The perils of public speaking
Thursday, June 14, 2007 
Just back from Lancashire where I was a guest speaker at a management conference near Blackburn. I was supposed to talk for 20 minutes but got carried away, forgot to use my prompt cards, and spoke for 50! I was the last speaker of the day which meant that delegates lost 30 minutes' drinking time before dinner.
Fortunately, the audience wasn't hostile, although that doesn't always help. Stepping into a bearpit is sometimes more fun because you have nothing to lose. Preaching to the converted is more difficult (I think) because it's harder to keep people's attention.
Surprisingly, perhaps, the most hostile audience I ever faced had nothing to do with my current job. Many years ago (1985-1990) I was director of a small London-based research group called the Media Monitoring Unit. We monitored television current affairs programmes for political bias and the subsequent reports - and accompanying press coverage with headlines like 'Yes, the BBC is biased!' - used to enrage TV executives and broadcasters.
Finally, I was invited by Granada to take part in a head-to-head debate with the producer of World In Action, which was then ITV's flagship current affairs programme. My opponent had gone to some lengths to prepare a highly professional presentation, including programme clips, that was designed to ridicule our work. Needless to say, it was as biased and selective as many of his programmes and was very well received by a packed audience, almost every one of whom worked in television.
When my turn came I was heard in sullen silence until, eventually, I was interrupted by a very attractive girl who berated me for a minute or so and then, to my astonishment, burst into tears. She was a television researcher and the MMU's criticism of her programme had obviously touched a nerve.
After that, they couldn't get me out of the room quick enough. (I thought I was about to be lynched!) Believe me, anti-smoking activists are pussycats by comparison.
Reader Comments (1)
Ah well, never mind Simon. You can put it down to the "zeitgeist." After all, arguing is now a dangerous activity and we verge even further towards a society of conformists to the codes of PC behaviour and viewpoints. Never mind facts or proper debate, are you simply spouting the latest mysticism? I put it all down to the hippy generation: we have a lot to answer for.