Why you need a public speaking book
While on tour in SF this week I ran into some folks who read my earlier books. They were surprised I’d write a book about a topic as boring as public speaking.
5 Responses to “Why you need a public speaking book”
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[…] to convince someone why you want to buy a book (even if the person you are convincing is yourself). Why you want to be a better public speaker […]
If I hadn’t just ordered it, this post would have been the capper.
And of these many excellent reasons, #2 stands out from the pack. I hadn’t even *thought* of this (shame on me!) but after my first Ignite experience, it’s so obvious as to be embarrassing. Never have I worked so hard to make something clear and engaging, and why? Because, as you get at in #3, the specter of drowning in flopsweat and pity is pretty damned compelling.
By the way, your Ignite presentation on Ignite presentations was invaluable. Not to mention ultra-meta!
Twice I’ve taken a class on the writing equivalent of public speaking. One class was called rhetoric, one was called stylistics. In each case we spent, I might say, one third of the class on the joys of precise grammar, (seriously) one third studying a good prose example, often from a magazine, and one third discussing the issues around the example. This last third is key to what Scott is saying: by publicly talking we got better at thinking… it also, I guess, encouraged us to feel supported that issues matter and are worth thinking about.
Meanwhile, there were other students who still hadn’t got past discussing the college dinning hall food. As adults, I suppose, this sort probably won’t read newspapers, let alone magazines, being content to get their “news” from the infotainment channels. (Yes, Scott, I too have enjoyed reading Neil Postman.)
To me the world is not boring, so how could I bored by someone public speaking about it?
Today I get energized by hearing interesting people at my weekly toastmaster club, ( Even a beginner never feels inspired to be dull! ) and by writing non-academic essays, as a fun hobby, mostly around citizenship, on my blog.
Ideas do not sell themselves. There are so many good ideas that went to the grave with their thinker, while many really dumb ideas got up simply pecause the thinker could sell the idea.
You have to be able to speak to survive in this world.
Cheers
Darren Fleming
Australia’s Corporate Speech Coach
I am a public speaker and appreciate reading what others in the same profession are saying. I’ve grabbed your feed to stay up to date with posts. Thanks a million and please keep the info flowing.