Getting known on the speaking circuit

The plight of HMS India is a little told story and when I published A Bare Chronicle of Existence - Stories and Letters from Internment in Norway during WW1,I was keen to find a way to tell the story to a wider audience than just family and descendants of men from the boat. My first talk was given in April 2023 in Australia to an audience of residents at my father-in-law's retirement village. It was very well received and encouraged me to try and work out ways that I could give more talks to a wider audience. I registered myself on a website for public speakers and waited. A job or two came in, but I realized that I had to be more proactive than that, so I started to research specific groups that might be interested in the talk on HMS India or in the one I had written about Sir William Pearce, the topic of my second book.

I had been in contact with several philatelic societies as well as individual collectors throughout my research period and beyond, and I figured they might be a good place to start. I could alter my talk to focus more on the envelopes, the censor markings and the stamps. I already knew that the envelopes that we had from Arnold's WW1 Norwegian letters were valuable and of interest, so I put together a blurb to send to philatelic societies and waited to see if it created interest. To date, I have spoken to three groups and have two other groups booked in for later this year. The groups have been very interested in the talk and in the items,  I bring to show them and, as a bonus, I have sold a few more copies of the book.

Family History Societies were the next group I targeted and, once again, I received a positive response and have given my first talk in January 2025 and have another four bookings for the first half of 2025. I have enjoyed speaking more about the family but also talking about my research methods and creating some opportunities for discussion at the end of my talks with like-minded researchers.

Probus groups, local archives and local history groups make up the remainder of my current speaking engagements, and they all bring something different to the speaking experience. I enjoy the challenge of being able to answer the more esoteric questions and watching the faces of my audiences as they learn something new.

I have a background in teaching and drama and music, so I am not shy about speaking to an audience. I try to make my talks as interesting as I can with detailed PowerPoint visuals, dramatic readings from different sources and an empathetic telling of these historical stories. It is a great way to get my stories and research out to an audience and a way to help me sell my books!

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