This new public speaking how-to is the brainchild of ex-Microsofter turned thinker-for-hire Scott Berkun. Instead of offering up a slicker-than-slick coffee table manual on the philosophy of presenting, Berkun has written and funny, friendly, humbly scaled-down manual of hardcore how-to for anyone – from student to celebrity – who speaks in public.
What’s Hot
Confessions of Public Speaker is a no-nonsense guide full of practical, insightful, inspiring advice on the art of the presentation.
What’s Not
Readers who are used to the unnecessarily bloated, egotistical tomes that some presenters create might be taken aback by Confessions’ back-to-basics approach.
The Bottom Line
Confessions of a Public Speaker finds its strength in being informative and to the point. This short tome can easily be digested in two sittings, but don’t let the size fool you. Berkun’s book presents its lessons in a series of real-life stories that are all engaging and humorous. These stories keep Confessions’ from becoming just a kind of tactical manual. They also demonstrate that Berkun isn’t offering “ideas” so much as actual knowledge and wisdom gathered from his own experiences as a public speaker. That is the most unique thing about Berkun’s book: it’s packed with a quality of information you rarely find in books.
The main point that makes Berkun’s perspective so engaging is his demystifying of his own book. Over and over again, he makes it clear that his book, his ideas and his experience will never make anyone a good public speaker unless they are willing to do the necessary hard work to learn how to become a public speaker themselves. Berkun seems to be saying that he’s not offering a course of study so much as a kind of map of a territory that some may choose to explore more than others, and that everyone – eventually – has to find their own way through. It’s this kind of forthright-sincerity that makes Berkun’s book a real winner and just another volume on the shelf.
Berkun’s demystification of the subject also serves the purpose of making his experiences accessible and immediate to a much larger audience. Some presentation books become so esoteric and specialized that only presentation professionals could possibly benefit from their insights. While such manuals surely have their place, Berkun’s book is remarkably democratic, offering up a smörgåsbord of ideas for anyone; the student, the pro, the beauty pageant queen, the best man at your cousin’s wedding and everyone in between.
If you’ve never read a book on public speaking, but want to learn more, this is a great place to start. If you are an old dog, learn some new tricks from this slim tome. Take the time to check this one out and it might soon find a new home in your back pocket the next time you take the stage.
