On my recent vacation, I took a copy of Boring to Bravo. It’s a perfect summer read. Not only is it organized into easily digestible chunks (read a section or two while sipping lemonade on the deck), it is also packed with techniques which will energize your presentations.

This article is the latest of a series of public speaking book reviews here on Six Minutes.

• What’s Inside?
• The Price
• What I Loved
• How could it be better?
• What Others Think
• Verdict

What’s Inside?

Boring to Bravo is the latest book from Kristin Arnold, current President of the National Speakers Association. Among the dozens of techniques in the book, you’ll find advice such as:

• Why you should move with purpose
• The value of choosing vivid words
• How to make the room more engaging
• Effectively breaking your audience into groups
• Facilitating a discussion

Every speaker is guaranteed to find new techniques here. I certainly did.

Don’t Believe Me? See For Yourself!

You can browse through the opening pages of Boring to Bravo with these PDF downloads:

• Table of Contents (pdf)
• Introduction (pdf)
• Chapter One (pdf)

The Price

At the time of writing this review, you can get this book for only $14.93 from amazon.com. This is 32% off the list price.

3 Things I Love about Boring to Bravo

The three things I liked most about Boring to Bravo are:

1. Breadth of Techniques Covered

This book casts a wide net, covering topics such as delivery techniques, visual aids, storytelling, asking engaging questions, facilitating discussion, and critiquing yourself. Gaining mastery over every technique described will help you become a very well-rounded presenter.

2. Emphasis on Techniques Beyond “Just Speaking”

This book stands out on my speaking bookshelf in large part to the tips and techniques that go beyond “just speaking.”

When delivering five, ten, or even 15 minute speeches, you can probably speak from start to finish and keep the audience engaged and entertained. But if you find yourself delivering lunch-hour seminars, or 3 to 4-hour courses, you quickly discover that your audience’s attention is not so easily sustained. It’s necessary to change the pace and introduce short (relevant!) activities.

Ideas for these short activities is where Boring to Bravo excels. For example, there’s an entire chapter on organizing effective group breakout sessions.

3. Risk Ratings

Within every chapter, each section is accompanied by a “risk rating,” which aims to distinguish between low-risk activities (score 1) and high-risk activities (score 5).

For example:

• “Choose Vivid Words” has a risk rating of 1 (low-risk)
• “Borrowed Stories” has a risk rating of 2
• “Dress the Part” (in costume) has a risk rating of 3
• “Interview a Participant” has a risk rating of 4

I could quibble about a few of the individual ratings, but the concept is useful. You may wish to master low-risk activities first, and carefully experiment with higher risk activities as your skills and confidence grows.

How could it be better?

1. More Aggressive Editing

I think the book would benefit from one last critical edit.

• On several occasions, it seemed like the same tip was being duplicated in different words, just a page or two apart. I don’t think the repetition was intentional, but…?
• There are numerous “guest tips” offered (from highlighted professional speakers) in sidebars throughout the book. These sidebars are valuable as they offer new perspectives. However, the sidebars usually weren’t introduced or placed in context by the main body text. Also, the tips were occasionally duplicates of ones offered in nearby body text.

2. Crosslink the Glossary/Index

There is a healthy 12-page glossary at the end of the book, which offers short descriptions of many of the terms discussed in the book (e.g. Audience Response System). However, there’s a wasted opportunity here to link those glossary definitions back to the location(s) in the book where that concept is discussed. For example, the book would be more useful as reference material if the Audience Response System entry told you that it is discussed on page 89 (the “Using Technology” section of the “Ask Engaging Questions” chapter).

Update: According to the author’s comment below, the glossary is cross-linked as an index in the publicly released version of the book. My review is based upon an advance copy.

3. More Practical Examples

I’d like to see practical examples added more consistently to accompany the tips. There are numerous examples throughout, but they are occasionally missing.

For example, in Chapter 9 (Use Descriptive Words), the author encourages cadence variation (page 130) and parallel construction (page 131), but doesn’t accompany either tip with a short speech example. [Note: It does point to "the many bulleted lists in this book for examples of parallel construction", but many of the bulleted lists in the book are not, in fact, parallel construction.]

What Others Think

Ian Griffin, Professional Speaking blog:

This is not a basic presentation skills book. Arnold encourages readers to step outside the role of the speaker as an authority figure who controls the audience from the front of the room, to someone who passionately participates in an event that is enjoyed by the audience as a collaborative experience.

Stephen Forte:

I have been a public speaker for 15 years, a professional one for over 13, and found this book very useful. I learned several things while reading it, including many things I am doing wrong! [...]

[...] If you want to be a more engaging, dynamic speaker, read this book!

Verdict

Boring to Bravo will help you become a more complete speaker and will improve your ability to handle a diverse set of speaking situations. I recommend you get yourself a copy today.

Similar Articles You May Like... Book Review: Confessions of a Public Speaker (Scott Berkun) What Does Your Personal Brand Say About You as a Speaker? Book Review: The Wealthy Speaker by Jane Atkinson How to Thrive When Speaking Outside Gifts for Every Speaker… from Zero to Eighty Dollars Six Thinking Hats and the Public Speaker

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

Being a great speaker requires more than simply adopting the “more visuals, less bullet points” approach. You need to have effective visuals. The Back of the Napkin helps you figure out how by boosting your visual thinking skills.

This article is the latest of a series of public speaking book reviews here on Six Minutes.

• What’s Inside?
• The Price
• What I Loved
• How could it be better?
• What Others Think
• Verdict

What’s Inside?

Dan Roam’s bestseller stands out. The title is catchy, and the cover makes you want to grab it, thanks to the embossed “napkin” effect. But does it deliver on the hype?

Yes, it does. There are many original ideas here, and all will help you hone your visual communication skills. Roam makes a convincing case that you don’t need better artistic skills or better computer graphics. Instead, you need better visual thinking skills.

The Price

At the time of writing this review, you can get this hardcover book for only $15.92 from amazon.com. This is 45% off the list price. [Note that this price is for the expanded edition, while the copy in my hands is the original version.] When I started typing this review a few days ago, the discount was only 34%… act soon!

If you like workbooks, you may like the companion offering from the same author — Unfolding the Napkin: The Hands-On Method for Solving Complex Problems with Simple Pictures – which is currently just $13.60. You can get another discount if you buy both for $28.72.

3 Things I Love about The Back of the Napkin

The three things I liked most about The Back of the Napkin are the key insights that had my lightbulbs fireworks lighting up. These three insights (along with Roam’s explanations) are worth the price of the book alone:

1. Who/What? How Many? Where? When? How? Why?

Roam suggests that for any given problem, these six common questions provide the fundamental coordinate system in which all visuals can be framed:

• Who/What → Portrait
• How Many → Chart
• Where → Map
• When → Timeline
• How → Flowchart
• Why → Multivariable Plot

You like freebies? Me too! Download a free 1-page PDF from Dan Roam to show these six dimensions

2. The SQVID approach: questions to ask when designing any visual

Roam argues (quite correctly) that even when you know generally what you’d like to draw, there are numerous ways to draw it depending on what point you are trying to convey.

He illustrates this with a story about an apple. Suppose you wanted to communicate the idea of an apple to someone who didn’t know what apples are. Would you draw a picture of a single apple (simple) or an entire orchard (elaborate)? Would you draw an apple pie (vision) or the recipe and steps to prepare one (execution)?

He continues through other questions, eventually labeling it the SQVID approach which encourages you to consider the following qualities when communicating with a visual:

• Simple vs. Elaborate
• Quality vs. Quantity
• Vision vs. Execution
• Individual Attributes vs. Comparison
• Delta (change) vs. Status Quo

Another freebie: Download a free 1-page PDF from Dan Roam to show the SQVID approach

3. Does a visual need to be self-explanatory to be effective?

Roam confronts this question near the end of the book and gives a forceful response which I agree with. He writes:

“All good pictures do not need to be self-explanatory, but they do need to be explainable. It’s a rare problem-solving picture of any sort that can carry a clear message, convey powerful meaning, and inspire deep insight without at least a caption. … the point isn’t to replace all the words; the point is to use the picture to replace those words that are more effectively conveyed, understood, and remembered visually.”

How could it be better?

1. More drawing tips

I had hoped that The Back of the Napkin would cover more rudimentary drawing tips. For example, what are easy ways to show motion in quick sketches? How can color be used effectively at the flip chart, or should you stick with a single color? How do you show emotion in stick figures?

To be fair, I don’t have a copy of the companion workbook, so perhaps Roam goes deeper into practical tips in that resource.

2. More about how to present with the visuals

Although Roam correctly asserts that it is fine if your visuals need some explanation, but he doesn’t explore this explanation process deep enough. He hints at this process in the book’s final example (where he advocates drawing your picture in real-time in front of your audience), but I think there is conceptual room for much more.

For example, many speakers would benefit from exploring these questions:

• My final visual is going to be elaborate. Where do I start?
• How should I chunk the drawing, revealing a bit at a time?
• What advice do you have for narrating the story as you draw?
• How should you refer back to a previously drawn visual later in the presentation? (Or should you?)

What Others Think

Brent Dykes, PowerPoint Ninja:

Even if you don’t struggle with visual thinking, I recommend The Back of the Napkin (four of five stars) as it provides a valuable set of processes and frameworks that can even benefit experienced visual thinkers, who probably operate more by intuition than methodology.

Beverly Feldt, Perdido Magazine:

Charts, testimonials, vision, detail–all of these poured out of my pencil. I still couldn’t draw, but I could see that I didn’t need to. This wasn’t about art; it was about thinking–visual thinking. I was hooked.

Patrick Sanwikarja, Johnny Holland Magazine:

This book will give you a number of very hands-on tools to improve your visual thinking skills (not your drawing skills) and be more critical of the pictures you already made. …

I think The Back of the Napkin is not so much a must read for designers, but for everyone else – especially people who deal with problem solving on a daily basis.

Connie Malamed, The eLearning Coach:

Although this book is oriented toward the solving and selling of ideas in business, most of the techniques and concepts can be easily transferred to the general notion of solving problems through visual thinking.

Verdict

If you are afraid to sketch your own visuals at the whiteboard because you think you can’t draw, this book will convince you that your drawing skills are more than adequate.

If you aren’t afraid, but you have no idea how to sketch an effective visual, this book will provide a framework for you to build your skills.

The Back of the Napkin is a quick read, and a useful reference book. It will help you become a better presenter by converting your pointless bullet points and vague visuals into meaningful visuals.

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Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

It is grounded in the wisdom of the past (beginning with Aristotle’s ethos, pathos, and logos) and yet written for modern speakers with countless references to everyday persuasive examples.

This article is the latest of a series of public speaking book reviews here on Six Minutes.

• What’s Inside?
• The Price
• What I Loved
• How could it be better?
• What Others Think
• Verdict

What’s Inside?

You might think that a book which discusses ancient public speaking theories would be dull and boring. I did.

But I bought it anyway, and I’m glad I did. I was wrong. The author, Jay Heinrichs, has accomplished a rare feat. He has written a highly educational book which is also lively and entertaining.

Thank You For Arguing covers the core rhetorical teachings of Aristotle and Cicero, but Heinrichs does it entirely using modern examples, drawing on political, marketing, workplace, and cultural references, as well as his own family arguments. One paragraph discusses Socrates; the next discusses Sherlock Holmes. The balance between formal lessons and practical examples makes the book highly valuable and applicable to everyday speaking.

Among other things, you will learn:

• A deep understanding of ethos, pathos, and logos
• Many figures of speech
• How to recognize strong and weak logical arguments
• How to recognize (and use, or defend against) persuasive techniques
• How to construct a persuasive speech

The Price

At the time of writing this review, you can get this paperback book for only $10.08 from amazon.com. This is 28% off the list price.

As you can see from the Amazon screenshot below, the book is both popular and well-liked.

3 Things I Love about Thank You For Arguing

The three things I liked most about Thank You For Arguing are:

1. Figures of Speech Abound

I bought this book to gain a deeper understanding of figures of speech, and I am completely satisfied. The book delves into dozens of figures of speech, like accismus, anadiplosis, and anaphora just to name a few of the A’s. Heinrichs provides not only definitions and examples, but also the origins of the techniques. He discusses them in context with related figures and rhetorical concepts. As a result, you learn not only how to recognize the figures, but also when and where it would be to your advantage to use them.

2. The Honest “Persuasion Alerts”

The pages are littered with sidebar “persuasion alerts” which the author introduces by saying “it’s only fair to show my rhetorical cards — to tell you when I use devices to persuade you.”

These sidebars make it clear that this book is not only written about persuasive techniques, but also written with persuasive techniques. For example, antithesis is discussed on page 217 in depth, but the sidebar on page 5 points out that the author just used that technique in the introductory chapter. I admire the transparency of his approach.

Like all the best teachers, Heinrichs teaches best by demonstrating his own lessons.

3. Valuable Reference Materials

The Appendices are worth the price of this book alone. These include, as expected, a summary of figures of speech, and also a valuable guide to speechwriting techniques that I will utilize as I write and re-write my future speeches.

How could it be better?

1. Sidebar Layout could be Improved

Although I loved the sidebar persuasion alerts (and many other sidebar notes), I would have preferred if they were placed in distinct margins without text wrapping around them. (See the page excerpt at right.)

Because they are so instructive, I think they deserve a little more whitespace. The “extra” whitespace created would also provide more room for readers to scribble notes of inspiration.

2. Chapter 22

I agreed with most of the other twenty-four chapters, but Chapter 22 (talking about the presentation medium) caused me to utter a few “I don’t think so”s. If I were asked to edit the book, this is the only chapter I’d focus on.

I must concede that Heinrichs more than makes up for it with Chapters 23 and 24 where he applies all of the lessons in the book to common, everyday situations that we all might face: speaking up at a local town hall meeting, acing the job interview, persuading others in a social club, or seeking investment for a business idea.

3. Cultural Bias

The flip side of all of the practical examples drawn from popular (American) culture is that it has introduced a cultural bias. Most Six Minutes readers are probably okay (I, too, write with a western culture bias), but it’s something you should be aware of if you are considering this book.

What Others Think

Gordon Alley-Young, American Communication Journal:

… the short, succinct chapters make the book an easy reference that can be picked up and set down to be read at short intervals. This makes the book well suited to readers with busy schedules or for those who commute via mass transit a lesson can be gleamed on a short trip to campus.

Jay Heinrichs’ blends a popular cultural savy with an equal opportunity approach to critiquing any political and/or cultural figure.

Peter Kimpton, The Observer:

This entertaining volume is a romp through the rules of rhetoric, a primer in the art of argument. [...]

We’re offered ways to seduce, avoid conflict, manipulate the present tense to succeed at work, write speeches and even use eristic techniques to stop a US cop from issuing us with speeding fines.

Tom Boncza-Tomaszewski, The Independent:

If you’re the kind of person who wants to win people over, this book will help you succeed.

Verdict

Every speech and presentation is an opportunity for persuasion, even those business and scientific talks which speakers casually treat as “just informational talks.” No matter what type of speeches you deliver, your speechwriting skills will improve by reading this book, and your well-constructed arguments will be more persuasive. I learned a great deal, and you will too.

I highly recommend Thank You For Arguing for all speakers.

Similar Articles You May Like... Presentation Power: Four Ways to Persuade Ethos, Pathos, Logos: 3 Pillars of Public Speaking Speech Critique: Dan Pink (TED 2009) How to Dress for Public Speaking Gifts for Every Speaker… from Zero to Eighty Dollars Speeches that Changed the World

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

This article is the latest of a series of public speaking book reviews here on Six Minutes.

• What’s Inside?
• The Price
• What I Loved
• How could it be better?
• What Others Think
• Verdict

What’s Inside?

The core concept of Made to Stick is that your ideas are more likely to be memorable if you communicate them with six principles in mind:

1. Simple
2. Unexpected
3. Concrete
4. Credible
5. Emotional
6. Stories

The authors explore each of these principles in depth, both:

• Illuminating why it is important for memorable messages, and
• Demonstrating how to apply it through a stream of case studies taken from advertising, corporate strategies, movies, inspirational stories, and urban legends.

They also introduce the concept of “The Curse of Knowledge” — knowing something too well so that this knowledge inhibits our ability to communicate the essence of it to our audience. They portray this curse of knowledge as a villain, and address how to overcome this self-defeating phenomenon.

The Price

At the time of writing this review, you can get this hardcover book (291 pages) for only $13.88 from amazon.com. This is 47% off the list price.

Reviews are overwhelmingly positive:

4 Things I Love about Made to Stick

The four things I liked most about Made to Stick are:

1. 100% Relevant to Your Speeches and Presentations

It’s not marketed as a book for speakers, but everything here applies to every presentation you’ll do.

I’m already thinking about how I could have improved past presentations, and how I can make future presentations better.

However, the best part is that the book is also 100% relevant to all other communication that you do, whether it be reports, emails, conversations, meetings, etc.

2. Well-written and organized

The book has just 6 chapters (one per principle), plus a prologue and epilogue. The roadmap is clear and easily understood.

This is not a dense book with nothing but theories. Dozens of concrete examples (or hundreds?) bring emotional stories to life and show how to put the ideas into action. Further, there is wide-ranging variety in the types of anecdotes used, before-and-after studies, and other methods.

3. No Jargon

You don’t need a psychology degree or marketing background to understand any of the concepts. Everything is written clearly and in terms that anyone can understand. There’s really only one term used which may be new to some readers — schema — but it is essential to the book’s message, and they explain it well. (Or, perhaps since I already knew the term, I am suffering from the Curse of Knowledge?)

4. Extras

In addition to the voluminous citations and index, the appendix also includes a very handy 5-page “easy reference guide” which summarizes the entire book in the type of shorthand a speaker might use for cue cards when delivering a keynote. Just the essential details. This is a very useful reference that I’ll refer to often.

For example, consider the follow passage which summarizes part of chapter one. Each of the numbers (which I added) corresponds to a story or set of stories used to illustrate their ideas. As I type them in, I recall each story and its lesson.

1. Simple

Find the Core

[1] Commander’s Intent. [2] Determine the single most important thing: “THE low-fare airline.” [3] Inverted pyramid: Don’t bury the lead. [4] The pain of decision paralysis. [5] Beat decision paralysis through relentless prioritization: “It’s the economy, stupid.” Clinic: [6] Sun exposure. [7] Names, names, names.

How could it be better?

1. Ditch the SUCCESs Acronym

Mnemonics devices are powerful; I’ve used them myself often. However, I cringe when I see any process or framework which is framed as an acronym. In forcing the six principles into the S.U.C.C.E.S.s acronym, I think the authors left more accurate terms out. For example:

• Although emotion is a key ingredient of communication, chapter five is really more about relevance than emotion.
• Chapter two might have been better framed as surprising (or curious) instead of unexpected.
• The authors admit that core might have been a better term than simple for chapter one.
• Stories aren’t really on par with the other five concepts, but rather a way to deliver all five in a convenient package. (The authors point this out near the end of chapter six.) However, they are presented as a parallel concept to the other five.

2. More Before-and-After Examples

The book already has many before-and-after examples where the authors examine the before (non-sticky) message and compare it to the after (stickier) message.

But, I’m greedy. I’d like even more examples built around this template. I find it much easier to see how to get to the sticky message when we have the non-sticky message for context.

What Others Think

Barry Schwartz, Washington Post:

I find the Heaths’ analysis convincing and their recommendations quite helpful. I think I will be a better teacher if I keep SUCCES in mind when preparing materials for my classes.

Jessie Scanlon, BusinessWeek:

The clear writing and myriad examples make the book highly readable, and overall, it scores well on the SUCCESs checklist: It’s simple, includes unexpected ideas, offers concrete examples, draws on credible sources, covers a subject readers have an inherent interest in, and tells some good stories along the way.

Guy Kawasaki:

My prediction for Made to Stick is that it will join The Tipping Point and Built to Last as a must-read for business people. [...] A warning though: If you read this book, you’ll revamp a lot of your marketing material (as you probably should).

Brent Dykes, PowerPoint Ninja:

I strongly recommend this book as it will ensure the foundation of your PowerPoint presentations — your central message or idea — is solid. Not even PowerPoint ninjutsu can save a weak idea or message.

Verdict

I finished reading this book only two days ago, and I’ve already encouraged several people I know to read it. Now I’m encouraging you.

Your ability to communicate your message in a clear, impactful, and memorable way determines your success as a speaker. Made to Stick is the best book I have read which focuses on this key skill.

Highly recommended for every speaker.

Similar Articles You May Like... Ethos, Pathos, Logos: 3 Pillars of Public Speaking Book Review: Advanced Presentations by Design by Andrew Abela Book Review: The Story Factor (Annette Simmons) 3 Common Ways Speakers Sabotage Themselves Gifts for Every Speaker… from Zero to Eighty Dollars Speeches that Changed the World

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

This article is the latest of a series of public speaking book reviews here on Six Minutes.

• What’s Inside?
• The Price
• What I Loved
• How could it be better?
• What Others Think
• Verdict

What’s Inside?

Based on the provocative title, you might think this book is heavy on memoirs and light on educational content. You would only be half right.

Confessions of a Public Speaker is packed with personal stories from the author and also packed with tips and advice for speakers from all backgrounds. A more appropriate title would probably have been “Insights of a Public Speaker” or “Lessons Learned by a Public Speaker”; of course, neither of those titles would like sell as many copies as this best-selling book is.

The video below shows the author talking about what the book is about…

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Price

At the time of writing this review, you can get this hardcover book for only $16.49 from amazon.com. This is 34% off the list price.

At this price, it isn’t surprising that this book is the 7th most popular public speaking book on amazon.com since being released last November. Readers love it — everyone’s giving it 5 stars.

3 Things I Love about Confessions of a Public Speaker

The three things I liked most about Confessions of a Public Speaker are:

1. Packed with Great Insights

Confessions of a Public Speaker touches on a broad set of issues — fear of speaking, preparation, organization of ideas, delivery techniques, teaching approach, dealing with a difficult crowd, preventing mishaps, speaking technology, and many others. Every speaker will find new advice and insights here.

As just one example, the second chapter (just 11 pages) is perhaps the most concise, sensible advice on public speaking fear I’ve read.

2. Wonderfully written!

Most public speaking books are written by speaking experts who, if I were to guess, are not authors by nature.

Confessions of a Public Speaker is different.  Scott Berkun is a best-selling author (see: Making Things Happen and The Myths of Innovation) and refers to himself as a writer first, and a speaker second. His humorous, witty, and sharp prose make this a thoroughly enjoyable read.

3. Honest to a Fault

Confessions begins with an odd disclaimer:

This book is highly opinionated, personal, and full of behind-the-scenes stories. You may not like this. Some people like seeing how sausage is made, but many do not.

Although everything in this book is true and written to be useful, if you don’t always want to hear the truth, this book might not be for you.

It’s true. The honesty in this book may shock some, like this passage:

No amount of training will make a man with two brain cells seem anything but dumb, as the problem is not his ability to speak, it’s his inability to think. It’s rarely said, but some people will never be good public speakers. Unless they find someone to do their thinking for them, they only have, at best, half the tools they need.

[...] The problem with most bad presentations I see is not the speaking, the slides, the visuals, or any of the things people obsess about. Instead, it’s the lack of thinking.

Personally, I appreciate this fresh approach.

How could it be better?

1. More Cohesion from Chapter to Chapter

Each individual chapter is well-written and feels “just right” as far as depth. However, I didn’t notice much continuity from one chapter to the next, and there’s no obvious rationale for the ordering of material.

Maybe this isn’t a bad thing. Each chapter stands on its own. It’s easy to read the book in short bursts — like I did, one chapter each night.

2. Better Photos

There are photos distributed throughout the book (and even one short chapter with a whole series of them), many taken by the author at speaking venues. The photos are referenced in the text, and they help to tell the story.

Unfortunately, the photos are not in color, and the contrast levels are too low, so many of them hard to view. A few are completely washed out in my copy.

Maybe this was a tradeoff that keeps the price of the book low? Maybe it was only my copy? Maybe the photos could be shared on the author’s website for keeners like me who want to squeeze every drop of meaning?

Update: Apparently, it wasn’t just my copy. On Scott’s blog, he reports that the low-contrast photos were a mistake in the first print run, and says the 2nd and 3rd run fixes this problem. If you get a copy now, you should get the good photos.

What Others Think

Gina Trapani, Lifehacker:

If public speaking is a part of your job–and it is, in some capacity, whether or not you’re Barack Obama–this book is a worthy read. It’s converted at least one person who has turned down speaking engagements because the idea was too scary to someone excited about getting better at a special and important skill.

Ben Rothke, Slashdot:

[...] Confessions of a Public Speaker is unique in that it takes a holistic approach to the art and science of public speaking. The book doesn’t just provide helpful hints, it attempts to make the speaker, and his associated presentation, compelling and necessary.

Jeff Bailey, Wired Presentations:

If you are new to presentations this should be the first book that you read on the topic. It gives a lot of great advice that many people take for granted.

Rhett Laubach, Authenticity Rules:

I have given at least 100 public speeches each year for the past 18 years and I have found a ton of value in it.

Ian Griffin, Speechwriter:

Confessions of a Public Speaker offers presenters—and those of us who support executives who give presentations—a great source of ideas to improve both the content and delivery of future talks.

Verdict

Here’s my confession… I didn’t want to put this book down.

Confessions of a Public Speaker provides sound advice that can help anyone improve their speaking skills. Highly recommended.

Similar Articles You May Like... Book Review: Boring to Bravo (Kristin Arnold) Boost Your Speaking Confidence Through Improv What Does Your Personal Brand Say About You as a Speaker? 8 Faulty Speaker Assumptions and How to Fix Them Book Review: The Wealthy Speaker by Jane Atkinson 12 Days of Public Speaking Christmas

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

This article is the latest of a series of public speaking book reviews here on Six Minutes.

• What’s Inside?
• The Price
• What I Loved
• How could it be better?
• What Others Think
• Verdict

What’s Inside?

When I ordered the book, I expected to get a book which would teach me visual design lessons that I could apply to PowerPoint slide design. It exceeds my expectations.

I was delightfully surprised to find that the design principles apply to many aspects of public speaking and presentations. As I read through the book, I applied colored Post-it stickers (see a photo of my copy to the right) on any page with a lesson that applies to public speaking.

As you can see from the photo, the book is covered with stickers!

• 6 principles (red stickers) apply to speaker habits;
• 2 principles (yellow) apply to delivery skills;
• 16 principles (green) apply to speechwriting; and
• 26 principles (blue) apply to visual aids.

I am eager to apply these principles to my own presentations, and also in future Six Minutes articles.

The Price

At the time of writing this review, you can get this hardcover book for only $26.40 from amazon.com. This is 34% off the list price.

The 2nd edition (updated, and with 25 more principles) is available in paperback as of January 1st and is priced at $19.80.

3 Things I Love about Universal Principles of Design

The three things I liked most about Universal Principles of Design are:

1. Interdisciplinary approach

I believe that the greatest insights are found where two disciplines overlap. For example, I applied my engineering physics background to cancer research for nearly eight years.

Even though this is primarily a design book, the lessons for you as a presenter are numerous.

2. Examples and References

Every principle is accompanied by practical examples which show you how the principle is applied in practice. Further, every principle is accompanied by one or more references to seminal works on the subject. These are a treasure trove for probing deeper.

3. Layout and Readability

One would expect a book about design principles to be designed well and easy-to-read. This book delivers on that expectation. Like Nancy Duarte’s slide:ology, the layout for this book is a series of two-page spreads (on the left, a written description; on the right, visual examples). This consistent approach makes it a pleasure to read.

How could it be better?

1. More depth (and thus, more pages)

When I finished reading the book, I was actually sad. I wanted to know more about these 100 principles. The 2-page-per-principle format is excellent, and with 100 principles results in a little over 200 pages. For more depth, you’d have to either cut principles (no!) or add page count (yes!). I would happily invest double the money for double the depth.

2. Better Navigation

The book’s primary organization is alphabetical which makes it ideal for reference. (Indeed, this advantage is explained by one of the design principles in the book.)

Additionally, in the table of contents, there is a topical breakdown into five broad categories (e.g. “How can I help people learn from a design?”).  I would like to see more categories with a narrower focus.

Further, I’d like to see the category concept carried into the body of the book. Alongside each principle, the authors could list the categories which apply to this principle, and perhaps give the previous/next principle for that category. This would make it easier to read through a series of closely related principles.

What Others Think

Garr Reynolds, Presentation Zen:

I love this book [...] At some point you will want to get this one for your bookshelf.

Donald Norman, author of The Design of Everyday Things:

Absolutely required reading, required owning. Every designer should own it. My students should all read it. What else can I say?

Joachim Sander, SAP Design Guild:

It is both a source of inspiration and reflection on perceived design. It is definitely a worthy investment for anyone interested in design and – last but not least – it is simply fun to read and follow-up on the different perspectives on design.

Rob Tannen, The Designer’s Review of Books:

[...]  it is simply the best book I have read on general design and usability principles in terms of both its content and its presentation.

Verdict

This was the best book I read in 2009, both because it appeals to my inner, inquisitive geek, and because it provides practical ideas that can be applied to improving public speaking and presentation skills.

Universal Principles of Design will stay close to my side whenever I’m working on new or existing presentations.

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Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

If you have absolutely no idea how to get there, this book will show you what is required.

Jane Atkinson’s The Wealthy Speaker: The Proven Formula for Building Your Successful Speaking Business is packed with advice to prepare you to make the jump to $15,000 speaking fees, whether you are six months or six years away.

This article is the latest of a series of public speaking book reviews here on Six Minutes.

• What’s Inside?
• The Price
• What I Loved
• How could it be better?
• Verdict
• About the Author

What’s Inside? What will you learn from The Wealthy Speaker?

The Wealthy Speaker is a comprehensive insider’s view of the speaking industry. Jane Atkinson guides you through all aspects of a keynote speaker’s business, including:

• Positioning yourself as an expert first, speaker second
• Developing your message
• Setting and negotiating fees
• Development of marketing materials
• Creation of your website and demo video
• Building your contact database
• Working with speaker’s bureaus and event planners
• Growing your business and hiring staff
• Selling products

Throughout the book, you’ll also find worksheets and personal assessments. These exercises are well-designed to help you apply the lessons to your personal situation.

The Price

At the time of writing this review, you can get this book for only $11.53 from amazon.com. This is 32% off the list price of $16.95.

What I Loved about The Wealthy Speaker

1. Authority and Expertise

The Wealthy Speaker is written with authority, and Atkinson’s extensive expertise in the speaking industry is apparent. This isn’t a book with theoretical ideas that might work. These are lessons learned from her successes and failures in the trenches.

2. Case Studies

Numerous case studies highlight successful speakers and industry insiders. These are fairly short (1-2 pages), but highly enlightening.

3. Focus on the Business of Speaking

You won’t find much information here at all about honing your speaking skills. And that’s a good thing because that’s not what this book is about. I was happy to see this book kept its focus on the business of speaking, not the mechanics.

What I wish was in The Wealthy Speaker

As much as I learned from The Wealthy Speaker, it’s not perfect. You cannot cover everything in 208 pages. So, what’s missing?

First, as Atkinson states early in the book, the book has a bias towards business models based primarily on keynote speaking. So, you won’t find specific information here to carve out a wealthy career as a trainer, seminar leader, or speaking coach. Perhaps we’ll have to wait for the sequel: The Wealthy Trainer?

Second, a few topics could use more treatment.

• For example, the section on website management is thin. To be fair, Atkinson defers to “experts” for this topic. The topics which comprise her core expertise (e.g. positioning, marketing, speaker’s bureaus) are handled much better.
• The information on contracts also feels skimpy. I expected to find more samples and a richer resource here. Perhaps the rationale here is that wealthy speakers delegate the contract work to staff?

Third, while the table of contents is detailed, there’s no index or appendices (e.g. a list of all the resource websites mentioned throughout the book). This reduces the usefulness of The Wealthy Speaker as a reference tool. Maybe this will be added in the second edition?

The Verdict

The Wealthy Speaker is excellent value, and easily worth the purchase price. An investment of $11.53 is a small, small price for gaining so much knowledge.

About the Author – Jane Atkinson

Jane Atkinson has 15 years of experience helping speakers secure more bookings at higher fees. She is a business coach for speakers, specializing in positioning and marketing. You can read more about her on her website: Speaker Launcher.

Jane previously shared her expertise as a guest author on Six Minutes with 6 Key Steps to Dip Your Toe into the Professional Speaking Pool.

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Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

But do you know how to develop a mindset that will enable you to devise effective speech openings?

Carmen Taran’s Better Beginnings: How to capture your audience in 30 seconds is a one-of-a-kind book entirely dedicated to helping you master this critical speaking skill.

This article is the latest of a series of public speaking book reviews here on Six Minutes.

• What’s Inside?
• The Price
• What I Loved
• How could it be better?
• About the Author
• Verdict

What’s Inside? A Coffee Table Book about Speaking?

The format of the book is unique relative to other books reviewed on Six Minutes — it’s a coffee table book! On every other page, you will find a full-page photograph to complement the writing and further spark your creativity.

Because of all the images, Better Beginnings is a quick read. Most books that I review take me two weeks to read through. I finished Better Beginnings in just two relaxing evenings before bed.

Visually, this book will stand out from every other one on your bookshelf, your coffee table, or your bedside table.

The Price

At the time of writing this review, you can get this hardcover book for $23.95 through amazon.com.

Given that the book is filled with full-color photographs, that price seems low to me, simply from a cost-of-printing perspective.

Most readers seem to like the value.

What’s the best thing about Better Beginnings?

Most speech opening advice begins by telling you the types of openings you can try. For example, you might open with a personal story, a startling statistic, or a quotation. However, none of these types of openings are inherently focused on your audience. (A story or statistic can be focused on the audience, but it might not be.)

I really like the approach taken in Better Beginnings because it is organized not around types of openings, but according to the emotional or cognitive response you would like to trigger in your audience. Audience-focused!

Better Beginnings guides you to spark the desired response in your audience, with the following chapters:

• Anticipation
• Specificity
• Inquiry
• Incongruity
• Novelty
• Uncertainty
• Complexity
• Ease of Comprehension
• Indulgence
• Staging

Each chapter includes numerous examples to illustrate how you can generate the desired response in your audience. This includes not only what to say, but how to say it and stage it. Consider these examples:

Incongruity (conflict between what your audience expects and what is actually said)

Like many of the great blues and jazz artists of our time, I found myself onstage at Carnegie Hall high on drugs.”

Novelty (new ideas competing with existing norms)

Our customers have been used to square tea bags. What if we made them round?

How could it be better?

Simply, I’d like a bit more depth. Though I love the fact that this has a coffee table book format and was a quick read, I would like to see more depth offered. A more diverse set of speech examples would make it easier for readers to apply the lessons to their own speeches.

Also, how about a companion book like Better Endings? Speech openings and conclusions are intimately tied, and I would love to see similar treatment for speech endings.

About the Author – Carmen Taran

Carmen Taran has a Bachelor’s degree in Communication Design, a Master’s degree in Multimedia Design, and a Doctorate in Instructional Technology. She is a co-founder of Rexi Media, a presentation skills consulting firm.

In the brief video below, she pitches the key strengths of Better Beginnings.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Verdict

I think every speaker will benefit from reading Better Beginnings, whether you speak with visuals or off the cuff, to investors or children.

It is the most thorough treatment I’ve ever seen for starting your speech.

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Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

What else do all three have in common? They all point to Richard E Mayer’s Multimedia Learning as recommended reading for presentation design.

And I agree.

This article is the latest of a series of public speaking book reviews here on Six Minutes.

How does Multimedia Learning compare to other books?

Let’s set the context:

• Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds (previously reviewed here)
• Slide:ology by Nancy Duarte (previously reviewed here)
• Beyond Bullet Points by Cliff Atkinson

All three of these are:

• More popular than Mayer’s work. [In fact, these are three of the 9 most popular books on PowerPoint, according to amazon.com.]
• More applied in nature.
• More directly tied to public speaking.

Yet, all three offer advice which is, in part, based upon research explained by Mayer in Multimedia Design.

So, who should read Multimedia Learning?

Given that Richard Mayer is a professor of psychology, it is not surprising that Multimedia Learning is written in an academic style. I believe it is this style which hinders its mainstream appeal. (And the pedestrian cover design.)

However, the content is fascinating and provides scientific explanations which leads to deep understanding of much of the contemporary approach to slide design.

For this reason, I think the primary audience for Multimedia Learning is:

• Professors, teachers, and trainers who create, design, and deliver instructional courses
• Professionals who are frequently involved with slide design
• Public speaking instructors and coaches

12 Principles You Learn from Multimedia Learning

Mayer’s work is organized around 12 key principles. Each chapter introduces the principle, describes the methodology used to study it, and summarizes research results.

1. Coherence Principle
   People learn better when extraneous words, pictures, and sounds are excluded rather than included.
2. Signaling Principle
   People learn better when cues that highlight the organization of the essential material are added.
3. Redundancy Principle
   People learn better from graphics and narration than from graphics, narration, and on-screen text.
4. Spatial Contiguity Principle
   People learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented near rather than far from each other on the page or screen.
5. Temporal Contiguity Principle
   People learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented simultaneously rather than successively.
6. Segmenting Principle
   People learn better when a multimedia lesson is presented in user-paced segments rather than as a continuous unit.
7. Pre-training Principle
   People learn better from a multimedia lesson when they know the names and characteristics of the main concepts.
8. Modality Principle
   People learn better from graphics and narration than from animation and on-screen text.
9. Multimedia Principle
   People learn better from words and pictures than from words alone.
10. Personalization Principle
    People learn better from multimedia lessons when words are in conversational style rather than formal style.
11. Voice Principle
    People learn better when the narration in multimedia lessons is spoken in a friendly human voice rather than a machine voice.
12. Image Principle
    People do not necessarily learn better from a multimedia lesson when the speaker’s image is added to the screen.

About Richard E. Mayer

Richard E. Mayer is Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

From his home page:

His current research involves the related disciplines of cognition, instruction, and technology with a special focus on multimedia learning and computer-supported learning. [...]

He was ranked #1 as the most productive educational psychologist in the world for 1991-2001. [...]

He is the author of more than 390 publications including 23 books, such as Multimedia Learning: Second Edition (2009), Learning and Instruction: Second Edition (2008), E-Learning and the Science of Instruction: Second Edition (with R. Clark, 2008), and the Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning (editor, 2005).

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Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

Bert Decker’s revised edition of  You’ve Got to Be Believed to Be Heard was one of many books recommended by Six Minutes readers last year.

Now I know why.

Decker’s public speaking classic is a comprehensive book which deserves to be on your public speaking bookshelf.

This article is the latest of a series of public speaking book reviews here on Six Minutes.

There is much to like in Decker’s book. To keep this review shorter than the book itself, I’ll focus on the three parts of the book that stand out the most for me.

1. Emotion and the First Brain

The first half of the book establishes the case that effective communicators (Decker describes these as New Communicators) understand the importance of emotion in the communications process. That is, communication is more than logical arguments. More than facts and figures. More than metaphors and triads.

Decker explains the importance of emotion by reasoning that our brains are composed of two parts:

• The New Brain – the intellectual part of the human brain which reasons and processes at a conscious level, and
• The First Brain – the nonreasoning, nonrational, subconscious, primitive part of the brain.

The First Brain, he argues, acts as a powerful filter. Before your message can even get to the New Brain, it must first pass by the First Brain. For that to happen, you must connect emotionally.

2. Communication = Leadership ?

Decker asserts that communication and leadership are intimately linked. He clearly reasons that to effectively communicate is to be a leader; to be a leader is to effectively communicate.

Decker is not unique here. I, too, hold the belief that communication and leadership are joined at the hip. However, Decker is so persuasive on this point that, as I was reading, I began to wonder whether leadership and communication are actually the same thing. Are they really separate concepts at all?

3. Speechwriting and Delivery Tips Abound!

While the first half of the book is somewhat theoretical, the second half is packed with practical tips for speechwriting and delivery.

Here are just a few of the public speaking issues addressed by Decker in You’ve Got to Be Believed to Be Heard:

• Eye contact,
• Posture and movement,
• Dress and appearance,
• Gestures,
• Vocal variety,
• Word selection,
• Pauses,
• Fear of speaking,
• SHARPs (Stories and examples, Humor, Analogies, References and quotations, Pictures and visual aids), and
• A comprehensive speech organization method he names The Decker Grid System.

These tips can be found in other books or blogs, in one form or another. The great value here is descriptions offered by Decker, and the relationships he makes between them and the concepts introduced earlier in the book. For example, Decker offers insights into public speaking fear drawn from the First Brain concepts.

What Could be Improved?

I loved this book, but it’s not perfect.

• Is emotion ignored in traditional communications training?
  Decker claims that the role of the First Brain (that is, the importance of emotion in communication) has been “virtually ignored by communications experts”. While I concede that many traditional public speaking books underestimate the importance of emotion, I think “virtually ignored” is overstating it. For example, one of the oldest books on the topic of public speaking — Aristotle’s On Rhetoric –  recognizes emotional appeals as one of the three primary forms of persuasion. Aristotle’s lessons have may have been skewed a bit, but they are not ignored.
• Slow start
  When I read a book for review, I mark the page whenever there’s a key insight or a golden quote. In the first 75 pages of this book, I only marked two pages. By contrast, I marked 15 in the final 150 pages. Those first 75 pages ran through a large number of politicians, business leaders, and celebrities, and labelled them as either old (bad) or new (good) communicators. The analysis isn’t superficial, but I still would have liked to see deeper analysis here to demonstrate the positive and negative communication traits. It’s difficult to do this, however, in print… perhaps this book needs a companion DVD?

About the Author – Bert Decker

Bert Decker is the CEO of Decker Communications, a communications training company that has worked with hundreds of thousands of executives, managers, and salespeople in the past 30 years.

Bert is the author of several books, including Creating Messages that Motivate and You’ve Got to Be Believed to Be Heard.

And he writes a public speaking blog too.

What Others are Saying about You’ve Got to Be Believed to Be Heard

Nancy Duarte:

This updated version of Bert’s book is fantastic.

Mark Sanborn:

This book is a classic bestseller that has been revised and updated … I recommend it.

Trent Hamm:

You’ve Got to Be Believed to Be Heard is brilliant at helping you to become a better speaker mechanically by breaking down speaking into lots of little, practicable pieces.

If you’re involved with public speaking – or would like to be – You’ve Got to Be Believed to Be Heard is a very worthwhile read.

Chris Spagnuolo:

The book concludes with a section on organizing your content to create a focused message… Bert’s proven Decker Grid System. … It’s a simple method, but one that I find to be extremely powerful in helping deliver targeted messages to the needs and wants of your audience. I’ve been using it for about three months now and I am amazed at the results.

Jeff Bailey:

This is THE book on presentation that you have been looking for: If you learn the contents it will literally improve your life. I don’t say that lightly and I am not exaggerating — I mean it!

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Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.