Hope your talk goes well.

From far away - go for your natives. Yummy things such as Podophyllum (shade) and Sanguinaria. Trillium. Aquilegia. Native azalea if it's hardy in your area. Native ferns and groundcovers.

Then the old standbys, proven locally and found in all the older gardens. Cultivated Ranunculus, hardy bulbs that naturalise and create little visual treats. If it's hardy for you, Dicentra, and Primula plus Polyanthus. And (shhh) forget-me-not. Rudbeckia. Scabious.

I find these are all 'easy' and I have an acid clay-loam.

I think I'd add in Clematis and apple trees as well. And wintersweet (Chimonanthus). It's boring for most of the year - except when the scent follows you round the garden in mid winter-early spring. Yum!

PS if you're going to be doing talks often - start building a tickler file or database so you can quickly gather notes together - and add extras depending on your audience. It won't always be your entry into sharing. Good luck. Hope it goes/went very well for you.