Have you ever hidden behind a PowerPoint presentation as a way of covering up your nervousness and/or lack of preparation when giving a talk? If so, you have probably reduced the impact of what you said and lost an opportunity to influence people, according to Christopher Witt in his book Real Leaders Don’t Do PowerPoint: How to Speak So People Listen. The book is not really about using PowerPoint; it is about how to make an effective speech.
To give a great speech, you have to be a great person by letting your experience, character, passion and sense of humour shine through what you say. You have to time your speech so that it occurs at a noteworthy event. What you say has to be a compelling message, an idea with the power to change people’s lives. And it all has to be done with a masterful delivery, projecting your authentic self in the most powerful way possible.
The author is a professional speaking coach with many years of experience in speech-writing and coaching executives and technical experts in the art of verbal presentation. There are a number of books available on public speaking, but this is one of the best. If you follow the author’s advice, you will need to put more time into preparing speeches, but your effectiveness and influence will grow.
A video review of this book is now available at my new site, BusinessLessons.org.