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Some advise for guest speakers at meetings

Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2012-03-31 22:13:31 - Graham Ellis

I "get around" in various roles I hold - to SCOB meetings (to do with the Melksham Campus), to rail meetings (to do with better rail services in Wiltshire). Usually, there's a guest speaker or guest visitors at the meeting; on a few occasions, that's my role. And the behaviour of the guest speaker fascinates me.

Why is the guest speaker there in the first place? Is (s)he there to entertain? To inform? To test? To judge? It may be any of those. Or indeed it may be all of those.

But we're missing something.

The guest speaker is often there to learn too. Only very, very rarely should it be a one way street. And to learn, the guest speaker needs to stay on through the meeting rather than ducking out after his piece. I was very impressed that Mark Hopwood, MD of First Great Western, came to talk to TravelWatch SouthWest on a saturday at the beginning of this month and stayed through lunch and all through the afternoon session. Thank you, Mark - I'm sure it was worthwhile, even though you were limited in what you could say with regards to the future of rail services. And I was very unimpressed by our visitor at the Chamber of Commerce last week - a gentleman who has just taken over responsibility for 5 chambers as his main job and will be working with us ... he left after his "piece" so at the cost of perhaps 50 more minutes he's failed to learn what makes us tick, and come across as really rude into the bargain. Yes, I know "I want to see my boy before he goes to bed", but - good heavens - just five introduction evenings, and if he's not able to spend the extra time on those first nights, what hope have we that he can spend the time we may wish for / need in the future? Sorry - personal view, I find it rude when a guest leaves a meeting halfway through [in most circumstances].

I learned so much about Dilton Marsh when I went to the parish meeting there - and that still gives me a memory and feeling (several years later) of what makes the village tick. And I can learn about other projects in our town on those occasions I speak at the Area Board (as I did on public transport last year). I know that I sometimes surprise the group I'm meeting, by staying - but I'm proud to do so. It's much more than polite interest - it's a learning experience.