Evening meeting with speaker Sarah Archer

A great evening was held at the Wiltshire Hotel for 42 members and guests. Our speaker was Sarah Archer, a professional comedienne and consultant in public speaking. She spoke primarily about the Edinburgh Fringe, giving a superb insight to life behind the scenes. This event has ticket sale numbers that are closing on the World Cup and the Olympics. The Fringe started formally in 1956, formed by people who were not invited to the Edinburgh Festival, but who wanted to muscle in on the action. It subsequently grew to the point where it now vastly outsells the Festival itself. While performing at The Fringe can have huge benefits if talent-spotted, it can be very expensive to put on a show and many go away with considerable debt. Any payment to performers is rare and where it does happen for known talents, it is still very small. However, it’s a great opportunity to try out material and see what kind of reaction it gets. Sarah’s talk was light-hearted but informative and thoroughly enjoyable.