Lecturers - The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

[mark smyth]

Have you ever been disappointed by a big name lecturer - a plant lecture with not enough plants to show, dark slides, faded slides that are straw coloured?

Have you ever been to an amazing lecture that blows you away?

I dont think we should name the bad ones but should name the good ones.

[David Shaw]

Our little local garden club has just paid over £300 (fee,expenses etc) for a keynote speaker who was 'poor'! The slides were shown as digital copies accompanied by the frequent observation that, no it is not snow on the ground but brightness int he slide. A disappointing evening altogether.

[mark smyth]

I was at an amazing lecture last night with an audience of at least 200. It was Fergus Garret the head gardener from Great Dixter, Christopher Lloyd's garden. He did use old slides but they were necessary to show the garden and owners from it's early days. When we visit the garden we see it on one day for a few hours but this lecture took us from back in the day to slides taken this week. If he is somewhere close to you go listen to his lecture.

By contrast last week at our local AGS meeting had a lecture from a modern day plant hunter. He used slides that were faded and dark. He actually said at one point this slide is from the 1970s. There was lots of humour in the talk but a very distinct lack of plants.

[ranunculus]

A major problem with this kind of discussion is that no speaker can be all things to all men ... a very technical, bullet-loaded Powerpoint presentation can be of great interest to boffins and experienced growers, but will have little or certainly less appeal for their art loving, travel-orientated partners.
It is of little help if a lecturer deliberately aims for the middle ground as the talk will probably not satisfy either camp.
Any lecturer worth his salt must provide slides or digital images that are relevant to the subject, clear, interesting, in focus and certainly not requiring any form of apology ... how many times have we heard; 'In the middle of that distant meadow you can just make out a pretty little bulb' or 'I shouldn't have included that shot, but it was the best one I had' or 'Oh dear, that one is upside down, shall we carry on'?

In defence of lecturers everywhere, many travel great distances for (sometimes) meagre reward and many clubs and societies would simply fold without their continuing efforts.

[Paddy Tobin]

Mark,

You, and I imagine most members, are very keen and informed gardeners and, as a result of this, can be difficult to please. You will have attended many lectures, read extensively and it is difficult to find someone who can present something new and interesting. I'm sure, for example, that you find most television gardening programmes very basic and drab.

I think that one must attend lectures with an attitude of it being a pleasant evening in the company of like-minded people and enjoy their company and live in hopes that the lecturer will be good as well.

I have found many lectures enjoyable and many a complete bore; some disappointing and some inspirational. Locally, we have had the experience of asking a 'friend' of the club to speak only to be landed with a completely unexpected bill of nearly 1,000 euros which included travel expenses at a dreadfully inflated rate, overnight stay at the very best accommodation, best meal in town and V.A.T. added to the overall cost. This person has not been asked back!

Paddy

[Maggi Young]

Locally, we have had the experience of asking a 'friend' of the club to speak only to be landed with a completely unexpected bill of nearly 1,000 euros which included travel expenses at a dreadfully inflated rate, overnight stay at the very best accommodation, best meal in town and V.A.T. added to the overall cost. This person has not been asked back!

good grief  ..... I can come next week, Paddy... it'll only be 800 euros, how does that sound? !!!!! 

[Anthony Darby]

Cheap at half the price Maggi

[mark smyth]

I was thinking "that's me out"

[Lesley Cox]

Which points up the exceptional value we in NZ had from Ian (BD) Young and Finn Haugli last January. I don't know what was paid by way of expenses, probably airfares, with private accomadation provided but probably not much else. They gave us 4!!!!! talks each from Friday night thru' Sunday afternoon, every one a jewel with superb slides, and we enjoyed their company and personal experiences as well. We were the winners.

[art600]

If you can persuade Brian Mathew to give you a talk, you will not be disappointed.  Witty and knowledgeable with excellent slides - a joy to listen to.

Ian is really good and uses his Powerpoint presentation to outstanding effect.  My pal, my mother and I were Ian Young groupies to 3 of his 4 talks in the South East in 2006.  Would not have missed a minute. 

[ranunculus]

As a former AGS Group Secretary for twenty plus years it was my duty to contact and book guest speakers for two hundred plus meetings. The AGS publishes a list of Society lecturers (many of whom are based in the south of England, still working and obviously reluctant to travel north for a Monday evening meeting) - this register has provided several names that we have welcomed to East Lancashire, thoroughly enjoyed and invited back on more than one occasion. I will not list any names here as I would be loathe to omit (through a lapse of memory) any of the many speakers who have given so willingly of their time, their energies and their expertise.  The same list contains names that we preferred not to book due to reputation, cost and/or lecture subject.  We have also used the services of a number of our own group members to excellent effect.
One of the most difficult tasks for a Group Secretary is to 'discover' the able, the entertaining and the available and word of mouth is certainly paramount in getting that information into circulation.  Just because a speaker actively self-promotes doesn't always reflect their true worth and I would much rather hear praise (or occasional gripes) from a fellow Secretary than book an unknown speaker on spec (though this, inevitably, occurs quite regularly).
So Mark, replies to your initial enquiry at the top of this posting will assist many a group Secretary in their duties, but they must also be very aware that omissions do NOT signify dissatisfaction with or disapproval of a certain speaker.  Some are very good at self-promotion - some of the best keep mum! 

[Gerry Webster]

If you can persuade Brian Mathew to give you a talk, you will not be disappointed.  Witty and knowledgeable with excellent slides - a joy to listen to.
Ian is really good and uses his Powerpoint presentation to outstanding effect.  My pal, my mother and I were Ian Young groupies to 3 of his 4 talks in the South East in 2006.  Would not have missed a minute. 

I'll second both of these speakers. One of the few others who sticks in my mind from some years back is Melvyn Jope; knowlegeable but modest, & with good slides.

[art600]

If you can persuade Brian Mathew to give you a talk, you will not be disappointed.  Witty and knowledgeable with excellent slides - a joy to listen to.
Ian is really good and uses his Powerpoint presentation to outstanding effect.  My pal, my mother and I were Ian Young groupies to 3 of his 4 talks in the South East in 2006.  Would not have missed a minute. 

I'll second both of these speakers. One of the few others who sticks in my mind from some years back is Melvyn Jope; knowlegeable but modest, & with good slides.

I'll certainly second Melvyn.   

[Joakim B]

Is it not a difference if one does a thing inside the club for no compensation or if one charge money for a talk?
It is not easy putting a lecture together and it might be better to have a speaker that do appologize for some slides rather than not having a speaker. If One have a big club this should be a smaller trouble with more "clubber " to chose from but with a club of 40 members and with 10 showing up I think one should be happy that people take the time to do a presentation even if it could have been done better. One need to start somewhere.
In these cases one can even show what can be done by showing pictures from others that are published on internet  if one give credit for them and by that improve the number that gives a talk.
Making the talk is a way or learning as well so if the duty goes around in a club with small means and when no fee is at the door.
We have done this on our small orchid club and I think that this is better than not having any meeting. One should always try ones best but can still improve.
Please if this sounds like wasting peoples time let me know. We are interested in hearing alternatives.
I have heard Herik Zetterlund and his talk was good/great and in some case there was pictures where he said here is the plant and it was small. Since it was 100 meters down in a ravine that maybe goats would climb but noone else. That was to me a relevant picture.!Even my wife enjoyed it without getting all of the Swedish and not being a plant freak. She enjoyed even more the people 50-70 pushing as if they were rugby players to by the bulbs that where for sale. The bulbs where imported from a whole-sailer and repacked and sold to the members.
Some did not say anything more than Oh my Lord. I was also a bit shocked and got anly a few but my then 7 month pregnant wife got much more.
Things are not always black and white to me. There are more than one "right" at least to my mind.

Best regards
Joakim

[Joakim B]

Mark and others I think we might be a very tough crowd if we do not apply Paddy´s approach of a nice evening in company of fellow enthusiast.
We see plants in the wild from Israel, Turkey and Canada as well as often from the travels in Greece Iran and the Caukasus going towards China so anyone showing photos from a travel  has to have an amazing show to match what we see on a daily base in front of the computer here at the forum.
Just something I realized when doing my world tour in one evening.

Kind regards
Joakim