Elsinore Keynote - Didcot

I travelled up to Didcot to give this speech, and stayed overnight at a hotel. This was the middle speech of a three-speech day: I gave the Trust Taxation talk at Geldards around lunchtime, then drove to Didcot to give this one, live, mid-evening, then my speech at the New York Toastmasters at around midnight by Zoom from the hotel room. See here, here and here.

If you've been wondering: No, the order in which I've posted these blogs bears no relationship to the order in which I gave the speeches.

It was lovely to visit Didcot - they are a very friendly club with a pleasant atmosphere and an interesting mix of speakers because they are hybrid - a group of friendly locals in the room, and some far-flung international participants attending by Zoom. It was particularly nice to meet Erica face-to-face, when she has been so integral to the success of the speedrun.

I think there's some potential in my "Elsinore Keynote" speech. It's pretty flawed at this point, but there's something to build on. And "raising a toast" got a big laugh. This was the first time I've given it, and it's a bit of a mix of ideas which were thoroughly thought through, ideas which I had in the days leading up to the speech, and ideas that I was improvising on the spot. My script had a few items written on it like "just explain seriously in your own words".

Here's the video. One point that needs explanation is that the microphone doesn't capture applause, laughter or audience reactions, including anything said by anyone outside the speaking area. So there are various points where my character is inexplicably silent. The ending especially must have been as mystifying to the guests watching on Zoom as it is in this video:

Anyway, here it is. My opening line, "the monarchy must live on", was the title of the speech immediately before mine.

I've been asked what I've learned from the speedrun and have struggled to answer. I always say that at this early stage I don't know! I think though that one thing I'll benefit from in the long-term is having seen myself on video a lot, which I haven't much before, and realising the need to be more static. This speech is a particularly good example of one which would be improved if the only movements I was making were the body-language required by the script. 

Here are the handwritten evaluation slips:

And here's the evaluation:

Also, it was nice to win the best table topics award, for this little speech. "Cozy" was the word of the day: