Putting Away Papers From Writers' Summer School at Swanwick, And Memories, And Plans For Next Year

 I needed a small suitcase on wheels to move my books to the book room at the conference. I started by buying a little suitcase to store my heavy books. I bought it second hand. What else could go in with the books for next year or the year after, my next conference? 

Storage Suitcase Contents

1 In addition to having heavy books, I have also stapled handout papers in see-through folders. 

2 The travel directions are always useful. 

3 This time I have added the business cards, each card marked with the year. I have held them together in an elastic band. 

4 I have last year's notebook, half filled, with the year on the cover. The empty half will do for my next conference.

 I have everything ready from the most recent annual Writers' conference ready for next year in my small wheeled suitcase. What if I don't know where everything is, next year? Today I attached the label to the suitcase showing the contents. I shall take a photo of the suitcase and email it to myself.

Next year, or the year after, I will be able to note the names of people I previously met. I will be able to recall the books they wrote, or the talks they gave. 

Committee Names

I will be up-to-date on that year's committee. I will know whether it was their first year or a repeat.

Book Buyers Recorded

I should also remember who bought one of my books. I want to greet them amicably. I can offer them a follow-up book.

By taking a photo of myself signing the book, with the buyer, I can keep a record.

Past Notes

Will I ever read all those past notes? Probably not. I might not be able to read my hand-writing. 

Why wasn't I typing on my laptop, or writing notes on my mobile phone? The main conference hall had everybody sitting around round tables.  Unfortunately, most of the rooms had neither tables not trays attached to chairs. 

The Speakers mostly offered to send slides to participants. 

Notes For Next Year At Writers Summer School Swanwick

Variable Cuisine

What was the food like? A rollercoaster. Some meals were wonderful and some were terrible. I was happy with chicken and potato. Once two types of potato. 

Then my chicken was red in the middle, like others had been. Friends, even enemies, on my table insisted that I send it back.

The best meals were those on the first and last nights. The Saturday dinner when we arrived seemed to have meat and potatoes and vegetables and so did Sunday lunch. Then the evening meal seemed to be salad. From then on it was a summer menu with one meal main salad and nothing substantial. However, the last night's dinner was wonderful.  I opted for the fish with Thai sauce, which was green and tasted of lime, maybe slight coconut or lemongrass. Fabulous. Fabulous flavours. 

I have been trying to reproduce it. I have been looking at recipes and ingredients. Thai chicken? Lemon sauce? Lime? Sweet and sour with lime? 

The nearest I have got to it at other restaurants was lemon chicken at the Royal China in . But that was lemon, not lime, and not green.

Their cakes at tea time were great. The biscuits were not as good as previous years. At morning break time, plain biscuits. the gluten free biscuits had more crunch and chocolate. 

Service, likewise was varied. Lovely ladies tired to help, offer more, bring food from the cafeteria to the table for the elderly or incapacitated. Others angrily insisted that vegetarian options were only for vegetarians. The cheese on the buffet ran out, so I assumed it was finished. Later when I went back for dessert, I saw that a refill had arrived, but only after a crowd of people hanging around, creating a traffic jam queue like a food ball crowd, and giving up. Choice of two desserts. Only two. Mostly both good. Often one was fruit. Sometimes rather gelatine like. 

On the third day I found porridge. At breakfast time on the day before last I discovered that porridge was available on request every day, from the kitchen. You just had to ask. Even though I've been going there for twenty years, you forget when you haven't been back for a year. The system changes. Communication is not their strong point.

The girls on the front desk are very friendly and helpful.

Drinks

The drinks machines were wonderful. I opted for cappuccino but lost interest. However, on the full day two, the Monday, I discovered that powdered chocolate was in a glass container beside the machine. Never mind the machine with no cocoa option. Never mind the lack of chocolate biscuits for everyone. I had my chocolate fix.

For me the highlight of the conference was the opportunity to act in the five minute play. Some of the plays had few characters. One was a monologue.  Because our play had seven characters I got to meet a lot more people. It was a comedy. I needed a comedy.

With all that food, lots of it, we needed some exercise.

Lakeside Walk

This year no cows were visible. However, a friend of mine claimed to have seen goats up close in an adjoining field. I did not see goats up close, but we had a pleasant walk around the lake, and the gardens.

Books Bought

I have been reading three signed books I bought at Swanwick.

1 The Full English by Melanie Branton.

2 The Chemist by A A Dhand.

3 A Blonde Bengali Wife by Anne Hamilton.

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How to remember people's names when travelling and meeting travellers

You can have embarrassing moments when greeting people who travelled from far away. Even when you are taking great trouble to help and introduce londers to somebody new.

Wedding Introduction Mistake

At my wedding in London, England, I met two guests on opposite sides of the room, both from Manchester, England. (Not London in Canada nor any of the others of the 29 places in the world called London, nor the 30 places called Manchester outside England.) I proudly rushed the second guest across the hall to meet the first Mancunian I had met. They both looked astonished. 

Were they long-lost friends? I asked, "Do you know each other?"

"Yes. We live in the same house. We're brothers!" 

A never forgotten incident. The moral is, learn and remember the first and last names of guests and at least one fact about each one, if only where they live.

How do you remember people's names when travelling? 

1 Remember By Repetition - Verbal

You can repeat the person's name when talking to them. Ask the spelling if you don't catch the pronunciation, and to help you to remember.

For example, if an American met me, they might say

"What's your name? Angela Lansbury. Are you related to the actress Angela Lansbury> Do you spell Lansbury the way she does. Angela with one L? Landbury or Lansbury? I get it L A N S. Maybe once it was Land and they dropped the D over time."

Follow this system. Then you can use their name to repeat it to other people.

2 Remember By Repetition Mental

You can keep muttering the name to yourself.

Remember it long enough to tell somebody else. I must remember Angela.

3 Add a Hook or Related word.

I often say, I am Angela, Like an Angel. 

At HOD Toastmasters club I was discussing with incoming President Martin how to remember three similar sounding names. Amar, Amir, Anil, 

We devised a hook for each name. Amazing Amar is often taking a role such as Toastmaster of the evening. 

Anil gave a speech about how he was 'ill' - not ill but needing to wear glasses. 

Amir is the incoming treasurer for next year and we can think of an Emir who handles a lot of money.

I only needed to have that conversation once, to know all three names without bothering to recall our memory aids. 

4 Remember Names by Repeating Related Names.

People sometimes say to me, your name is Angela - like Angelica in other languages. The male in Italian would be Angelo, as in Michelangelo, 

At Harrovians Toastmasters, a longstanding member is Sushil. Pronounced like Sue. You may know the song A boy named Sue, sung by Johnny Cash. (The songwriter, Silverstein, knew two men who had women's names, one called Sue, another called Jean).

5 Teacher's Desk Plan For Remembering Names

Teachers might have to remember many names, and several times a week, ranging from one as a tutor, to 30 in a large class. 

One way of remembering names is to read the attendance list in advance. Notice if there are two people with the same or similar names. Do any of them have the same name as a member of your family, another pupil, a member of staff, a famous personality from sports or entertainment?

6 Dinner Table Plan For Remembering Names

At a wedding, you can often look at the table plan display and note the names of the people on your table. If the table has name cards, go and look at them in advance. Plan what you will say to the person about their name or title.

7 Use Sign In Sheets For Remembering Names

When I look down the sign in sheet for my name, I note down the other names.  

8 Need To Know Names - Organizing and Attending Meetings

As organizer you need to know who is attending. You can greet VIPs. Inroduce people to enhance their experience. Use name badges so you can address everybody by name. Colour code badges to find speakers, or newcomers needing help. You can also re-direct people who enter by mistake.

9 Make Name Badges For Meetings & Conferences

You can print out name badges. Or ask people to tell you their names as they arrive. Or to write their names on the badges. Failing all else, ask people to bring their own badges. If you are attending lots of events, you can wear your own name badge.

10 Name Sign Up Needed For Safety

You might require the first name and family name of guests at a meeting or event, live or online. This helps to identify, contact, or exclude victims of crime, suspects and witnesses. 

You might want to return lost property, inform people of future meetings. Collect money. Identify those attending after a case of theft, aggression, violence or indecent exposure. Or to give certificates and prizes. You may have a duty of care to guests, adults, children, the disabled, to know who is attending. 

In the event of a fire, the fire brigade will ask you if everybody is out. You may need to do a roll call. We had a false fire alarm at a Toastmasters meeting. We gathered under a tree. One person was missing. Bothe President and the Fire Officer went back to look for the visitor. The visitor lived nearby and went home without bothering to tell us. He jjust thought no point hanging around, the meeting is over. 

11 Names Needed For Seating, Help & Rewards

You may want to change the seating so family members can be together, so staff and helpers can assist, to leave seats near the door for latecomers, to sit speakers near the stage. You may also want to list names of speakers for voting. And to thank volunteers by name. You might refund money, or present gifts volunteers, or record recipients to ensure you distributed gifts to all, including leaving gifts for those who left early to catch trains home.

Name badges are helpful for numerous reasons. A child or adult presenting a bouquet to a VIP guest needs to find the recipient fast, without hesitation!

Photo of Angela Lansbury, given a bunch of flowers in Singapore for the opening speech at the start of running the school's weekend English Enrichment.

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How to remember names of people you meet on your travels - such as Haresh and Manish

Problem
I meet a lot of people. Sometimes I note their names. Then I forget, or remember just two letters, or muddle up two names. This week I was puzzling over Haresh and Manish.

Answers
I could remember that both names had a SH. But what were the vowels, the initial letters? My usual method, if it's a club I visit, is to take a photo of them, ask for their email and send it to them. If I am lucky, their name is part of their email. If not I can add it. Easiest is to add their name or nickname after the club name.

I can also look at last week's agenda. If only one of them attended, and his name is on the agenda, that's the one.

They then go into my contacts or into my faces on photo.

However, I still belonged to a club with two members called Haresh and Manish. If I could find one, I could identify the other. I looked up both names in photos. No use.

So I looked up both names on the internet. Success!

Manish is Hindu for God of the mind. M for Manish, M for Mind. Manish is the Man with the Mind.

Haresh stands for the God Krishna. You can push the horizontal of the H to the left to get Karesh, Kresh, Krish, Krishna. However, I don't really need to remember Krishna. The important thing is to get back from Krishna to Krish, to Hrish, to Haresh.

Having spent ten minutes or more on both these names, I can forget all the links. Each time I hear the name Manish, or Karesh, during the meeting, it reinforces my effort to remember and attach the correct name to the face.

This is all very time-consuming. Easier and quicker to just talk to somebody about their name. Or get them to wear badges at the club, take a photo of them, or a selfie with them, making sure their badge is included.

Now I know the name I must start using it. I can say to Manish, "Hello, Manish, good to see you."

I can ask somebody else, "Is Manish coming tonight?"

I can ask Manish, "Do you ever get post (mail) which changes your name?"

I can ask, "Does everybody in your family have a name starting with M?" Or I can ask, "Does anybody else in your family have a name starting with M?"

Once you have made a connection with a name, you can use it next time you meet somebody with the same name.

I met people called Manish and Haresh in London, England. I am also likely to meet them at an Indian restaurants worldwide, in Little India or a Toastmasters Club in Singapore, in India, on an Air India flight.

I might ask somebody from a call centre their name and write it down, in case I want to call back later in the day. I say, "Your name is Manish? I have a friend called Manish. Do you have an extention, Manish? Are you the only person in the office called Manish?"

I can do the same when calling a department store, or an airline, or a travel agent.

You can use the same technique for other names and other languages. Also when saying your own name. I might ask, "Do you know any other Angelas?" "What is the equivalent of Angela in your language?

Travel Websites
visitbritain.com
visitlondon.com

Author
Angela Lansbury

Remembering Chinese Names: Chen, Chua, Keong, Lee, Liu, Min, Ng, Ong, Toh, Tu, Wei

Problem
I have trouble registering, pronouncing and remembering Chinese names.

Answers

Chen - Chenai is the official name for Madras on the East coast of India; chendol is a Chinese dessert, looks like chin, or Chinese, rhymes with when (when shall we three meet with Chen - to misquote the opening line by the witches in Macbeth, the play by Shakespeare). Chain.

Chue - chew it over, haven't a clue

Keong - A klong is a Thai word for a canal, Mr Keong was on the Klong; we won't wait long for Keong; Keong - he has the key, we'll carry on

Lee - rhymes with be (oh to be with Susan Lee) see Miss Lee, Lee on Sea, like the British place name Leigh on Sea

Liu - in lieu, in the loo, do it with Liu

Lixiang - the x is pronounced SH, lee - she - ang (Leigh - is she anxious?)

Min - just a minute, he is minute (short)

NG - Ng is like the ng in sing, song, long, ring

Ong - rhymes with song, bong, dong, long, wrong, on

See-Toh (see a toe)

Tu - too, two

Wai - way, good way, why, why not, we, weeze, weasel, weaving.


Many Chinese people use initials, especially if doubled, so that they will be called KK or YY for short.

Once you have a way of connecting the syllables, when you hear the names said at a meeting, you can then connect them with written name and the person's face. The repetition by others of the name will help drill it into your memory.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, teacher of English and other languages. 

Name Days And Names Worldwide

Problem
How do you remember people's names?

Answer
1 Keep repeating the name.
2 Discuss the meaning of their name, or why they were given that name. Some names are related to name days.

Story
How did I get my names? I was given my first name by my grandmother (my maternal grandmother - my mother's mother). My second name was chosen by my mother. The surname came from my father.

My surname is Lansbury. That's on a deed poll for change of name. The original name was from Ukraine. After WWII my parents wanted to change the name to something which sounded more English. Easy to pronounce and patriotic.

I thought that my parents changed the surname before I was born. After my parents both died I opened a deed box and discovered that my name was changed when I was a toddler.

The name of the new surname copied the initial letter of the original name. In my family we also kept the initial letters of our first names over three generations. Albert-Angela-Anthony. It makes it easy to have one set of name tapes, or handwritten labels, or initials, especially if you borrow each other's hats, gloves, bags, suitcases and umbrellas.

I could celebrate my name day, for Angela, on the English day, which is the same as the day in German and Austria, but other countries have more dates!

Tip
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_day
Wikipedia covers 22 countries:
Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Poland, Romanis, Russia, Scandinavia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Hispanien America, Sweden, Ukraine.
http://www.happynameday.com/country.php
(Name days for these 18 countries: Austrian, Bulgarian, Czech, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish. The site sells greeting cards and ecards.

Author
Angela Lansbury

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author, speaker, teacher of languages.
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Alliterative Impromptu Introductions And Planned Presentations

How do you remember people's names? How do you introduce yourself when networking so people never forget you? How do you introduce complete strangers with enthusiasm when you are suddenly asked to speak at a wedding or conference and introduce the next speaker or thank the host?

I am always remembered. My name is the same as that of the actress Angela Lansbury, a chance coincidence. But if I am just labelled with a badge as Angela I introduce myself as Angelic Angela.

At a recent poetry evening the poets were introduced solely by name, to save time. This was a great success. No preamble to the readers nor the poems. We cut the event from one and a half or two hours with an interval to one hour straight. We did not lose people at half time. Readers were not kept up late, nor peeved at being in the second half.  Clapping was not allowed after each poem but saved to the end of the reading of two or three shorts or one long poem.

However, the presenter had no time to enthuse about anybody. i learned a useful tip at Toastmasters International (a worldwide organisation training you in public speaking - for everybody from beginners to professionals with standard and advanced speaker clubs). I have seen accomplished presenters who were called in at the last minute encouraging enthusiasm for each speaker and from each speaker by simply adding an alliterative word to the introduction of the speaker's name.

You can use one word with the name to signal to the speaker that they are to approach the microphone. Repeat, with two or three adjectives to fill in time as they walk to the microphone and increase the level of clapping. If you cannot make an alliteration with their name, ask for their  trade, business, profession, qualification, subjects a student studies, or hobbies. For a themed evening call them all by the international or national titles, such as for a French evening, Madame Mary. Here are some suggestions:

A
Amiable Ada / Amy
Alluring Allison / Alistair
Amazing Ali
Amusing Amy
Angelic Angela
Artistic Arthur
Available Aunty ...
Awesome Accountant Anthony

B
Ballet dancer Beatrice
Bold Brian
Beautiful Brenda
Business woman Brenda

C
Campaigning Caroline
Charming Chong
Shapely Charlotte
Clap for Clive, Applaud for Claud

D
Dashing Dick
Delightful / Delicious / Debonair Donna
Delightful David

E
Easy-going Edith
Elegant Eleanor
Eligible Elizabeth
Energetic Eric
Extraordinary Extravert Emily

F
Fantastic Flora
Fabulous Fanny
Funny Fiona /
Friendly Freddy
Freewheeling Freda
Fred the financier

G
Game Gary
Glamorous Gloria
Gorgeous Gloria
Great Gareth

H
Hurrah for Hans / Henry
Hooray for Hilda / Hilary
Hopeful Horace

I
Impressive, Indispensable Ian
Intelligent Iris

J
Joyful Joy
Jolly James/ Jennifer

K
Kick-starter Kris

L
Laughing Larry
Lovable Lee / Leigh / Linda / Lim

M
Marvellous Malcolm,
Magical Michael
Marriageable Mary
Musical Morris
Marvellous Molly
Miss Mildred
Mister Morris
Amazing Miranda
Monsieur Michel
Madame Marianne

N
Not to be missed, No Nonsense, Know-it-all, Not now Nora/ Nick

O
One and only Olive / Olga
One and Only Oliver
Entrepreneur Olivia

P
Perfect Penny /  Perfect Poet Peter
Pretty, Punctual Pamela
Pianist / Professional Poet Peter
Praiseworthy Pierre
Problem-solving Patel
Prize-winning Polly
Punctilious Pierre

Q
Quick-witted Queenie

R
Rich Richard
Riotous Richard
Rhyming Ricardo

S
Single Sarah
Senorita Suzanna
Senor Simon
Special Simon
Super Susan, Soothing Susanna
Super Sheng
Sir Singalong
Smashing Smith
Smiling Sidney
Successful speaker Sidney

T
Terrific Terry / Tony
Well-travelled Tina
Trained Teacher Tanya

U
Unmatchable, Unmissable, Unbeatable, Unforgettable Ursula

V
Victorious Victor / Veronica

W
Wonderful Wendy
Watchable Wang / Wong
Please Welcome Winning Winsome William!

X
Excellent, Exciting Xanthe

Y
Exciting Yvonne  / Yvette
Your Yolanda
Youthful Yorick

Z
Zany / Zippy Zoe

Insults For Humorous Effect
(For a humorous occasion or contest, or an evening when everybody is already laughing, if you can say it with a smile and look as if you really like the speaker. Check in advance with speaker that they are happy to be introduced with this word) - if not then choose one from the list above

A
Always Late Alan
Awful Andrew
Accident-prone Alice - Mind the step!)

B
Blundering, Bullying, Bossy, Big-mouth Brian

C
Chatterbox Charlie
Complaining Carry
Crappy Clive

D
Dictator Dennis, Dennis the Menace
Drippy Dick
Drunk David

E
Ebullient Erudite Eric
Exciting, exhilarating Elizabeth

F
Facetious, Fat Freddy
Frail Florence ("A bit of a tongue twister")
Fussy Fanny

G
Galloping George
Grandfather George (works well with a speaker who is elderly or amusingly, absurdly with one who is very young such as a teenager)

H
Hard-to-please, Head in the Sand, Hopeful Harry

I
Indignant Ian

J
Jimmy Junior

K

L
Lovely Lizzie / Laura / Larry

M
My mother Mary (with somebody much younger than the speaker)

N
Naughty Neil

O
Old, Obstreperous, Obstinate Olive

P
Perfectionist Peter
Promiscuous Peter

S
Single, Scary Sarah
Small Sammy
Shouting, Shrieking, Shrinking, Shrink, Sheila

T
Tall, Trouble-maker Tommy/ Terence
Terrible, Terrifying Terry
Tippling, Tripping Tony

U
Ugly Uncle Jack

V
Vacuous Vera / Victor

W
Whispering Wanda /
Whining William

X
Everybody's X, Xanthe
Exciting, Exasperating Xavier

Y

Z
ZZZ - put you to sleep Zoe


To find a compliment, take an insult and reverse it. To find an insult, take a compliment and reverse it.

Some of these are rather unsuitable, and so will be your first thoughts. But if you keep brainstorming, you will eventually find something suitable pops up. You can do the same alliteration with Indian and other ethnic names - it might help the audience to quickly catch the initial letter or ending with a rhyme. For example

Amiable Ade, Adorable Ade
Marvellous Mina
Super Seema
Happy Hina

Make a list of all the VIPs or committee members who are likely to be at the meeting, making speeches, or awards.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, speaker, speech trainer, presenter, toastmaster of the evening, stand in registrar at wedding rehearsals. (I conducted an impromptu mock wedding rehearsal for photos and videos in the last of the sunlight when the lost registrar was late for a sunset wedding in Singapore in Feb 2016.)
 I am currently (2016) a member of two Toastmasters clubs in London, Harrovians (past president), HOD (past secretary and current committee observer), judge and chief judge at speech competitions in Singapore.

How To Remember Names: of People you meet; singers, restaurants, wines, chocolates

I was reading a newspaper article on Charlie Sheen and decided to look up the origin of the name Estevez. I was astonished to learn that it means son of Stephen.

A seasonal link is that Stephen was the first Christian martyr. You may remember the Christmas carol, On the feast of Stephen - when the snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even.

Many other names are related to or derived from Stephen. For example, easy to recognize, when you stop to think about how names are related, is Stephano.

But I had not spotted that the French name Etienne is Stephen. Change the initial E into S and you start to see the relationship of one word to another.

This may be an amusement for a day for those sitting at home, or working alone. But is it any practical use when travelling?

Yes, it is. So much easier to remember that your new friend or acquaintance, the manager of the hotel or restaurant, your business contact, club president, is named a variation of Stephen or Steve, especially if you can relate it to somebody back home, the President of your club, a brother in law, a boss you used to work for, anybody else in your mobile phone list of contacts.

That helps you to remember the Steve or Stephano or Mr Estevez you have just met. Or the company producing the local wine or making a brand of chocolates. or the cathedral. Another hook on which to hang information you need. And to remember to tell acquaintances the name of somebody you met, or a place to visit.

Singers
I used to have trouble remembering the surname of singer Gloria Estefan. She was very popular in the USA. Her name sounded Spanish. Now it's much easier. I also know the family name is the equivalent of Stevens, and means crown of glory. I can imagine her wearing a crown.

Cathedrals
I recall visiting cities which had two cathedrals.  The old and the new. The Catholic and the Protestant. Which was which? Now I have a vision of the three cathedrals named Stephen. In Vienna you could visit Stephansdom. The dome of St Stephen, the home of St Stephen.

Meaning of name estevez
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estevez
surnamedb.com
I have earlier posts about remembering names. I met the author of a book on memory in Singapore.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Author and English teacher. Public speaking and workshops.