Women's Institute talk

I was surrounded by 70 women. It was Heaven...!

My opening pitch...

I gave a talk to the SW19 Women's Institute last night at the Wimbledon Village Club.

I met a lovely lady called Sally on my trip to the Antarctic last year, and it was she who invited me to speak.

I took along a few prints, greetings cards and other promotional materials for people to look at in the interval after the real business of the meeting was over, and then I spoke for around an hour.

It was the first time I'd been in front of such a large crowd since I gave a speech at my former tutor's retirement dinner at Christ Church, and it was a great feeling to be on stage again.

There were around 70 women in the audience, and they welcomed me with a warm round of applause.

I had prepared a slideshow of around 100 pictures from trips I've taken around the world in the last four years, and I went through them, telling a few stories and focusing on a couple of technical issues that cropped up as I went along.

After 45 minutes or so, I opened it up to questions, and half a dozen women asked me about my experiences and what advice I'd give them about equipment and photographic techniques. I walked off to a very generous round of applause, so I hope the audience enjoyed the talk as much as I did!

I sold three greetings cards and two postcards and had quite a few individual chats with people wanting to know more. A dozen people signed up to my mailing list, two enquired about lessons and one might even buy my print of a pig, so thanks again, Sally!

Here are a few comments from the visitors' book:

Wow!
— Jenny
Lovely!
— Patricie
Fabulous!!
— Jade
Great!
— Catherine

If you’d like to order a framed print of one of my wildlife photographs, please visit the Prints page.

If you’d like to book a lesson or order an online photography course, please visit my Lessons and Courses pages.

Nick Dale
I read English at Oxford before beginning a career as a strategy consultant in London. After a spell as Project Manager, I left to set up various businesses, including raising $5m in funding as Development Director for www.military.com in San Francisco, building a £1m property portfolio in Notting Hill and the Alps and financing the first two albums by Eden James, an Australian singer-songwriter who has now won record deals with Sony and EMI and reached number one in Greece with his first single Cherub Feathers. In 1998, I had lunch with a friend of mine who had an apartment in the Alps and ended up renting the place for the whole season. That was probably the only real decision I’ve ever made in my life! After ‘retiring’ at the age of 29, I spent seven years skiing and playing golf in France, Belgium, America and Australia before returning to London to settle down and start a family. That hasn’t happened yet, but I’ve now decided to focus on ‘quality of life’. That means trying to maximise my enjoyment rather than my salary. As I love teaching, I spend a few hours a week as a private tutor in south-west London and on assignment in places as far afield as Hong Kong and Bodrum. In my spare time, I enjoy playing tennis, writing, acting, photography, dancing, skiing and coaching golf. I still have all the same problems as everyone else, but at least I never get up in the morning wishing I didn’t have to go to work!
http://www.nickdalephotography.com
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