And Another Thing
21 June 2008
How to fill a lecture hall, and how to empty it
Panjandrums like Thackeray also got to enjoy lecturing to Americans, even if they had not read his books, or were not entirely sure why they were coming to hear him speak. He delighted to recall an incident in a Midwest hotel when, lounging in a deep armchair, he overheard two waiters talking. ‘Say, do you know who we have staying here? The great Thacker!’ ‘You don’t say so! And what does he do?’ ‘Damned if ah know.’ Dickens loved Americans, too, once he got used to them as an unknown race. He said that, in a sleeping-car train, he once apologised for his ignorance, saying: ‘You see, I am a stranger here.’ The steward replied: ‘Mister, in this country we are all strangers.’
The best lecturers I have ever heard were, in order, Kenneth Clark and C.S. Lewis. Clark I heard give two courses, one on the painter he called ‘Rumbrunt’, the other on ‘Tintorette’. Both were perfection. Lewis was close to that, and could fill the hall at Magdalen to overflowing, the girls squatting at his feet and showing flashes of nylon-tops. A.J.P. Taylor could fill the same arena but he attracted mainly men, so that the dimension of potential pick-ups, which was such a feature of Lewis’s performances, was lacking. By contrast, old Tolkein was a poor lecturer, dull and hard to hear, keeping his head down, nose to text. He was almost as bad as Jean-Paul Sartre, towards the end, the worst lecturer I ever heard, becoming almost inaudible, head sinking, and interminable so that the room gradually emptied. Hope that never happens to me.
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Jonathan Steele from Speechmastery.com
June 21st, 2008 12:39pm Report this commentGreat Point on limiting public speaking timing.
Two of the most memorable speaking experiences in my life were the speakers going over time. Can not even begin to tell you what they said.
One went 15 minutes over and I had to leave to pick up a friend from South Africa just coming to the States.
The other, two speakers before me took 71/2 minutes more than they should have. The break followed my part.
I had to cut my part. Don't remember what they said but my shorter talk is indelibly etched in my head.
Good point for all speakers.
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