Interested in inviting me to your school? On this page you’ll find details of:
-
- the audience I usually present to
- my presentation style
- what I typically present in schools
- workshops
- Business sessions
- Space sessions
- my fees.
The audience I usually present to
I generally present to Years 3-6/Primary 4-7, so roughly ages 8-12.
I love a wide variety of audience sizes, it’s all part of the fun. I once presented to a school of 6 (yes, that was the whole school, including the infants!), while at the other extreme I’ve had an audience of almost 1,000. I’m a ‘more the merrier’ type, so those large audiences suit me just as well as the smaller ones.
My presentation style
I’m energetic, engaging and humorous. I think of my style as ‘stand-up literature’, with the comedy helping to get across the key educational messages. Most people respond well to laughter, but I’ve found that so-called reluctant readers respond particularly well. After all, it’s hard not to like something that has made you laugh.
What I typically present
Every session is a little different, but typically they last about one hour and in them I:
- briefly explain how I became an author;
- entertain pupils with hilarious readings from my LEE novels;
- provide practical tips to help develop story-writing skills (useful for teachers as well as pupils);
- give away a couple of signed books as prizes in a lively competition; and
- answer as many questions as I can.
Workshops
I usually include some educational content in my ‘normal’ school sessions, but there’s only so much time available and lots of inspiring entertainment to fit in alongside the writing tips. So, in some schools I also run workshops.
The workshops are interactive and lively – pupils hardly realise they’re being educated, but they are. A highlight is the pupils, as a group, coming up with their own story.
A ‘normal’ workshop lasts about an hour.
Business sessions
As well as being an author, I’m a non-executive director of a public body and have run large parts of service-sector businesses.
It was that background that inspired me to write Lee Goes For Gold. At school I learned a lot that I used in business, but the one thing I learned nothing about was how business worked. Lee Goes For Gold is my way of conveying the basics of business through a novel – how companies decide what to sell and how to distribute; how they find their customers; how they decide what to charge; and so on.
Many schools studying Business as a topic invite me for an author session in which I also explore some of the questions above. It’s something I’m keen to do. After all, most of us will work for a business at some point.
Space sessions
Lee on the Dark Side of the Moon is a useful cross-curricular tool for any class studying Space and many read it as a way of kick-starting a term’s topic.
Now, I’m no Professor Brian Cox, but I do have an interest in all things spacey and I learned a bit more as I researched the book. (I was particularly pleased to discover that NASA’s website has a special section on how to go to the toilet in space!)
I love being invited into schools when pupils are delving into the science of the universe. If yours is one of those schools…get in touch.
My fees and expenses
- Single session (1 hour): £175
- Half a day (e.g. 2 sessions, or 1 session + 2 mini workshops): £285
- Travel expenses: I keep these to a minimum and quote them in advance so schools can budget accordingly.