How to augment your live presentation using social media

Effective public speaking is a challenge for many executives. They must prepare interesting content, overcome stage fright and deliver a speech that will hold the audience’s attention. As if that wasn’t difficult enough, they are increasingly likely to find themselves looking out at a sea of faces illuminated by the glow of laptops and PDAs. Social media is invading the auditorium, and rather than tuning out while a speech is delivered, people are turning on laptops and cell phones to send out text messages, broadcasting to the world their opinions of a presentation.

Changing presentations forever

In his new book, The Backchannel: How Audiences are Using Twitter and Social Media and Changing Presentations Forever, Cliff Atkinson explains how these new forms of online communication are shifting the rules of engagement between audiences and presenters. Instead of sitting politely until it’s time for Q & A, people are going online during the address to swap comments and opinions via an electronic backchannel.

At the very least, Atkinson claims, speakers and their communications support staff need to be aware that there is likely to be a backchannel in the room and learn how to monitor it or be left out of the conversation. Beyond this basic awareness, he encourages communicators to take the initiative and employ social media as an integral part of any executive’s presentation.

Practical advice

Atkinson’s book covers a lot of ground, from how to open a Twitter account to advice on expanding the conversation with the audience. He details how social media can transform a presentation from a one-off information dump into a longer-term relationship—one that starts before you step onto the podium. His advice includes:

• Breaking a speech into “Twitter-sized chunks” to make it easier for people to post 140-character sound bites. One measure of success then becomes how many of these summary statements are posted and reposted online.
• Using Twitter as a vehicle to extend your ideas to people outside the room, giving them a “virtual stage pass” to the event.
• Creating instant polls using tools, such as Twtpoll and Poll Everywhere, to involve the audience.
• Publishing a Presentation Home Page using wiki software. For example, I was inspired by Atkinson’s book to create http://execcomms.wikispaces.com/ listing my past and future talks. A Presentation Home Page is a convenient archive for reference material; blog postings; a Twitter feed; bio and contact information and more. This shifts the burden from overly busy PowerPoint slides as the sole way to communicate information. Also, by implementing a page like this prior to an event you initiate a backchannel that involves the audience, letting you gather comments and suggestions before you deliver the talk. After the event, the page becomes a repository for evaluation responses, blog postings, reference material and a transcript.

Double-edged sword

Atkinson acknowledges there are both risks and rewards involved in the backchannel. It enables people to connect online and become part of a shared community, but at the risk of leaving out those who are unaware of what is happening. It gives the speaker a way to reach a wider audience, but at the risk of distracting the smooth delivery of material. It provides an archive for comments and opinions, but a series of 140-character notes can lack context. And there’s the very real risk that the comments people make on Twitter might lack civility and shock presenters with their sometimes brutal honesty.

A two-way conversation

Though this approach is not for everyone, Atkinson describes a potent way in which social media allows a (frightening?) new level of transparency that speakers can use to transform a one-way stream of communication into a dialogue with the audience—before, during and after the speech.

The Backchannel might not bring welcome news to presenters who are wedded to the old school ways of controlling audience response and involvement, but is clearly shows how you can magnify the impact of a speech using social media.

So, in the spirit of the book, what do you think are the risks and rewards of a social media backchannel? Leave your comments below or tweet them with the hashtag #backchannelbook.

This review was originally published in ragan.com.

In order to gain a competitive edge it is essential for professionals to strive for both professional and personal excellence. Frauke Schorr’s work focuses on professionals who struggle and need outside expertise to bring their careers, businesses, and teams to the next level.

As part of her PhD in Organizational Psychology Frauke interviewed highly accomplished entrepreneurs and leaders on their experience of becoming successful. She found that the most successful leaders hold the mindset of a Centered Leader™ - They had a continuous curiosity to learn something new, challenge themselves, and stretch their boundaries while being grounded in a frame that was uniquely build on their personal values, beliefs, and passions. They also had the distinct ability to translate this frame into a company culture. They were, as Frauke describes it, leading from the inside-out.

Frauke uses this framework in her company, Centered Leadership™, a corporate training and executive coaching firm dedicated to developing business leaders on all levels of the corporation. It supports clients in defining and developing their careers and business, making successful career transitions, and becoming visionary leaders who engage and motivate others to achieve desired results.

Frauke can be reached at (650) 539-5553 or via email at frauke@centered-leadership.com.

Pro-Track Profile

I met with Frauke at the kick-off meeting of the 2010 National Speakers Association Northern California Chapter year0long Pro-Track class. She told me something about her business and why she was investing Pro-Track training. To hear what she told me, click on the podcast icon below.

 

 Interview: Frauke Schoor [3:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I need your help.

On Friday February 12th I’m presenting at the Ragan Speechwriters Conference in Washington, DC. The title my talk is Beyond the Auditorium: Magnifying the Impact of a Speech with Social Media. While I hope some readers of Professionally Speaking will be at the event, I’d like to hear from anyone who has an opinion to share.

My talk will cover three main areas:

1. Using LinkedIn Groups & Polls to research topics before you start writing a speech.
2. Using Twitter to open up a backchannel for discussion during a speech.
3. Using Podcasts and videos to reach people after a speech is delivered.

If you’d like to know more, you can see my draft slides, read an outline of the talk and even watch a preview video on this presentation home page.

I’d like to hear what’s on your mind and suggestions you might have that would improve my presentation.

• What would you like to hear covered in a session like this?
• What questions come to mind that you would want answered?
• How can I make sure that the people who come to my presentation in DC walk away satisfied?

Share you opinions in the comments area below or by logging in to the presentation home page.

Thanks!

“We must always remember that the act of speaking professionally is only a part of our individual journeys. It is not a destination.”
- Phillip Van Hooser

The Evolution of a Professional Speaking Career

Since 1988, NSA President Phillip Van Hooser, CSP, CPAE, has spoken, written, coached and consulted on leadership and service professionalism issues with groups and organizations around the globe.

On Saturday January 9, 2009, he presented at the NSA Northern California Chapter meeting. His talk, Uncommon Business Practices That Will Help You Re-Think, Re-Position and Re-Tool Your Way to Speaking Success, reviewed the evolution of his own speaking career and the lessons this holds for other professional speakers.

Van Hooser stated that there are five distinct stages in a typical speaking career:

1. The dream is born

Some fall into a speaking career by chance. But Phil has dreamed of being a professional speaker since he was very young. His grandmother was an early influence who told the eight-year-old he would become a Baptist preacher. That didn’t happen, but he did became enamored with natural orators: the preachers, teachers and politicians of his Kentucky childhood.

2. The journey begins

By age 15 he had started keeping a notebook on public speaking. He recorded what the speakers he heard said, then progressed to noticing how they said what they said — the ways in which they delivered their material.

3. A business materializes

Every speaker must choose a moment to declare themselves a professional. For Van Hooser, that moment was the afternoon of April 7, 1988 when he quit his corporate job. With the “confidence born of ignorance” he started his business with no prospects or speaking material. He did, however, enjoy the support of his wife Susan who has been his business partner for the past 20 years. Now — 2,800 paid presentations later — Phil’s advice to others considering a career as a speaker is not to quit the day job until you have material developed and clients lined up.

4. The work expands

Speakers need to stay current. Changes in technology and the economy mean that what worked at the start of our careers will not continue to work. We need to evolve personally and professionally. The secret, Phil says, is to listen to the audience. As speakers we might think we know what people like, but the audience will let us know what they actually benefit from.

5. Reflection is inevitable

Many older people, looking back at their lives, wish they had taken more risks. They also wish they had taken time out to reflect, slowing down the weeks and months that otherwise pass by in a blur. Many wish they had contributed something to the world that would outlast their own lifespan.

As speakers, we must take the risk of stepping outside our safety zone and learn from our mistakes. We must invest ourselves in the people in our audience, and reflect on the unique opportunity we have to make a difference to thousands of people. Finally, when we speak with passion and conviction, we’ll see the light bulb go off in people’s eyes and know that we have connected with them. We never know when something we say in a presentation will change someone’s life. It’s this possibility, Van Hooser says, that makes the hard work of being a professional speaker worthwhile.

Grandmother Van Hooser clearly saw something in young Phillip that has now benefited tens of thousands of people.

Podcast Interview

To hear what Phil told me about his role as President of the National Speakers Association, how American speakers are perceived internationally and why professional speaking is the hardest job he’s ever had, click on the podcast icon below.

Phil can be contacted at phil@vanhooser.com.

 

 Interview: Phillip Van Hooser [6:56m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Janet Hebert has been a ranch hand (her parents raised prunes on over 100 acres in the Coyote Valley), an elementary school teacher, a full time single mom for her two children Katie and Jeff, and a caregiver for her own mother.

Janet has been speaking for the past 15 years. She has been a frequent competitor in Toastmasters District 4 – progressing to the Division and District contests several times, and all the way to the Regional level in the International Speech Contest in 2000. It was in the process of attending the Toastmasters contests that she met her husband Paul, also a winner at the District level.

Janet is a 16-year breast cancer survivor. For the past 15 years she has been speaking to audiences large and small on behalf of the American Cancer Society, helping raise awareness and inspire action for individuals and groups. While listening to Janet, audiences learn about cancer in general, how to detect it early, and what help is available when cancer is discovered. Listeners learn not only the facts - they learn about the compassion and human warmth behind the work of the American Cancer Society. Her engaging style, candor and deep commitment to helping others - as she herself was helped - make her a preferred presenter for ACS. She enjoys the opportunity to share information and her story, believing with each talk that she may be helping to save someone’s life.

Pro-Track Profile

The 2010 Pro-Track program kicks off on Saturday January 23 at the Burlingame, CA, Hilton Hotel.

Janet is excited to be a part of Pro-Track. She is pursuing her dream of becoming a professional speaker and impacting many more lives with both her unique perspectives and heartfelt good will.

I talked with Janet on the phone about the origins of her interest professional speaking and what she is looking for in the Pro-Track program. To hear what she told me, click on the podcast icon below.

Janet can be reached at (408) 226-8283 or by email at janet@costaclan.com.

 

 Interview: Janet Hebert [6:43m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Confessions of a Public Speaker

There’s no shortage of books on how to write speeches and speak with confidence. But there are precious few on what it’s like to stand on the podium and deliver a talk, let alone what it takes to make a living as a speaker.

Scott Berkun’s new book, Confessions of a Public Speaker, tells the inside story of one man’s experiences speaking on innovation to audiences around the world. Outside of a good late-night discussion at the bar at a National Speakers Association convention, you’re not likely to hear such an honest assessment of what life as a professional speaker is actually like.

First-person account

Berkun tells his back story, as well as what it takes to become a compelling public speaker. His first-person account is mostly a series of stories about life on the road, and he shares it all—from the daily fees and annual income to the embarrassment of being late for important talks. If you identify with him, you’ll find these stories entertaining, interesting and instructive; if you don’t, well, you probably won’t like the book. Personally, I liked the book.

Berkun’s stories hit home. They are instructive in the same way that speakers who take a risk and include personal stories in their speech can use their own material to inform and connect with an audience.

Valuable lessons

We hear about Berkun’s early-morning experiences traveling from the airport Starbucks to the backstage green room, where presenters gobble doughnuts and take to the stage on a sugar high. We sympathize with him over equipment problems and the challenge of delivering to non-English-speaking audiences. And we learn:

• What to do when 45 people show up in a 2,000-seat auditorium. (Ask them to cluster in the front rows.)
• How to deal with persistent hecklers. (Address them and move on.)
• How to overcome a fear of speaking. (Find a way to enjoy yourself onstage.)
• How to prevent a wardrobe malfunction. (“Remove all nipple piercings.”)

As that last example shows, Berkun has his own style of humor. Love him or hate him, you’ll discover aspects of what it is like to be a public speaker that are well worth knowing before you next step onto the podium.

Sound advice

Altogether, Berkun’s basic advice is sound, and it centers on a handful of principles:

• Practice makes perfect.
• Place the audience’s needs before your own.
• Show up early, and end your talk early.
• Learn from your mistakes.
• Don’t be seduced by style over substance. “It is possible to become an eloquent speaker, who makes beautiful slides and has a great vocabulary and perfect diction, without having much to say.”

The reason Berkun’s advice resonates is that his heart is in the right place. He champions the audience and doesn’t settle for the mediocre standard of so many corporate speeches.

Authentic and compelling

Berkun wants speakers to be authentic. He’s offended by executives who won’t invest a few hours preparing a speech and who then waste hundreds of cumulative hours of an audience’s time. He challenges us to aim higher: Instead of providing bad slides and mind-numbing detail, he suggests spending time on content, and he encourages rehearsing the delivery until the speaker is able to present his message with interest and confidence.

He notes that speakers today can easily videotape themselves rehearsing but laments that few do, because “it’s just too scary for them to watch.” To that, Berkun says, “If you’re too scared to watch yourself speak, how can you expect your audience to watch you?”

Berkun wants speakers to tell compelling stories that arouse the audience’s curiosity. He reminds us how powerful it is to involve the audience—to risk interacting, even with something as simple as a show of hands asking if the pace of the talk is too slow or too fast. Speakers should offer simple insights, he says, rather than hide behind the smokescreen of arid facts and abstract knowledge that many subject experts use to pad their talks.

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.

This review was originally published in ragan.com.

Speaker, Author, Positive Psychologist and Life Coach

Dr. Delizonna is an expert in sustainable happiness. She coaches individual clients, conducts workshops at companies and nonprofits, and presents keynote speeches. She also teaches popular happiness and emotional intelligence courses at Stanford University. Recognized as an authority in happiness, Dr. Delizonna trains mental health professionals and serves as a board member of nonprofit organizations including The American Happiness Association and Project Happiness.

For as long as she can remember, Laura has wanted to do something that has a big impact on society. She has found her niche helping people build happier, more fulfilling lives. She sees it as part of the world peace movement. When people become happier, they not only infect others with their positivity, but they treat others more kindly, have stronger relationships, and are more altruistic generous, and compassionate toward others.

Two decades ago, she began her quest to find the keys to happiness. She started with herself and vowed that one day she would teach what she learned to others. She harvested teachings from everyone she could find who had something to say about happiness. From taxi drivers, to Maasai warriors, to researchers at top universities, she listened. She reflected on her own life lessons, earned her doctorate in clinical psychology, and learned from her experiences as a therapist treating people with depression and anxiety.

Now Laura feels she understands what it takes to be truly happy. She views happiness as emerging from having an ability to respond to each moment with skills. For the last five years, she has been teaching this skill set to others. She wrote a manual for increasing sustainable happiness which is calls “The 5 Habits of Happiness.” She teaches workshops for individuals, businesses, and organizations on how to increase happiness and well-being. She adds that businesses are becoming more interested in employee happiness because they realize that it affects the bottom line.

Pro-Track Profile

Laura has spoken internationally in South Africa and soon Vietnam as well as presents keynotes and workshops locally on how to increase sustainable happiness and enhance emotional intelligence. She is writing a self-help book and teaches positive psychology and emotional intelligence courses at Stanford University. She was a member of the NSA Northern California Pro-Track class of 2009. Her website is ChoosingHappiness.com.

I talked with Laura on the phone about the origins of her interest in happiness, how public speaking fits into her professional life, and what she thought of the Pro-Track program. To hear what she told me, click on the podcast icon below.

 

 Interview: Dr. Laura Delizonna [6:42m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Six of the Best

The California Chapter has now produced six editions of Professionally Speaking magazine. That’s 180 pages containing over 40 articles by chapter members and guest speakers.

Contents of the Fall 2009 issue

The latest issue contains

• Jane Atkinson - Are Bureaus Not Digging You?
• Ed Brodow - How to Win an Oscar on the Platform
• Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE - The Unconscious Goof That Can Hurt Your Credibility
• Jill Lublin - You Can’t Do it Alone: Success in Business Takes Teamwork
• Ian Griffin - Practical Social Networking: Researching Your Market
• Linda Lenore ASID - Blending Modern Science and Ancient Wisdom for Speaking Success
• Trevor Levine - How to Generate More Bookings from Your Ads, Web Pages, and One-Sheets
• Scott “Q” Marcus - Striving for Imperfection

View a preview and order your copy of the magazine here.

And now, for your reading pleasure, here’s my article.

Practical Social Networking: Researching Your Market

By now you’ve heard that social media is the latest trend in networking, and you’ve read platitudes such as “social media connects you with a whole new world of interesting people” and “You can extend your network online.” The real questions, of course, are “What, specifically, can I do with social media?” and “How can it help my business?”

Beyond the hype and the very real danger that social media—like all shiny, new things—can become a time-sink and little more, there is real business value in using sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and more. For one thing, you can use all of these popular social media sites to get closer to your audience and understand what they need by performing valuable, up-to-date market research online.

Market Research on a Gigantic Scale

There are many ways you can use social media sites to perform your own research, and what’s truly astounding is the scale of the networks you can tap into. LinkedIn has more than 47 million members in more than 200 countries around the world, and at the start of 2009, 150 million people around the world were actively using Facebook. In fact, if Facebook were a country, it would be the eighth most populated in the world, just ahead of Japan and behind Bangladesh. Are all these people potential audience members for you as a speaker? Of course not. But social media allows you to select those who might be, and research what interests them.

Facebook and LinkedIn

On Facebook and LinkedIn, the best way to perform research is to sign up for a free account and then join any of the thousands of special interest groups that might fit your interests. Once you become part of a group, you can follow—and even start—specific group discussions to learn more about what people in that industry, profession or niche are talking about.

On LinkedIn, I’m part of a speechwriters group with more than 300 members. I use the group as a regular source of information for my blog articles on rhetoric, either by learning from the conversations others have started or by posing questions to my fellow professionals. By joining the groups that focus on your niche, you can start monitoring what your clients find interesting or ask a few questions of your own.

You can also use LinkedIn, specifically, to search for people you might want to contact in your professional life. In my own case, I have built a large network of more than 500 people who have accepted my invitation to directly connect. These people, in turn, are connected to 186,000 more—friends of my friends who are only two degrees away from me. “So what?” you might ask. So, I can search for people I need to contact by location, job title, company name and many other criteria, and if I find someone I want to talk to who isn’t connected to me but is connected to someone I know, I can ask my own acquaintance for an introduction. Speaking in a certain town? Find a friend—or a friend-of-a-friend—who lives there, and ask for a first-hand update.

Twitter

Twitter is growing at a rate of more than 40% a month. And contrary to popular opinion, it’s not simply populated with people announcing what flavor of Venti latte they drank that morning. Twitter can be a rich source of real-time updates that’s completely open for searching—even if you don’t have your own Twitter account. Speaking at a specific company next month? Log in to search.twitter.com and enter the business name. You can follow what company employees are saying, and you can even follow what others are saying about them. It’s a bit like hacking into their e-mail, only it’s completely legitimate.

Do you speak for a specific industry? Check out twellow.com. This site automatically categorizes Twitter users into specific industries based on information in their bios and their “tweets.” Search for “Dentistry,” for example, and you’ll get people in this industry as well as those who specialize in working with it. Looking for a localized company? Search “Dentistry San Francisco.” Bingo!

YouTube

YouTube visitors now view more than 1 Billion videos a day. Seeing what’s hot on YouTube can give you incredible insight into a broad cross section of popular culture, or into the specific niche you speak about. Again, the search function is your friend. Out of the billions of videos posted, there are 1,650 about “Dental Schools.” More specifically, there are 114 titled “How to Get into Dental School.” These might be worth viewing if you speak to the education market.

Social Networking for the 21st century

What’s even more impressive than the user volume, traffic and growth, is that all these social networks are still in their infancy. According to a popular video called “Did You Know? Technology,” which you can view—where else?—on YouTube, it took radio 38 years to reach an audience of 50 million; it took TV 13 years; and it took Facebook just 2 years. Today’s online forums contain rich veins of hard facts and crucial conversations that you can tap into. As speakers we can use them to expand our expertise in practical ways.

The left-of-center British newspaper The Guardian has broken the news that beleaguered British Prime Minister Gordon Brown paid Washington, DC based West Wing Writers fees totaling $40,000 for speechwriting services. The most recent fee of $7,045 was paid for editing his March 4th address to the Joint Session of Congress. Speculation is that Brown felt the need for American assistance with his rhetoric on a number of occasions, both as Chancellor and Prime Minister.

The relatively small fees would indicate that the American speechwriters tweaked the talk for cultural nuance, rather than deciding wholesale the content of a speech given by a foreign head of state. Nevertheless, reports The Guardian, because the work was done for a foreigner:

Details of the payments have emerged from documents West Wing Writers filed with the US justice department, required because the company was working on behalf of an agent of a foreign government – Brown.

It could be argued that by preventing the potential misunderstanding of British phrases such as “batting on a sticky wicket” or “horses for courses” the speechwriters more than earned their fees. On a more serious note, the need - in a world facing global challenges - for culturally appropriate language in important speeches must involve not just accurate translation into different languages by trained linguists, but the advice of speechwriters who understand the audience in the country where the speech is to be delivered.

Consider the alternative. Brown makes reference to the disparaging “Old Europe” phrase coined by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in the era of the Bush White House. Better a second pair of eyes on a speech attuned to local sensitivities than leaving a clanger like that in a text.

Judge for yourself if the dour Scot received value for money:

The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience

Steve Jobs is the exception to the rule – a corporate executive whose product introductions captivate audiences as powerfully as the best motivational speakers. He’s a college drop-out whose eloquent 2005 Stanford University Commencement address has been watched by more than 4 million people on YouTube. What’s the source of his eloquence and what are the presentation secrets of Steve Jobs? Carmine Gallo answers these questions in his impressive new book.

The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs is a book that a speechwriter can love. Gallo quotes from sources such as Nancy Duarte’s Slide:ology and Garr Reynolds’ Presentation Zen. He even has a sidebar on JFK speechwriter Ted Sorensen’s influence on Barack Obama titled “What the World’s Greatest Speechwriters Know.”

The message of this book is that Jobs’ extraordinary impact is based on his authenticity and his passion for his company’s people and products. Most presenters can’t claim to be the CEO of an archetypically cool Silicon Valley company. Neither can they get away with wearing faded jeans, sneakers and a turtleneck onstage. But simply everyone with a product or service that improves people’s lives has a story to tell. Gallo’s book explains in detail how Jobs presents his story so that his passion shines though and ignites the audience. It’s Gallo’s claim that anyone can learn how to deliver an “insanely great” presentation.

The “secrets” that make Jobs so effective onstage include the usual stage tips taught by presentation coaches: Make eye contact with the audience, use vocal variety and know the power of a well-timed pause. But the majority of the book analyzes the structure, rather than the delivery techniques, of major keynotes Jobs has given at Macworld and elsewhere over the years. This makes the book of inestimable value for anyone who needs to understand the nuts and bolts of writing a speech.

Performance Piece

When Steve Jobs takes to the stage he often tells dramatic stories, so it’s appropriate that the book itself is structured as a three-act play. Act 1 tells how to create the story, Act 2 tells how to deliver it, and Act 3 stresses the importance of rehearsal. Gallo adds “Director’s Notes” that summarize each chapter (or scene), and he introduces a cast of supporting characters. Organizing the book in this way also reinforces the importance of telling a story in three parts; of delivering a speech with three messages. In fact, Gallo concedes, the chapter on the effectiveness of breaking a speech into three “could easily have become the longest in the book”.

Speechwriters’ playbook

The book is a playbook for writing a great speech. Jobs and his team start scripting a speech long before firing up PowerPoint or, in their case, Keynote software. They settle on an attention-grabbing headline (“The world’s thinnest notebook”); then they decide on the three key messages; develop analogies and metaphors; and scope out demonstrations, videos clips and cameo guest appearances. Next they develop the “plot” of the speech, setting up an antagonist (Microsoft or IBM in the early days), dressing up numbers and including plenty of “amazingly zippy” words. Finally, they script a memorable “holy smokes” moment that people will talk about long after the event ends. The slides they eventually create are heavy on images and light on text and bullet points.

Live Action Video

But a book alone will only go so far. If you’ve never actually seen Steve present in person, then you haven’t experienced the “reality-distortion field” his charisma and eloquence creates in the auditorium. Gallo has this covered. The book’s end notes provide URLs for some of the 47,000 YouTube and Apple.com video clips showcasing Jobs and clearly demonstrating the techniques discussed. These links are also available on Gallo’s Web site. Viewing the videos compensates for the rather poor-quality monochrome photos of Jobs onstage — the one disappointment in the book.

Learning from his mistakes

To counteract any feelings of inadequacy you might have after watching Jobs deliver a flawless keynote, do a quick search on YouTube for Apple Bloopers and you’ll see that, even for Steve Jobs, things don’t always go well onstage. Demos fail, screens freeze, and he stumbles over words. But as with any masterful presenter, Jobs remains calm. Even if the speeches you write or deliver are not destined for “insane” greatness, they’ll be much, much, better for having read Carmine Gallo’s insanely great book.

This review was originally published in ragan.com.