100 Things Every Presenter Needs to Know About People [Paperback]

Susan Weinschenk (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 14, 2012

Every day around the world millions of presentations are given, with millions of decisions hanging in the balance as a result. Do you know the science behind giving a powerful and persuasive presentation? This book reveals what you need to know about how people listen, how people decide, and how people react so that you can learn to create more engaging presentations. No matter what your current skill level, whether beginner or polished, this book will guide you to the next level, teaching you how to improve your delivery, stance, eye contact, voice, materials, media, message, and call to action.

Learn to increase the effectiveness of your own presentations by finding the answers to questions like these:

• What grabs and holds attention during a presentation?

• How do you choose the best media to use?

• What makes the content of a presentation stick?

• How do people react to your voice, posture, and gestures?

• How do people respond to the flow of your message?

• How do you motivate people to take action?

These are just a few of the questions that the book answers in its deep-dive exploration of what you need to know about people to create a compelling presentation.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“if you want to make powerful presentations, you need to know how the brain works and how people think. This beautiful book by Susan Weinschenk will go a long way toward ridding the world of dull and boring presentations!” --Garr Reynolds, Professor and best-selling author of Presentation Zen and The Naked Presenter

About the Author

Susan Weinschenk has a Ph.D. in Psychology, and over 30 years of experience as a behavioral scientist, applying psychology to the design of communication and online interactions. She is a consultant to Fortune 1000 companies, start-ups, educational institutions, non-profits, and US government agencies. Susan is the founder of the Weinschenk Institute, LLC. She is a speaker and teacher, and has written several books, including How To Get People To Do Stuff, 100 Things Every Presenter Needs To Know About People, 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People, and Neuro Web Design: What makes them click? Susan writes two popular blogs: the Brain Wise blog at Psychology Today, and her own blog at her website: theteamw.com/blog.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: New Riders; 1 edition (May 14, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321821246
• ISBN-13: 978-0321821249
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 0.4 x 8.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #77,246 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #70 in Books > Education & Reference > Words, Language & Grammar > Public Speaking
  • #94 in Books > Business & Investing > Skills > Running Meetings & Presentations

More About the Author

Susan has a Ph.D.in Psychology and over 30 years of experience as a behavioral psychologist. She speaks, consults, teaches, and writes books about applying psychology to the workplace.

While working on her Ph.D., Dr. Weinschenk conducted research on the left and right half of the brain. She was a college psychology professor at State University of New York (Oswego) and then began consulting. Early in her career she focused on applying cognitive psychology (how people think, remember, perceive), to make technology more usable. Recently she's gone back to her neuropsychology roots, studying the newest brain science and research on unconscious mental processing -- decision-making, persuasion, and emotion.

Susan started college at Virgina Tech and finished her undergraduate degree in Psychology at Northeastern. She then earned a Masters and Ph.D. at Pennsylvania State University.

Susan founded and runs the Weinschenk Institute, LLC in Wisconsin (USA), where she lives with her husband. Her two children are grown and "launched". When not teaching, speaking, writing, or blogging, Susan performs in community theatre, sings jazz, reads books, and watches movies.

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#51 in Kindle eBooks > Business & Investing

#80 in Kindle eBooks > Health, Fitness & Dieting

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars 100 Things Every Presenter Needs to Know About People is GREAT! August 24, 2012

By V. Lewis

Format:Paperback

100 Things Every Presenter Needs to Know About People
100 Things Every Presenter Needs to Know About People
by Susan M. Weinschenk, Ph.D.

Book Review by Veda Lewis

Imagine that you are preparing to give the most important presentation of your life. For a week prior to the event you will be sequestered on a desert island then picked up by the cruise ship where you will make your presentation. You are informed about your audience and provided with information on the meeting room environment. However, you may only take one book with you to prepare. I recommend 100 Things Every Presenter Needs to Know About People by Susan M. Weinschenk, Ph.D. This book does an excellent job in delivering a concise, compendium of what you need to know.

As a presentation geek, I have read many of the leading authors, such as Nancy Duarte, Garr Reynolds, Bert Decker and many others. They are all strong in their own right. In comparison, Dr. Weinschenk's book gets right to the point on each of the 100 things without taking more than two or three pages to get there. It brings together a wide range of material in a small package.

The book is divided into ten sections, ranging from how people learn, getting and keeping people's attention, motivating action, listening and visual guides, environment concerns, emotion, reaction, decision-making, and crafting your prez and a 90-day improvement plan.

In each of the 100 mini-chapters, you learn how to use psychology to be a better presenter. In a pinch, you could take the handy takeaways included in each chapter as a cheat sheet reminder.

The book consolidates sometimes hard-to-find resources such as those for determining what font size to use, depending on screen size and the distance your viewers will be from the screen. You may learn research about things you thought you knew. Did you know that if your audience reads from left to right, the correct side of the screen to stand on is the left side, that is, your audience's left? You want to be the first thing your audience sees as they scan the room. Did you know that people use peripheral vision more than central vision to get the gist of your slide? It goes back to our ancestor's days on the savannah when it was critical to scan for predators.

As though the rich collection of psychological guidance weren't enough, the next to the last section of the book is a guide to actually crafting your presentation. It helps you analyze your audience, determine where they are, where you want them to be and how to get them there by outlining or storyboarding a meaningful structure.

Think that you wouldn't be interested in this book if you are not doing a lot of presentations? Many of these principles can be used in situations where you are sitting in a conference room with ten people, across the desk at a job interview or in a virtual meeting. Training developers will also find very helpful information about how adults learn and designing more effective training presentation materials.

Do yourself and your next audience a favor. Buy this book, read it, study it, build your own cheat sheets from it, then enjoy the improved results from your presentations, large or small.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth your time August 26, 2012

By Cathys

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I really enjoyed Susan approach to presentations. It was broken down in to bite size pieces and then put back together. I wish Susan would have used other examples vs her own website experience people need to be able to relate to a story so 2 -3 examples would have make this book a greater success in by book. Thank you Susan for your approach and knowledge.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical & sound advice in an easy-to-read & up-to-date book. June 9, 2012

By Marcel Oudejans

Format:Paperback

As a professional speaker & magician who has a keen interest in the subjects of attention, marketing & communication, I would highly recommend this book. The information & advice revealed is up-to-date& practical. I have no hesitation recommending it to my professional colleagues who I am certain would agree.