|
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Less Than It Appears, May 20, 2002
If you do long seminars especially all day, this is the best book for such a developing professional speaker that I have read. If you are looking to build a strong 10 to 30 minutes inspiring and/or motivational speech this is definitely not the book for you. If that is what you are looking for then you want Success Secrets of the Motivational Superstars : America's Greatest Speakers Reveal Their Secrets by Michael Jeffreys. Furthermore, Jeffreys is the best overall book on becoming a great speaker. If you are serious about speaking performance you must read this book. If you want to see what an exceptionally well research book looks like read Jeffreys. It is getting harder to find so don't delay. Indirectly Jeffreys shows you how to research by example. Professional speaking is about being a first class expert. Only then develop an entertaining and humorous format and delivery. Or you could shoot for the lower rung of just being funny. Unfortunately, just being an expert does not put you on the ladder.With the name Zig Ziglar-- his business associate-- all over this book my hopes were to high. The title (Inspire Any Audience) is overdone. Inspire is a misrepresentation. Keep them interested would be more accurate. Page 121 he advises avoiding words like certainly, positively and others. If the word any is not a violation then it will require a Clinton like explanation for the word "is" or in this case "any" from Jeary. In chapter 8 "Keeping Their Attention" he introduces the concept of business entertainment-a phrase he has trademarked. In the title he uses the words proven secrets. The big secret is that his explanation of business entertainment is shockingly shallow. The worthy gist of is to do bold things to keep the audience engaged. Sorry, Jeary the command to play music, play games and other categories does not cut it. Explain yourself. I get the drift of it enough to say that is the book that Jeary or someone should write. That book would be fresh and exciting. In fact if that book exists I am going to find it. On page 96 there is a page on gestures. In nearly every speaking book the author is so afraid of mechanical outcomes that they say trite stuff about be natural or be yourself. Give Jeary credit for making an attempt at giving some specific advise about gestures. The book turns me off on paying big bucks for his in person seminar on presentations at this point. There are lots of little tidbits and minor insights through out the book. Just--- not a block buster book. It is well above average. Of the 40 plus books on speaking that I have read and reviewed on Amazon this book is at the lower end of the top ten books to read for public speaking improvement. Clearly, a worthy book. Inspire Any Audience is worth the money and then some but it is not an inspired book that the author was burning to write. It is a darn good survey of techniques to give your customers an interesting day long seminar.
|
by Tony Jeary
by Tony Jeary
by Milo O. Frank
