Customer Reviews

Secrets of Successful Speakers: How You Can Motivate, Captivate, and Persuade

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Psychological studies show that the average person fears public speaking more than death. Well, this book can quickly help overcome that very negative and unfortunate reaction.

The author is the head of a major speaking bureau, so she knows what works and what doesn't. Otherwise, she wouldn't have any business. To improve on her perspective, she also interviewed 60 of the top paid speakers in the country and liberally quoted them in the text to this book. These quotes and examples are fascinating.

She assumes that you are not a famous paid speaker now, so builds her points as simply and clearly as possible -- as a top speaker would.

The book has one chapter that is worth 10 times the cost of the book -- how to overcome hostile audiences and problems that occur. I have never seen so many witty lines and fun things to do in an otherwise stressful situation! Mastering the material in this chapter would be enough to turn anyone into a confident speaker.

Ms. Walters uses the analogy of planting, nurturing and caring for a tree to explain her concepts of public speaking. That makes everything much more tangible and familiar.

At the end, she summarizes the most important points into four areas -- just in case you missed the punch line along the way.

I especially liked the way she used counterexamples to make her point. She describes and quotes Stew Leonard, Jr. who often does just the opposite of what the book suggests. But he is successful because he is authentic, cares for his audience, and is sincere.

Although I know a lot of public speakers, do paid public speaking myself, and read a lot about public speaking, I found that more than half of the material in this book was new to me. And it all made good common sense. So I'm converted!

Learn to enjoy speaking to others and to better serve them in grasping things you care about that will help them. It can be very rewarding personally and financially for them and you!

This dynamite book is for every speaker; The beginner and the pro. Easy to read, easy to digest and follow tips for organization and delivery; she boils things down to the bottom line, the important takeaways from her own experience and the experiences of others. I began taking notes the minute I began to read. I wrote down things like: Make love to your audience. Stay green and growing for each new audience. Make fear your slave not your master. Turn every presentation over to the Lord. Watch our for ad libbing under stress. Approach each audience with an attitude of generous love. Replace fearful self worries with audience benefits. What do you want your listeners to do differently after they hear you? Tell yourself, "Today I get to do what I love to do." Now I take Lilly Walters wisdom with me every time I speak. It goes before me, stays with me helping and guiding me all along the way. Every time I am hit with 'dry mouth' before a speech, I think of Lilly and her lemon story. She showed me how to develop my own three important takeaways. Comments from my last presentation included words like 'she captivated her audience,' 'left them spellbound,' ''her message of help and hope was heard loud and clear' etc. Thanks Lilly. You helped me grow, you helped me conquer my fear, you helped me organize my material and most importantly, I will always remember your words, "Lord, let me be a channel of your love." That's what it is really all about.

This is certainly one of the best books on public speaking I've read. The only other work that deserves special mention is Jack Valenti's Speak Up with Confidence. Walters gives surefire tips and techniques that are recipe for a successful presentation that may inspire for years.

Her crisp advice on the main requirements of a speech of "passion and compassion with a purpose" is very potent and often leaps off my mind each time I prepare to instruct or make a speech. Walters has carefully drawn from the "secrets" of public speaking pros and concocted them into a surefire formula for success. What's more, her anecdotes and quotes are both entertaining and memorable.

I found myself a better speaker even after reading and applying steps 1 and 2. Wait till I conquer step 11! Thank you Lilly Walters for an absolutely inspiring and terrific book.

There are plenty of good books on public speaking - and this is NOT one of them. For several reasons.

First and definitely most importantly - it regularly contradicts itself. For example, on the subject of humor and the person who is to introduce you:

"...If it looks like they are going to read some big long thing, give them some quick funny story to say instead." Dr. Ken Blanchard

"Never give and introducer 'risky' material that requires comic timing." Tom Ogden

So, assuming that Mr Ogden meant "material which requires comic timing is 'risky'," we have two "experts telling us, one straight after the other, to (1) get the introducer to tell a funny story, and (2) avoid asking the introducer to tell a funny story!

This confusion is mainly down to the author's choice to use a vast collection of quotes from people she presumably regards as "expert speakers," interspersed, from time to time, by her own thoughts and observations. Unfortunately, despite her wealth of experience as a head of a "professional lecture agency," or maybe because of it, Ms. Walters has produced a book that is about as superficial as most of the "key note" and "after dinner" speeches I've ever had to witness.

There's a mountain of material here, and SOME of it is genuinely useful, but it's all so mixed up with the dross that you'd have to be something of an expert already in order to know which bits are worth taking notice of, and which are likely to make things worse rather than better. In which case you wouldn't need this book in the first place.

The second important flaw in the book is that it assumes that the "experts" actually know what makes them successful. Which is also unfortunate, since it is widely recognised that "experts" usually have little or no idea as to what their success is really based on. The best they can do is tell you what THEY think they do - hence the conflicting instructions and the highly variable usefulness of the book as a whole.

Thirdly, there is the author's own rather questionable knowledge. In Chapter 5, for instance, there is a section on mind maps, which shows little or no understanding of the subject. To be sure, the author does say, at one point:

"True mind map experts, which I am not, will tell you to use only one word per line along with the pictures."

No they won't. They'll tell you never to use a complete sentence, because if you do you will seriously undermine the main reason for using a mind map. And that's just after they'd tell you that you do NOT have to use pictures all over a mind map, as this author asserts.

The obvious question is "Why describe a technique if you know that you don't really know what you're talking about?" It may fill up some space, but it certainly doesn't do the reader any favours.

If you're the sort of person who gains confidence from getting "Reader's Digest"-sized quotes from a host of big name speakers then you may well enjoy this book. If you want something with a modicum of genuine authority, from someone who writes from an in depth knowledge AND UNDERSTANDING of their subject then you'll need to look elsewhere.

This book is for you if you're making the transition from audience to stage- -whether by choice or necessity. Secrets of Successful Speakers provides a framework for replacing stage fright with confidence. It guides you through the steps necessary to plan and organize your presentation in a way that will engage your audience as well as build your confidence in your material. Secrets of Successful Speakers contains a wealth of simple, easy-to-apply, tried and proven ideas. Within a half-hour of starting to read it, for example, I completely reorganized an upcoming presentation- - replacing a rather cumbersome 8-step process with an easily remembered 3-step process. Secrets is a fast read because each of the author's points are supported by comments from between five and ten other speakers. This conversational point/counterpoint construction emphasizes important points and adds a great deal of personality to the book. The more time you spend with this book, reading it and filling in the worksheets provided, the more comfortable you'll be with your upcoming presentation.

Lilly and Dottie Walters have contributed volumes to the world of professional speaking. All of their books provide veteran and upcoming speakers alike with the resources, tips, and guidelines needed to be successful. This book is another example of the quality and care the Walters provide in all aspects of their speaking enterprise. I found this book to be most helpful in planning and writing my public speaking presentations as well as in my daily lesson preparations as a secondary school teacher. Lilly Walters presents page after page of straight forward approaches to capturing and keeping any audiences attention as well as numerous methods of achieving and reinforcing the exact message you were aiming at delivering. This is a must have on every public speaker's and educator's book shelf. My name is Kelly Croy. You can learn more about me and how I use this excellent book by Lilly Walters on my website at www.kellycroy.com.

This is certainly one of the best books on public speaking I've read. The only other work that deserves special mention is Jack Valenti's Speak Up with Confidence. Walters gives surefire tips and techniques that are recipe for a successful presentation that may inspire for years.

Her crisp advice on the main requirements of a speech of "passion and compassion with a purpose" is very potent and often leaps off my mind each time I prepare to instruct or make a speech. Walters has carefully drawn from the "secrets" of public speaking pros and concocted them into a surefire formula for success. What's more, her anectdotes and quotes are both entertaining and memorable.

I found myself a better speaker even after reading and applying steps 1 and 2. Wait till I conquer step 11! Thank you Lilly Walters for an absolutely inspiring and terrific book.

A classic by one of America's best speaking families! This book will aid the newbie in becoming a much better speaker - and perhaps take some of the butterflies out of the stomach if that is a problem for the reader. Of course we can expect as much from Walters - part of the mother daughter team that has become a by-word in public speaking. Lilly shares many 'secrets' of her success, and other key speakers in this book - you will find many very good strategies to help make your speech very impactful and persuasive.
Two other books that can make your speaking like dynamite are:
How To Preach Like A Preacher!: A Complete Training How-To Book For Preaching Like A Pro!
Mastering Persuasive Public Speaking: The Influence Approach
See you on stage!

Lilly's book has given me enormous insight on how to captivate and inspire my audience. This is book is a goldmine of knowledge for the professional or amateur speaker. I contribute my success as public speaker to many of the secrets she reveals in this thoroughly researched book. BRAVO LILLY !

This book set me straight about public speaking. I haven't begun my public speaking career yet, which means I find this book filled with eye-opening guidelines that can only speed my progress to the podium. No book covers every base, but there are bases covered here that I didn't know existed. Good book.