Thanks to John Owens, a librarian at Lord Fairfax Community College in Warrenton, for filming my presentation there. Actually it was Jeremy Owens, John’s brother, who manned the camera for the Feb. 24 talk. So thanks to both.

I wanted a recording of one of my talks, but I wanted something more than what you’d get by imposing on a friend with a cell phone camera. Now I have it. Jeremy, armed with a camera and tripod, recorded the entire presentation, including querstions.

One of the benefits of a recording is the chance to critique one’s performance. Like a pitcher watching film to see if he is tipping his pitches, I can now count my “umms” and “ahhs” and identify inaccuracies.

John divided the film into three parts and posted the segments on YouTube. And immediately, without watching, I identified a problem. When I added the running times for the three segments–29 minutes, 28 minutes and 18 minutes–I realized that at 75 minutes the talk was too long. I’ll study it now to see where it can be trimmed. My goal will be for it to last an hour or less, including questions. After an hour, I run the risk of audience members looking over their shoulders for the exits.

The links for the three segments are here:

Part 1- https://youtu.be/ykhMOoJEQII
Part 2- https://youtu.be/A47QbNxOn-I
Part 3- https://youtu.be/JUTUk8dV8PI

Please join me later this month in Loudoun County for the new and improved (shorter) version of my book talk. It is scheduled for Sunday, March 18, at 2 p.m. I will be the guest of the Mosby Heritage Area Association at The Hill School, 130 South Madison St., Middleburg, Va.