Customer Reviews

The New Talkpower: The Mind Body Way to Speak Without Fear (Capital Ideas for Business & Personal Development)

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I've tried it all. Self-help books, Hypnosis, Yoga, breathing exercises, voice lessons, public speaking workshops, Toastmasters... nothing ever worked, and I never understood why.

Finally, I took Natalie Rogers' weekend workshop on Public Speaking, and at last I understood. Public Speaking isn't like other phobias out there, like a Fear of Flying or a Fear of Heights. Conquering Public Speaking requires you to do more than just overcome fear; it requires you to:

1) Learn how to WRITE an effective speech

2) Learn how to BREATHE and SPEAK well

3) Learn how to PERFORM under stress

When you have a Fear of Heights, you can curl up in a little ball and wait for the fear to pass. Therapists call this "extinction therapy"... if your patients expose themselves to the situation which triggers the fear, the phobia eventually goes extinct. This actually works for basic phobias... but it DOESN'T work for phobias that require you to actually do more than just curl up in a ball.

Natalie does a sensational job of 1) and 2) above, by giving you speech templates that really help you write a quick and effective speech... and then teaching you how to breathe and use your voice. That in itself would be worth the price of the book... but Natalie actually has developed a breakthrough approach to performing under pressure that is so powerful it is worth calling out.

Basically, the idea is this - it is IMPOSSIBLE to be nervous if you are concentrating on something. You know that feeling you get when you are really focused on something? You lose track of time, you lose yourself in your work... and in that moment, it is actually physiologically impossible to be self-conscious or nervous. Well, Natalie takes advantage of this physiological fact and taps it to help you neutralize speaking nervousness. And she's found a way to trigger concentration that doesn't require mental energy... and so you can actually achieve focus during a difficult speech, and take advantage of this physical phenomena to eradicate nervousness.

I know, I know - it all sounds too good to be true. I'll admit - I haven't recovered 100% from my public speaking fears. I can speak to groups or to someone important... but put me in front of a group of important people, and I'll get nervous. But here's where Natalie's techniques really come in handy. Before I speak, I prepare a speech using her templates. I practice my breathing and make sure that I've got my speaking voice working in the privacy of my home. Then, I use her concentration technique to mitigate the nervousness of speaking. The first few minutes are still tough, but the nervousness passes... and I am calm, confident, and comfortable.

It's such a strange feeling to be able to say that I'm calm, confident, and comfortable in front of a crowd. It's been a couple of years since my first panic attack in front of a group of colleagues, and being bad at speaking has almost become part of my identity. But, it's really true... you really CAN overcome these fears to become not only a non-phobic speaker, but a really good public speaker!

If you can afford to go to Natalie's weekend seminars, then by all means that's probably the easiest way to learn all this. But I've been to the workshop and I've read this book, and the fact is that all of the information in the workshop is right here in this sixteen dollar book. The book really is beautifully designed, and the binding actually holds up well - which is a good thing, because you'll find yourself returning to the book again and again.

I can't recommend this book highly enough. Good luck conquering your public speaking fears!

I teach a public speaking class and I'm a longtime member of Toastmasters International. This is the best public speaking book I have ever seen. I am planning to make it the required reading for my public speaking class. The author, Natalie Rogers in an actress and psychologist and has helped people overcome her speaking fears for many years.
One thing Toastmasters does not teach is the psychology behind public speaking and the fear of it. I found some articles to cover this. This book does an even better job. There are templates for speeches in the book. You can read it through once, then refer to it when you need it. It is also easy enouch to follow to keep ones interest. Dr. Rogers is a very gentle teacher and I recommend this without question.

Why did I buy this book? I was hooked at once when I began to read the introduction, where the author, Natalie Rogers, a former actress, acting teacher and behavioral psychotherapist, reports the feelings she had when she attended a class about "Oral Communication" and witnessed the students' ordeal during presentations:

"Was I the only one aware of the discomfort and loss of concentration? Apparently, the instructor was not concerned. Apart from her command to relax, she ignored the students' profound distress and continued urging them to make eye contact and speak more slowly. `Don't be so nervous,' she'd add, presumably trying to be helpful. `We support you.'

I was bewildered . This wasn't at all like the systematic training I had received in acting school, where we were given intensive coaching for concentration, relaxation, attention, and awareness. Here, except for the suggestion to relax, the sole focus was on the preparation of the speech, with no serious attention paid to the painful loss of confidence that many students were experiencing."

Natalie's book gives you the training. It teaches detailed, concrete, step-by-step methods to address the fear of public speaking. I have consulted various books about the fear of public speaking during the past couple of years, but this book provides the most powerful and straightforward step-by-step training approach of them all. Just to give only a few concrete examples of how this book is full of extremely valuable information page for page: It provides a detailed step-by-step instruction of correct belly breathing - all the other books which mentioned breathing techniques left me with the impression I had to take "deep" breathes in order to have the desired effects. Another example: The author writes "The idea of managing or confronting your fear is meaningless ... People with anxiety about speaking in public cannot overcome their problem with cavalier advice. The only reasonable solution is a method that will eliminate the fear and its devastating effects.", and later in the book explains why videotape is not the appropriate tool for beginning and fearful speakers - now I understand why training seminars with video, offered by my company, only left me embarrassed and frustrated, and with an even greater feeling of helplessness! And a last example: I always had wondered why visualization exercises had not the desired effects for me, and attributed it to my lack of commitment - now I know better!

This book is much more than only a book on public speaking. It teaches a comprehensive, systematic mind-body training approach on how to prepare yourself for performance situations. In the author's words: "Performance is any situation where you feel that you are being judged or evaluated by others. This ability to detach your thoughts from focusing on the audience and their approval, is a skill that you can develop if you commit yourself to the TalkPower program as described in this book." Buy this book - it provides you with the practical methods you need to help yourself.

Talk Power really opened doors for me. I'd done some public speaking but had many unanswered questions, things that made me feel uncomfortable in front of an audience.Rogers book answered all my questions and some i never thought to ask. her method is a revelation, a ticket to success in public speaking. It is useful for a beginner or a more advanced speaker. i am grateful to rogers for the information she provides as well as the graceful way she writes. I think this books is really excellent!

I found Natalie Rogers' text, THE NEW TALK POWER, very useful for a Public Speaking college course. Rogers gives a step-by-step guide made up of "templates" for standard 5-7 minute speeches. She integrates the preparation phases with acting exercises (proper breathing, visualization, etc.)and provides the reader with many examples of speeches. The book is a valuable tool for speech classes. My only quibble is that she might have provided a little more background in interpersonal communication including providing examples and definitions of terms associated with effective verbal and non-verbal communication (i.e., emblems, rhetorical questions, decoding, etc.)

This book provides a behavioral program for overcoming the fear of speaking before a group (and other stress situations, such as speaking in interviews). The program has 3 parts: performance training (to gain full control of oneself), speech crafting, and self-esteem training (to deal with feelings of inadequacy that can trigger anxiety when speaking in public). This book should be of tremendous help to many people. I particularly learned from the material on performance training. In chapter 6, for each step in the process of speaking before a group there is a training exercise pre-talk routine, etc). You are given not a laundry list of exercises, but the specific exercise that is most effective in the author's experience. Besides being a trained therapist, the author was an actress, and in these exercises she says she is drawing on the teachings of Stanislavski. The section on speech crafting is full of useful tools. I am spending a lot of time with this book.

That learning a technique can overcome such a powerful fear, but it did! Very well written, and the techniques are fully explained in both the "how to" sense, and the underlying basis for them. Highly recommended.

I tried many books on the subject, as well as many techniques. They all seemed to be just alike. Before I had read Talkpower I went online and learned Ms Rogers would be having a workshop in March of 2009. As I began reading the book I realized I needed to participate in the Mar. workshop and called Natalie. I registered for the workshop realizing it was a step I normally would have avoided. Talkpower seemed to be talking to me.
I attended the workshop and am so thankful. I met some wonderful people who shared the same anxiety I did. I am 60 years old, and to a degree successful in most things I've attempted in my life, with the exception of public speaking. I wanted to address this problem.
The workshop mirrored the book, I later found out, since I had not finished the book when I attended the workshop. I gave a 5-6 min. speech on the 2nd day. I was quite taken aback. Ms Rogers has a technique that will take your mind off the fear as you begin speaking. I could go on about it but don't find it necessary. If you want to address this fear I can't think of a better way, speaking strictly from my experience

If you're asked to get up and "say a few words" and immediately start shaking and sweating anticipating the terror, this book is for you! There's probably no one who knows more about Public Speaking Trauma than Natalie Rogers. She's studied every possible trauma that potential speakers face and is the foremost expert in the world in this area. She's developed her time-tested information over a period of 22 years, so she knows her stuff and this brilliant, innovative book is solidly stuffed with her expertise. She tells it like it is in simple language that's fun to read. Now I'd like to "say a few words" to Natalie: Congratulations on a GREAT book filled with hundreds of ideas and great techniques to make us all a rostrum star.

If you're asked to get up and "say a few words" and immediately start shaking and sweating anticipating the terror, this book is for you! There's probably no one who knows more about Public Speaking Trauma than Natalie Rogers. She's studied every possible trauma that potential speakers face and is the foremost expert in the world in this area. She's developed her time-tested information over a period of 22 years, so she knows her stuff and this brilliant, innovative book is solidly stuffed with her expertise. She tells it like it is in simple language that's fun to read. Now I'd like to "say a few words" to Natalie: Congratulations on a GREAT book filled with hundreds of ideas and great techniques to make us all a rostrum star.