Customer Reviews

Win the Crowd: Unlock the Secrets of Influence, Charisma, and Showmanship

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I am a professional speaker and I speak more than 120 times per year. These events include crowds from 5 to 5000 and I haven't come across a book in a long time that I really thought brought something new to the table. This does not mean that there are no other books I find helpful, it's just that most newer books simple say the same ol' thing about giving speeches and presentations. Some of the other reviews here are accurate when they say that the book is mostly about working the crowd, but what they have failed to do is put in the mental and emotional effort to apply the concepts to what they do.

In the world of speaking, there are those who know how to organize and deliver a speech and then there are those who know how to woo the crowd and ingrain the concepts into their minds through emotional and fact-based implanting. Most speakers have no concept of "Positional Communications: Having a specific spot for delivering certain important messages so the audience expects it without conscious awareness" or "Theme-ing: Having a consistent theme that is used to program the audience and ingrain long-term recollection."

While these specific elements are not directly covered, this book provides the possibility of these deep insights. Understanding that it's important to have credibility and not just the facts. Knowing that your confidence determines, in large part, their receptiveness. Grasping that the words you use will impact whether the group remembers, regards, or relies on you and your information for their use and success.

The point is that this book is not for the beginning presenter or speaker - he or she should get the basics of an organized speech down first (great opening; useful transitions; excellent ending; a body that is applicable, practical, and useful) then move onto more advanced concepts. This is a book you must read with the following question continually in mind: How does this apply to what I do? If you answer this question, the book will be beneficial to anyone who has to give a presentation and also for sales people, marketers, managers and leaders.

If you haven't read this book, you don't know everything you need to know about relating to groups and individuals.

Magicians have an interesting job. Unlike a talent for singing or telling jokes, their performance has to depend on the setting of an expectation in the part of the audience and then performing something that you would normally think impossible. When you strip away the sleight of hand tricks, magicians are essentially masters of attracting and holding attention and impressing audiences, exactly the psychological secrets you need to be successful in life and business.

In this book Mr. Cohen talks about, not the magic tricks themself, but the staging of a magic show. How do you keep the audiences attention where you want it? How do you prepare them for something unexpected so that they will remember your point later? How do you make them listen to you carefully so that they won't miss a word, and thus remember it better? How do you sense what people are thinking, and perhaps more important, feeling while you are presenting so you can make them feel like they are getting your points?

Remember, he's talking about showmanship, not magical tricks. For those you need a different book. For some interesting tips on how to hold attention while making a presentation, this is the book.

Win the Crowd is a good primer for people who want to understand some of the skills necessary to be effective presenting yourself with confidence and being persuasive in front of groups of people. The book categorizes what is needed to be effective with crowds (there are one-on-one discussions as well) and suggests some tricks to help strengthen the skills which may need to be improved.

Steve Cohen obviously has worked for many years perfecting his stage presence (he is a successful magician), and how he presents himself to smaller groups at private functions. His opinions on how to improve presentation skills in front of people come from his successful trial and errors. The most helpful portion of the book is when he gives practical advice on how to be more engaging, confident and improve ones appearance when on stage giving a speech.

However, the book has a lot of filler that contains generalizations merely touching on other important aspects that reader may want to study further. These sections also tend to mutate into references of magic that are interesting but not necessarily informative. His sections on building a better personality, charisma and reading people just scratch the surface of what can be done, and offers no enhancements from what someone could find in a psychology text book. His build-up to the chapter "Misdirection" led to a major let down. Although I did try the magic trick he teaches to my children and failed miserably. Practice, practice, practice is a major theme. Obviously after the magic trick failure I need to be reminded of that more.

Win the Crowd has good stuff and does identify the secrets needed to be effective with crowds (both large and small). It's only fault is that it does not dig deeper into some areas. However, once these areas are identified, more research from other books can be found if the reader wants additional advice.

Not everyone wants to be a practicing magician, but everyone needs to bring a little magic into their lives. None of us makes a pretension to be as captivating as a professional magician or Las Vegas showman, but we are all captivated by these people and wish that we could harvest some of their charismatic power for our personal and business lives.

Wouldn't you like to learn how a magician can focus his eyes on you, so that you become mesmerized by his gaze and feel that you must follow each one of his moves? Wouldn't you like to learn how a Las Vegas showman gives "presence" to his human frame - sometimes despite his actual size - and "fills" the room with his personality? Have you ever wondered how a magician gets you to focus on one part of his body, while another part of his body is actually putting the trick together?

What Steve Cohen conveys to you is that these are simple techniques, but they require almost daily practice. Steve talks about "eye contact" drills you can perform while you're walking through the mall, "posture" drills you can practice before your next big presentation, and "misdirection" techniques that, somewhat contradictorily, actually help focus your audience's attention on you.

You can read books about public speaking, which all repeat the same mantras about "eye contact," "breathing," and "body language," or you can take Steve's unorthodox approach to give your speeches a little "magic."

Steve's book is extremely well-written, and very entertaining. A little bit of talk about "magic," but nothing that would make a non-practitioner's eyes glaze over.

You don't have to be a magician to love WIN THE CROWD
by Steve Cohen because
it applies to virtually any profession and/or thing that
may do in life.

Cohen, aka The Millionaires' Magician, entertains celebrities,
tycoons and aristocrats at private events the world over . . . he
also performs his public show, CHAMBER MAGIC, at New
York's famous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel . . .and as a result
of reading his book, I'm going to try to make a performance
in the near future.

I want to see how commanding, convincing and charismatic
he is--all traits he shows you how to develop in CHAMBER
MAGIC . . . now if this sounds like a bit much to promise,
consider the following game that the author plays:

As quickly as you can, answer the following questions:
1. How many fingers does one man have on his hands?
2. How many fingers on ten hands?

If you're like most people, you answered "ten" and "one hundred."
The first answer is correct. The second answer is wrong. Go back
and read it again. (If you still can't figure it out, I'll help; it is
"fifty.")

This shows what misdirection is all about. It moves you down
a particular path and puts you in a certain state of mind. You'll
learn this technique and many, many others as well.

You won't become an accomplished magician; in fact, there's
only one trick that he actually shows you how to do. However,
you'll gain many other valuable tidbits that you can use in
countless situations . . . among them:

* When I read the previous sentence to a friend of mine, a successful
businesswoman, she said, "That is so true!" She lives by the following
aphorism: "Don't ask first; just apologize later." Instead of running a
new idea by her boss, she just goes ahead and tried it out. According
to her, too many "managers" are entrenched in their ways of doing things
and are likely to say no to something new. She just plows ahead and
does it on her own.

* If you're supershy, start in a nonthreatening, location such as an elevator.
The next time you are on the elevator with a stranger, break the silence
and compliment her. That's right. Find something noteworthy about that
person and say, "That's a nice (sweater/hat/watch) you're wearing. I
like it." This simple act forces the person to react. You've taken a risk,
and you've taken control of the situation. You've done something bold.
Bravo! If the stranger ignores you, or thinks you're a creep, don't worry.
You'll both be getting off the elevator soon enough. The pain of rejection
will come and go so quickly that you'll never even notice it. If you're not
in the habit of speaking to strangers, you'll be pleasantly surprised
at how easily people will chat with you. If you're shy, challenge yourself
to compliment five people daily. This is your first step toward conquering
shyness.

* When I was a student at Tannen's Magic Camp, professional magician
Tom Ogden explained how he handles incoming phone calls. When
someone calls for a potential booking, he taught us:

1. Say, "One moment, let me check my date book."
2. Put down the phone.
3. Go make a sandwich.
4. Come back.
5. Pick up the phone and say, "Yes, I'm available that day."

If you jump quickly at someone's offer to buy from you, you appear
desperate. Never appear too eager to make a sale. Ogden was clearly
joking about the sandwich, but it served as a lesson, reminding us to
hesitate before saying yes.

First off let me say I'm a performing semi-pro musician and writer of "How-to" gigging information for the music press.

A few months ago a change in personnel in my band meant that we were without our regular front man, our extrovert who handled the majority of the audience interaction. I was looking for a guide that would help me and the rest of the band be able to deal with those sometimes awkward moments in between numbers. Something that would enable us to feel more relaxed ourselves and encourage the audience to have a good time.

Although this book is written by a performing Magician, Steve Cohen's book promised me I could "unlock the secrets of influence, charisma and showmanship". Perfect for any performer but a tall order to deliver in my case.

Cohen gives simple to follow guidelines which really help you to feel in control and less at the mercy of circumstances on the night. His whole approach is based around faking it 'till you make it. Basically, audiences want their performers to appear confident and in control. If you don't feel it at least pretend you do. This will relax both the audience and you.

Some of his gems include:

1. Practise the words and phrases you'll use on the night - beforehand, alone and in the dark.
2. It takes three attempts at "banter" with an audience before they succumb to you. It takes a little while to establish credibility, you can't do this in one phrase. So, don't worry if at first they don't respond to you.
2. Audiences don't want their performers to be too slick. Some top performers fail at certain things to show their fallibility. The audience generally wants you to succeed if they see a small failure. This was a great help in terms of taking pressure of to be word perfect when speaking to the audience.
3. If you're not offending some members of the audience you're too middle of the road (I liked that one!)
4. Don't take yourself too seriously
5. Establish eye contact with audience members to show you're in command

Other tips which helped me greatly were to raise my voice so that it sounded too loud to me. That way it would be about right to an audience. And, to slow my words down so they sounded unnaturally slow to my ear. Again that would be about right to the public.

A final killer tactic to get an audience going and which I can guarantee which works like a dream is this. Early on look for the most receptive members in an audience, anyone mouthing the words to a song, or dancing along etc. Play to them, in terms of your in between chat and you'll receive the best responses. As Cohen says, "it only takes a few to get the rest of an audience going". Using his advice, I would look for a couple of different groups or a handful of people scattered about every audience. These would also be the people I'd get up on stage later in the night or that I'd wonder off wireless to "serenade" if the mood took me.

All in all a great guide for helping you feel more comfortable in front of an audience and full of practical tips so everyone enjoys themselves more on gig night(including you).

This is overall a very concise and to-the-point, no hassle type of book that teaches you little bits and pieces of developing yourself as a charismatic person as well as presenting yourself in front of others.
It does not giantly overwhelm you with too much information and have some very unique ideas that are easy and fun to read. Most of them are little tricks here and there, for example, how to present better in front of others, how read other's feelings by looking at their facial expressions, and how to develop your character, by flaunting your unique personality.
I would say this book is like little book of tricks that touches upon various aspects lightly; for influence, charisma, and showmanship.

If you are looking for a book to develop yourself as a more memorable character, without a 3000 page textbook read, check this one out.

First of all, I must confess that I was a little prejudiced against the author and his book before reading it. I simply regarded it as a gimmick of a not so successful magician who wrote just to promote himself. I had been terribly wrong. Riding on his five maxims of magic, (1. be bold 2. expect success 3. dont state - suggest 4. practice, practice, practice 5. be prepared), with plentiful of interesting anecdotes, the author did teach much on how to improve one's skills on communication, presentation and persuasion, the important qualities of a successful magician who did private performance for Mr. Bloomberg, the Japanese Emperor and so on. He even covered on breathing and acupressure exercises, reading eye movements, which I really found them helpful. The use of words in Chapter 10 is profound. Perhaps the only drawback is that he had taught very little on how to do magical tricks. Anyway, a very useful book for all. Highly recommended!

I devoured this book. It's well-written with lots of interesting anecdotes. I can't wait to get out there and start working my own magic!

I enjoyed this book thoroughly and highly recommend it. Steve's combination of real-world experiences with a common sense approach make this book a valuable tool for anyone in the business world. His anecdotes and examples are sure to bring a smile to everyone. The book is pure magic and a "must have". You won't be disappointed.