need your help guys

[BenBain]

hi. ive got to do a 5 minute talk for one of my lessons at college. it can be on anything you like to do so ive chose the subject 'pest control with the air rifle'. ive already got a few ideas but would like some help from you guys. any ideas???

cheers
ben

[Ruger_shooter]

Stress the importance of safety, responsibility and staying within the law and that responsible use has nothing what so ever to do with the yobs. The damage done by pests and the need for their control. The capability of a modern air rifle to do the job humanely in the hands of someone who has spent time ensuring they are accurate and know their limitations.

If you cover all of this you won't have much of the five minutes left.

Good Luck

[BenBain]

cheers mate. any more comments

cheers
ben

[Jerry Cornelius]

A comment on doing a talk rather than on pest control: you probably need less material than you think. Try reading a page from a book out loud and timing yourself to see how many words you get through. For me, its 140 wpm, so about 700 words in five minutes. You'll be about the same I imagine.

That's about one side of A4 typed, which isn't a lot. Don't try to cover too much ground or you will run out of time and get flustered, or not cover all the points you wanted.

[Si-monster]

hi. ive got to do a 5 minute talk for one of my lessons at college. it can be on anything you like to do so ive chose the subject 'pest control with the air rifle'. ive already got a few ideas but would like some help from you guys. any ideas???

cheers
ben

Yeah. Do your own homework

[Born Again]

Practice in front of a mirror or in front of your family first, be happy and confident and remember that all the others will be nervous too and you'll actually look much better than you feel.

[Paddy_SP]

I'd start with listing the diseases that the pests carry to justify why we need to control them in the first place. For instance, highlight just how horrible leptospirosis is to show why you need to kill rats. Then go on to how plague was spread by them too. If you're going to cover shooting squirrels, talk about how they eat fluffly, cute, baby birds alive as they sit helpless in their nests. It'll make the tree-huggers think twice about challenging you, and will hopefully prevent you getting marked down if one of the judges is an 'anti'...

[pbranthwaite]

As you only have 5 minutes I'd concentrate on all the pro's eg; low power= minimal risk to property, quiet= no disturbance of surrounding area, can be used in doors as long as your careful, cheap to operate, no licensing (yet), you can be selective about your targets where as traps/poison (though they do have a legitimate use) are not.

Write down a list, of all these headings and give a paragragh on each. also explain what it can't be used for.

Can you post how you got on when its all over.

HTH Take care Pete

[Gunner39]

Make sure you plan and practice mate! Ive cocked a few presentations up because ive rushed my preparation!
Another useful thing ive found is to give hand-outs about the subject you are talking about e.g if your talking about pest species, you could give handouts with info about them and the damage they cause.#
Hope this helps.

[pbranthwaite]

Technically you're incorrect Paddy, it was the Black Rat (Rattus rattus) which is protected ,that was responsible for the plague and not the Brown Rat (Rattus norvegicus, not sure of that spelling). A hard core debater (or pain in the ****) would also argue that its the lice that the rat carried that were the true carriers of the plague. As with anything in life keep the talk simple and know your facts. There will be people who will be opposed to what you say and try to trip you up with every minute detail.

No offence Paddy, just don't want the fella to talk himself into a corner.
Although would the plague have spread as it did if air rifles were readily available back then????

HTH Take care Pete

[BenBain]

thanks for the input. yes i will tell u how it goes once ive done it. ive got about 2 months untill i do it but i thought id better get it sorted instead of leaving it untill a few days before. as for the anti's the course i do is countryside management and there is no antis on it for sure.

cheers
ben

[Jackel]

A comment on doing a talk rather than on pest control: you probably need less material than you think. Try reading a page from a book out loud and timing yourself to see how many words you get through. For me, its 140 wpm, so about 700 words in five minutes. You'll be about the same I imagine.

That's about one side of A4 typed, which isn't a lot. Don't try to cover too much ground or you will run out of time and get flustered, or not cover all the points you wanted.

But to be fair mate Your waffle cost's £40 a hour so your bound to space it out

[pbranthwaite]

I done a countryside management course, out of 22 people myself and one other were the only ones who were pro field sports, all the others wanted to manage the countryside for "all the little animals" (I did not make that quote up).
I gave a similar speach and gained distinqtions and when I gave the others a chance to ask me questions, they suggested by removing corvids I'd be making the area STERILE

PS, all my tutors were anti-antis

Take care Pete

[BunnyHunter]

Possible outline:

• What is a pest?
• The dangers of pests (diseases etc)
• The law regard pest control (DEFRA)
• Reasons for using an airifle rather than poison/shoguns/etc
• The suitability of an airifle for pest control/power/range
• The safety, security, and usage of the airifle
• Conclusions

And that means you don't even have to spend a minute on each slide.

[BenBain]

perfect mate.

cheers
ben