Public Speaking Books Review

Here are useful tips for public speaking that anyone can benefit from, no matter what kind of presentations you are planning to make. Any good public speaking book or course should cover these in one form or another.

Know your audience

Before you make a speech anywhere–before you even write your speech–you must first know who you will be speaking to. The impact of your presentation will be far greater if you are actually addressing the particular needs and interests of your listeners. So, if you don’t already know, take some time to learn about your audience. Who are they, what do they like, what are their biggest concerns? Even if the essential content of your presentation remains the same, this step will make all the difference. The great speaker Russell Conwell was known throughout his life for a famous motivational speech he gave thousands of times in towns and cities around the country, but which he never delivered the same way twice. Once you make a real connection with your listeners, your communication will be much more powerful.

Know your material

One of the most surefire ways to reduce your speaking anxiety is to make sure you know what you’re talking about. When you understand your subject matter well, you will begin to project confidence automatically. Then, once you have a strong grasp on your material and have crafted your basic presentation, it’s practice, practice, practice. Try using a mirror, or a friend to listen to you. One of the great secrets is to record yourself on audio, or even make a video of yourself. Getting an outside perspective will help you trim the fat and further develop the substantial areas of your presentation.

Know yourself!

You could say the essence of public speaking is connecting yourself and your message with the world. So the more comfortable and insightful you are about yourself, the more effective and influential your contact will be with others. Learn what your strong points are, and emphasize them. Don’t worry too much about what doesn’t come naturally for you. Passion makes an immeasurable difference. If you deliver a message you are passionate about, it will resonate a hundred times stronger with your audience. So, dig in and make sure you are communicating something you have strong beliefs in. Finally, try to remember that your nervousness is actually excitement and enthusiasm waiting to be transformed. This is a secret that all the public speaking pros understand. That nervous energy is really the fuel for a powerful performance, so start seeing your anxiety as your mojo in disguise!

More to come in another post soon, so stay tuned.

Ryan

Hey, Ryan here.

Just a quick post to let you know I’ll be sharing with you the best public speaking books, courses and  resources available not only to help overcome the fear of public speaking, but really give you the stuff you need to present like a pro.  I’m talking about the stuff that really worked for me– and believe me, I’ve tried them all (More to come on that). Anyway, I hope you find this site useful, since I’d like as many other people as possible to experience the freedom and confidence that developing strong presentation skills has finally provided for me.

There is a nearly endless list of popular public speaking books and training courses available to choose from, and some of them offer a truly great array of public speaking techniques and tips, covering everything from how to do proper audience analysis, to how to write a speech well, what to say to an audience (and how to say it), how to handle public speaking nervousness, and much more.

But it can be overwhelming and time consuming digging through all the choices to get to the good stuff (I know it was for me). So that’s why I put up this little site: to help others cut to the chase and find the real gold out there.

Stay tuned for several more posts coming up, where I’ll get into the details on some excellent courses and books on public speaking, as well as a few helpful speaking tips.