This is an enjoyable hop, at which am wincing in recognition at 10 ways that it is possible to badly treat a guest speaker, who has usually spent quite some time (and probably years of study) in preparation of a talk for your delectation… but also some thoughts for academic speakers as to ways around some issues:
I later realised that my title of professor had probably intimidated them. Most bird-keepers are working men: miners, steelworkers, bricklayers and decorators, with little experience of the academy. Once they knew I had kept birds myself and cared about the same things that they cared about, there was no problem. Their close contact with birds gave them extraordinary insight and several of them went on to help me with my research on this topic.
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