Book Description

As William Hewlett, Co-founder of the Hewlett Packard Corporation said: "How can I trust someone to manage multi-million dollar projects if he or she can't manage a half-hour speech?" Effective presentations can change your buying habits, influence your vote, inspire and motivate but, they do not happen by chance. What is not well known is that public speaking is an art that can be learned. Regardless of your profession, e.g., business, science or engineering, government ... communicating in front of others is involved in most office jobs and more critical the higher up a person progresses. Thus, presentation skills are useful at all levels and in today's world are a necessity. In "A Complete Guide to Public Speaking" the steps for preparing and delivering an effective presentation, whether to a large audience, to your management, or even to your colleagues in a meeting, are described in a straightforward and easy-to-follow manner. Many topics are presented as: Factors to Consider Before Speech Preparation, Research on Message Retention, Winning Over an Audience, Opening & Closing Techniques, Developing Each Part of Your Speech, Taking the Terror Out of Speaking in Public, Pros & Cons of Various Visual Aids, Deadly Mistakes to Avoid and much more. Many vital speaking tips are also discussed regarding: the use of humor, awareness of your eyes / body as well as verbal language / gestures, avoiding "brain death" during your speech, strong words to use & weak words to avoid, speaking speed and pauses, handling hostile questions and audience members ... even clothing to wear. The author uses his extensive education, 35 years of management consulting and executive experience plus, research on public speaking to present a useful guide for public speaking in any arena.