Organization talks
 

Hello,

A friend of mine is involved with a Kiwanis club. Frequently they have members of the community (political figures, business owners, school administrators) come to their meetings to do talks. I agreed to do a talk, viewing it as a way to get my name out in the community and in hopes that it will generate some business. I'm having a little difficulty deciding what angle to take. There will be 40-50 adults there (this certainly would be easier if they were children.) I am assuming that none of them have an art background so I don't want to bore them. I don't feel that there is enough time to do any type of drawing in front of them (I don't enjoy being put on the spot any way). I also feel it would be very rude to just do a 15 minute sales pitch. Obviously I will bring plenty of painting examples but I am feeling a little stumped on how to approach this. This is important because I could pitch this talk to other organizations down the road. Any suggestions?

I would do a talk about the portrait through history. It promotes the idea of portraiture without being a sales pitch for you.

Don't expect any immediate business from this, though. It takes quite a while to build a name in a community -- but this is a very good start.

Thanks Michelle!

That's a great idea, I'm not sure why I didn't think of that angle. I'll do the talk on the history of portraiture, discuss it's evolution, why it is still relevant today...and ultimately, why they really should buy one. :)