speak at events, having opportunities to sell and sign my books, these are on my list of things I’d like more of. Will it happen though? Who knows, all I can do is keep on writing, become better at putting the word out about who I am and what I do. Being well known is gratifying, being famous, oh, yes, that would be great!

Public Speaker

Making Myself Proud

carolyncordon

I can’t verify whether I actually save that much carbon with my actions, or whether guarantee I actually did all of these things but we did make lots of our own power, used cold water to wash, and our clothesline to dry our clothes.

Lots of the other things are things we do every day too. We grow some of our own food, we have lots of trees, we reuse things. We’re trying. Are you doing any of these things too? I’d love to hear about any ideas you may have.

We have cut back on the amount of meat we eat, especially red meat. But I’m very aware there is much more that we could do at our place …

I think it’s important to find the good things in my life, in the things I do, and I know spreading these things with others can help others to do more of the same kinds of things too. Being open and honest with people about what we do, can have good results!

ACTIVITY SAVING IF COMPLETED
Generate your own solar electricity 776 kgs
Wash clothes in cold water & dry on the clothesline 17 kgs
Turn your garden bed into a mini-farm to grow your own food 8 kgs
Turn off lights, phone chargers, electronic equipment when not in use 8 kgs
Say ‘NO’ to wasteful packaging, plastic bags and bottled water 12 kgs
Reuse everything you can & save money by avoiding over-consumption 10 kgs
Reduce what you buy and always ask: Do I really need this? 17 kgs
Reduce wasting food by managing it better every day 13 kgs
Recycle Recycle Recycle… At Home, School and Out 20 kgs
Recycle at home or away to avoid wasting resources 25 kgs
Put veggie scraps in worm farms, Bokashi buckets or composters 6 kgs
Plant trees to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere for everyone 5 kgs
Look after vehicles & drive steady to cut fuel use by 10% or more 19 kgs
Install low-energy lights wherever you can in your home 0 kgs
Growing Thing… Gardening Is Good 8 kgs
For regular meat eaters cutting out 1 red meat meal each week 16 kgs
Eat Natural… It’s Greener and Good For You Too 20 kgs
Dress For The Weather… Hot Or Cold 14 kgs
Do shopper research on carbon footprint before you buy 17 kgs
Clothing Exchange… Do The Swap Thing 8 kgs
Buy local, fresh and in-season when you shop for fruit and veg – see more 13 kgs
Public Speaker

Thoughts On Things

carolyncordon

I went to a speaker event today, a speaker with many intelligent and empowering things to say. The speaker was a writer, television person, and a deep thinker too. The speaker was Jane Caro, and even though it was a hot day today, I, and many others, were happy to travel to the Burnside Library, in the eastern suburbs of Adelaide.

Jane has a book out, hence the Speaker gig, but she also had many relevant things to say, and she held the audience captured in her story, and then happily answered the many questions asked, from members of the mostly female audience.

The relevant ‘new book’ is Accidental Feminists, and while I haven’t begun reading it yet, I was more than happy to part with my money, to get myself a discounted, and author signed copy. Feminism has been cast as a bad guy, by some, and it’s difficult to see any rational reason for that. Plenty of irrational reasons though, holders of white male privilege would have more than a few of those.

Private single sex schools seem to produce the kind of politicians who have little knowledge of the ‘real world’, as can be seen in Canberra at the moment, where ideas of fairness are thrown out of the window, and ‘merit’ seems to be gained by the size of your bank balance, and the number of similarly privileged ‘friends’ you have. When feminism is ignorantly or purposely misunderstood, and those who are feminists, called ‘ball-breakers’ and other names, that’s when you know our society is still a very long way from being equal, which is what feminism is all about.

Equality, what is so hard about that, to have a society where all are treated equally. Same pay for the same job, but also understanding that the society we currently have is far from equal. Universal Basic Income was talked of, and the reality that women are poorly served by the mish mash of working life options most go through in their lives. The further reality of homelessness of mature women also was talked of, and ideas on how things really are, even though we’re less likely to see homeless women on the streets.imag0531

Jane spoke well on the subject of schooling, firmly standing on her belief that co-ed and public is the best way to go, for many reasons. When children play together, they learn from an early age how to deal with others, and gender issues can be dealt with well before the messiness of raging hormones ever come into the equation.

I certainly agree with that one, being co-ed and public all of my way through school system, I even went public with my tertiary education, and am glad of it. I’ve been toying with a vocational course of some kind, but unless I can go through TAFE, I probably won’t do anything more, unless it’s Uni SA. I am certainly not going to go to a private college, I don’t think, they seem far too interested in getting me signed up, and grabbing my money …

OK, where was I? Ah yes, several times, Jane Caro reminded us that Climate Change was happening, and if we didn’t get going, we may not have anywhere left to live … A sobering, but necessary reminder, I feel. Too many people are pretending Mother Nature isn’t hurting, and they’re taking no action at all to assist in the healing that must occur, As Soon As Possible!

This event was well worth the money, and I hope I have learned some points I may be able to use, when I move further into the Public Speaking realm. Getting the audience to add content, but giving them the opportunity to ask questions is a good idea, and especially if you have a handy person to provide the microphone, if you have a large audience!