Quick Guide for New Eclectic Club Speakers

 
The Eclectic Club, now in its 2^nd century (having been founded in 1921), has gone through many logistical changes: from meeting in members’ homes to meeting in restaurants, from sharing total dining expenses to paying individually. 

Scheduling
For many years, Kathleen Pavelko has proposed the year’s schedule, with adjustments made as necessary to accommodate speaker availability. With 8 meetings with speeches each year, the goal is to have each member speak about every other year (we have 18 members currently), and to schedule new members as quickly as practical.

 Website and Communication
When a topic and a title have been selected, the speaker should notify Lou Thieblemont, who has (largely) paid for and maintained the website for years. Please make use of this wonderful resource: https://ec-hbg.org/. Ideally, speakers should announce the topic and title 45-60 days in advance. Speakers choose their own topic and the location of the meeting. Recent changes with restaurant schedules mean that we’ve moved our meetings to the 4^th Tuesday of the month, September through May, with December set aside for a holiday gathering without a speech and the May meeting actually scheduled for the first Tuesday in June (given Memorial Day).
 Preferred restaurant locations are those that (1) have a separate room that’s quiet and can accommodate 12-18 persons; (2) that will handle separate checks for all attendees; (3) can handle a screen and PowerPoint setup. Speakers should plan for a talk that's not longer than 30 minutes and be ready for Qs and comments, either during or after. Comments and questions can vary a lot in number, depending on the topic. Also, some speakers encourage questions during the presentation and others prefer to wait until the end. Your choice. 

 Members may bring guests to 2-3 guests per year; speaker’s spouses or family members are in addition to this suggestion.

 Typical schedule looks like this: 

·        6 pm arrival

·        6-6:30/6:40 drinks and mingle

·        6:40-7:30 dinner

·        7:30/7:45 presentation begins

·        7:45-8:45, presentation plus questions 

·        By 9 pm end of the evening