Speaker Comparison

Manu Taylor

Manu’s introduction immediately focused on his audience.  He made eye contact and wanted to know more about them.  He fired out questions and got a good response.  Manu has good humour and youthful energy, he continually moved around during his talk.

Manu was clear about what he was going to cover and gave a lot of direct advice –  

“…know who the f*ck you are!”  That was the first piece of advice Manu gave,  “…you need to be cool with being you,” the qualifier.  Manu placed emphasis on originality and freshness.  Manu’s voice projected well, his vocabulary simple and street, his natural accent was warm and pleasant. 

Finally, Manu was a motivator, he gave his contact details to help students, his empathy for young people and passion for music was clear.  He created an energy in the room and students were lifted for it.   Although Manu’s interests lay in music and people in this industry, his advice applied to anyone in life.  It was a thoroughly enjoyable talk especially as he taught lessons through stories of his experiences in life.

Gary Henderson

In my opinion, this was a practical tutorial rather than a lecture.  Gary spoke with a relaxed manner and gentle voice.  Although I sat at the front I couldn’t always understand what he was saying.  Gary started with the statement that playwrites are rarely well known.   One doesn’t go into this career for money and fame. 

Gary started with an exercise that involved having a word for every letter of the alphabet.  I think using a name up to ten letters woud have saved time, as only half the latter was needed in the final exercise.  It would have saved time   Gary engaged with his audience throughout his talk. 

As Gary is a play write, I would have liked to know more about how to get a play on the stage, or published.  Although he gave a tutorial on putting a story together, I would rather have heard about his writing experiences, how he broke through, does he make a living, what avenues would he recommend for new writers.  As a keen writer, I was interested in how Gary created his characters and what motives him to finish a play.  I enjoyed this talk, though I would have liked to know more about the man and his experiences.