Author: SimonP
Free Short Story Writing Course – The Character Arc
Creative Writing, Free Writing CourseWhat happens to my character in a story?
Unaccustomed as I am to…
Free Writing CourseGiving a talk about your work is great publicity but it can be daunting standing up in front of a group of people. Here’s a few tips.
“Would you like to give a talk?” she asked.
Yes, of course, I’m a tutor and a photographer – talking is what I do.
“You get paid and there’s a free lunch.”
Sold, yes, where do I sign up? “How many will be there?” I asked, picturing myself for a moment as Stephen Fry in a black tie.
The vision faded. I’ve a lot of experience as a creative writing and photography tutor which involves cosy groups of around ten people. I worked as a trainer in industry but my biggest group there was fifteen.
“I think it’s usually around fifteen to twenty.”
Great, that sounds manageable.
Scroll forward a couple of weeks, I’ve had a nice lunch, the projector is fired up and I am standing in front of fifty-six eager faces. Oh, and they have just been eating lunch so they are spread out around tables like guests at a wedding. This is the U3A so they are all of retirement age, the majority are wearing hearing aids and there is no microphone. This is going to tax the teacher voice.
Good advice when speaking to a group is, talk to the back wall. It helps you to project your voice. In this case, the back wall was an awfully long way away.
Here’s a few more tips on giving a talk
Make it fun – tell stories. Forty years as a photographer has given me a rich fund of stories but I never use these just as a story. I use them to illustrate points. If people remember the story they often remember the message as well.
Keep away from the technical. OK some people will relish knowing that you took the picture at 1/125 of a second at f8 using an Olympus OM5 with your zoom lens set at 26mm but most will be more interested in how you thought about the composition, how you climbed a stepladder to get the best viewpoint – especially if you fell off (yes it did happen but there was a soft landing).
Powerpoint does the pictures – you do the words. Ever been to one of those presentations where the speaker puts everything they say up on the screen as bullet points. It’s boring, and worse, it’s confusing.
Most people respond primarily to the visual. Show them an interesting image, whether a photograph or a sales graph climbing steeply and most of them will listen to you to find out more about it. Add what you are saying as words to that image and most people will tune out the speaker and just read the bullet points.
Know your script. It’s about eye contact. Some speakers just use notes; I write the whole talk out but I know large sections of it. This means I am looking at the audience for most of the time and only looking down if I need to check the headings or read a section I haven’t memorized.
Pause. Nervous people speak quickly – slow it down. Just told your audience something interesting? Wait a few seconds for them to digest the information. Changing subject? Pause a few beats. You do not need the oratory skills of Winston Churchill or the conic timing of Billy Connelly but inflection and change of pace in your voice keeps the listeners interested.
My talk? The feedback was good, my voice has recovered and I’m off to buy a portable microphone kit.
More digital photography tips
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Creative Writing
- Free Short Story Writing Course – Drafting and Editing
- Free Short Story Writing Course – The Character Arc
- About Writing From the Ashes
- From the Ashes
Consolidated PBY Catalina
Aircraft HistoriesCatalina crews flew long, monotonous, maritime and anti-submarine patrols throughout World War II. With a range of around 2500 miles (4000 km) the Consolidated PBY Catalina took them far from land and out over the oceans of the world.
These patrols had a major influence on key events of the war. One PBY Catalina found the Japanese fleet of Admiral Yamamoto before the battle of Midway and an RAF Catalina located the German battleship Bismark. This sighting led to the battleship’s eventual sinking.
Action, when it came could be destructive and two Victoria crosses were won (one posthumously) by Catalina captains for pressing on with attacks against heavily armed U-boats. By the end of the war forty U-Boats had been sunk by Catalinas.
The Consolidated PBY (Patrol Bomber the Y designating manufactured by Consolidated) was christened Catalina by the RAF, a name later adopted by the US services, and Canso by the RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force).
The RAF favoured the flying boat version without wheels whereas the US Navy operated more of the amphibious version capable of landing on both water and land.
Developed from a line of flying boats manufactured by the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation over 4000 PBY Catalinas were produced.
In 1944 the Soviets also acquired, under Lend-Lease, 137 PNB-1 Nomads, an updated model of the flying boat version of the PBY, which had a longer range and heavier armament than the previous models. Most of these were used in the short Soviet-Japanese War of 1945.
By 1944 Catalinas were to stay aloft for over thirty hours and completed some of the longest journeys in terms of time airborne in aviation history. Qantas Catalinas completing weekly flights between Perth and Ceylon a distance of 3592 miles (6652 km) which took the relatively slow flying boats 28 to 32 hours.
Countless airmen and sailors were rescued by the flying boat and the Catalina continued its search and rescue operations after the war. Although the RAF disposed of all its Catalinas at the end of the war and the US had retired its PBYs by the mid-fifties.
The aircraft continued in service with smaller air forces and many were converted for civilian uses as diverse as ocean fishing platforms, private flying yachts and firebombers.
The photos on this page are all of Consolidated Catalina (PBV-1A) PBY-5 43-3915 G-PBYA. Read more about this Catalina’s history at G-PBYA: A Short History of Plane Sailing’s Catalina
More aircraft histories
- Consolidated PBY Catalina
- The Kazan Victory Park Aircraft & Military Vehicles
- Fiat G.46
- de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk
- Supermarine Spitfire History
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- Aircraft Photography Portfolio
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References
The Soviet PBY Catalinas of WWII
Illustrated Poetry Longing for a Full Colour Life
PoetryShe stands alone before sink and bowl And feels the ache within her soul The hand that once caressed her there Now rests on arm of favourite chair She does not mind her lovers belly Or hours of footie watched on telly The years have passed in shades of grey Oh if only life had been that way Now with hands in rubber gloves Plunged in a bowl of Fairy's suds She thinks about a bit of heaven with Mr Jones at fifty seven
Read more short stories and poems
- Illustrated Poetry Longing for a Full Colour LifeIllustrated Poem
- From the AshesWill an old romance be rekindled in the ashes of Pompeii?
- The Doctor’s TaleHumorous poem
- Sitting DuckLove and betrayal in wartime England echoes into the present day.
- The New SuitSomething is watching Johnathan Mills and he is just what it is looking for.
- Breakfast at the Holiday InnHumorous observational poem
- The Mail RunCan a wounded ex-pilot save an American bomber
- The Butterfly EffectHave you ever been stuck in a time warp before breakfast
Read all of my stories and articles plus thousands of other writers work on Medium
About Writing From the Ashes
Creative Writing, Free Writing Course, Short Story WritingAs part of my creative writing degree I had to write commentaries and reflections on the stories I wrote. I am publishing edited versions of here as they give some insight into my thoughts during the fiction writing process.
From the Ashes
Creative Writing, Short StoriesFree Short Story Writing Course – The Story Arc
Creative Writing, Free Writing CourseIn every story something has to change otherwise it’s just a narration.
Free Short Story Writing Course – Story Archetypes
Creative Writing, Free Writing CourseThere’s no new plot you can think of – they’ve all been done before. It’s the way you tell your story, its twists and turns, that makes your writing different.
Free Short Story Writing Course – Dialogue
Creative Writing, Free Writing CourseWriting dialogue is fun and a great way to build your characters and create narrative tension.