Ask not for whom the bell tolls (with apologies to Ernest Hemingway)

The bell tolled for me at 5.30 last night when the allotted time for the commencement of the Law Institute professional development session which I was chairing arrived. The speaker was from the Office of Chief Parliamentary Counsel and his subject was “Understanding legislation in Victoria”. There were thirteen lawyers in the lecture theatre with another two participating remotely via teleconference. I stepped up to the rostrum at 5.30, introduced myself, read the speaker’s bio and then introduced him to the gathering. He spoke to his Powerpoint presentation for an hour and a quarter then sat down. I took the rostrum again and called for questions from the floor. There were no questions forthcoming ! I thanked the speaker on behalf of the gathering and closed the session. I suppose it’s all experience, isn’t it ?