Customer Reviews

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Public Speaking (2nd Edition)

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Let's face it, you can never become a master public speaker by reading books alone. There are only two things you can do to become a master -- and take this from someone who after years of training is finally on the right track -- first, find a good personal coach (you may be able to write off the cost; check with IRS), and second, practice and do so in real settings, not just in front of your bathroom mirror!

That said, this book can help you get started if the thought of public speaking makes you hungry for two Big Macs, i.e., makes you nervous. The chapters are laid out nicely, guiding you through the various components of giving a speech as well as techniques on how to control your emotions. What I found most beneficial was the part on preparation. I was always too lazy to prepare and my instinct was to improvise, but this book showed me how to overcome that tendency and think about what I was going to say.

In all earnest, you don't need to read this book or any other book to become proficient in public speaking, but if a book helps you calm down and gather your courage, this book should be on your shelf.

I just got this book about a week ago, Its hard to put down. It is full of great hints and tips. It is very easy to understand and enjoyable, they start every chapter out with a joke. Not only does it help you learn to get your audiance's attetion, but it helps you keep it with hints on writing your very own speech (wether it be informative, pursasive, or comical), it also helps you get over stage fright. I could go on for along time, but my fingers hurt. I hope you enjoy the book! (FYI-Great for ferencics)

This book will help the reader in the development of public speaking skills, use of presentation equipment, and all the basics. The book has ex- cellent guides and does emphasize practice. Very helpful and good for the novice and beginner. In conjunction with a Toastmaster club, this book is more helpful.

As a nationally ranked collegiate public speaker who has been coaching for the past 20 years, I have to say I had no expectations when I picked up this book. The series was a gimmick, I thought and couldn't possibly have good content. Well, that teaches me! Not only is the book fantastic but it is one of the best guides out there and believe me, I've read almost all of them.

Why do I love it so much?

1. It sticks to the basics, the tried and true rules of rhetoric that have worked for centuries.
2. It makes no snake oil promises, i.e. "You can cure stage fright!", "This book will make you the next Martin Luther King, Jr.!"
3. It is clearly written with just the facts, none of the "when I coached this fabulously powerful/famous person..." type of anecdote that is usually more self-serving and page-filling than it is illustrative.
4. It is comprehensive - it coves both content and delivery.

There are truly a lot of bad pubic speaking guides out there or guides that perhaps have only one or two good points in a swamp of excess verbiage. This guide is an exception. Highly recommended.

It is simply impossible to escape speeches, so we must learn to accept them as well as doing them....
This is knowledge that cannot be passed up.
Some people do like 15 minute speeches out there(in society) but if it is not catchy, it then will bore many to death.
Learn what this book has to say and then get live experience
in doing speeches. Doing speeches for many is not fun because
of the critics, and because of the nervousness one gets when one is being stared at by multitudes of people. Ones best bet at first is to do speeches for kids, to be an elementary teacher because little kids see bigger people with respect and this helps one with confidence...id say that 85 percent of those little ones see one as a role model so start there and use these principals that this book has, then move up to older kids and adults. No book is perfect and no review on here has the perfect information for you but my words might only change some out there or simply just one person, and that is okay too. Get this book, because no one in the classroom and not even in your neighborhood will tell you what to do before, during or after your speech preparation/presentation.

We can overcome the speech kryponite nervousness by having tons of (LIVE)practice. Another comparison, speeches are just like driving or playing chess, and that is that with practice one will only get better. So get this book and make a difference in your speeches. One of the great thing that these "Idiot books" have is that they tell you everything there is to know, it is normal if they miss an element or two but that is natural but these books tell you the meat and potatoes of things.