I recently read Brian Tracy’s “Speak to Win: How to Present with Power in Any Situation” (105 UAH in the electronic version).
I remember my first public talk very well. I was a third-year student, and my academic adviser — Prof. Vladimir Ivanovich Khakhanov — sent me to Dnipropetrovsk for a student conference. I had absolutely no idea what that was and was very nervous. A strange city, my first time in Dnipropetrovsk, no support from friends or acquaintances. Out of sheer fright, I rattled off my talk very quickly and loudly, told them everything I knew about the system. When I finished, there was silence, and only after about 10 seconds did someone ask a question: “What language is the program written in?” And that was it. Nobody asked anything else.
It’s been 13 years since my first talk, and I still get nervous when I speak in front of people. For example, lectures at the beginning of the semester are the most nerve-racking, because you’re seeing these people for the first time in your life. You don’t know them, they don’t know you. Or speaking to schoolkids — that’s a whole different level.
In this book, as in any other, the main idea is that you need to prepare well for talks. Work through the outline, polish the wording. One new thing I hadn’t read in other books: the author pays a lot of attention to preparing the equipment in the room: arranging the chairs, setting up the air conditioning, lighting, and sound.
For my part, I can add that the best way to become a good speaker is to always know what you’re talking about, to have something you can tell the audience.
It’s a good book, I recommend it.