Speakers days I wanted to become a speaker for the Vegetarian Society for some time but did not know quite what I could do. Although office work is essential I felt I could offer more. I have some experience speaking in public, but not demonstrating cookery techniques. After a chat with Alex Connell who would be running the course I signed up. The course was going to be held at Parkdale, so it would also give me the chance to see the Eagle's nest so to speak. The course started at 9.30, after introductions and a cup of tea we started with a question and answer session. Most of the other trainee speakers had done one or two other talks but none had actually demonstrated using food before. One point that was made that stuck in my mind was that we all cook for our families night after night and this is the basic skill needed to do a presentation for The Society. (A good point I thought but not totally convincing as we know our family). At 10.30am we went into the kitchen to observe a cookery demonstration. It was a simple demonstration of scones with jam and cream, all of which were vegan. As Alex demonstrated how to make the scones he explained what he was doing, and why in terms of a presentation. He quickly made us feel at ease and I felt more confident about getting up myself. We then got the chance to eat the hot scones. As we were enjoying them, I realised what a positive impression of vegetarian food could be achieved with something as simple as fresh scones. After coffee and a question and answer session we observed another cookery demonstration. The food being prepared was going to be our lunch, mushroom soup, sausage casserole, quick pizza, tofu stir-fry, and spicy potatoes. All of the dishes were simple but effective. We were then given time to prepare our demonstration, which would follow after lunch. Each person was given a recipe to demonstrate to the rest of the group. I was given hummous. During the afternoon we watched each other's demonstrations. We were given 15 minutes each and had to stick to the time as closely as possible. When it came for me to do mine I was quite nervous. I stood behind the hob, took a deep breath and thought of Delia Smith. Even though I have made hummous loads of times, I did find it quite difficult to talk about what I was doing while I was doing it. As the demonstration progressed I did feel more at ease and started to enjoy myself. Delia eat your heart out! At the end of the day we had a final question and answer session and evaluation. I can honestly say that if you have some time on your hands and want to get into schools, social clubs etc going on one of the speaker days would be well worth while. Since the day I have done one talk to a group of food tech students and I have a second one coming up soon. Even though the course was short, it gave me the confidence to get up and get out there. I would thoroughly recommend it. Niki O'Leary   If you would like to see if there are any speakers courses planned in the near future, please follow the link below: Diary of courses and booking form   back to speakers index

Alex with Niki and Derek on a course       Watching Alex at work     Having a go!