Speaking Is an Audience Centered Sport:
How to Create and Deliver Presentations That Make People Sit Up, Take Notice and Beg for More
Marjorie Brody
Career Skills Press

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Brody’s “Speaking Is an Audience Centered Sport: How to Create and Deliver Presentations That Make People Sit Up, Take Notice and Beg for More” is one of her series of motivational works.

Convinced that all of life is a presentation writer/speaker Brody offers suggestions and thoughts about life situations. Whether facing job interviews, sales calls, or staff meetings; speaking moments are all dependent upon talent, mind-set and proficiency for making self-assured presentations. It is important to learn to make the best presentation possible since all have vast impact on careers.

I found the chapter on the subject of Stage Fright and how to Control It to be quite enlightening. Brody notes that the fear of speaking in public ranks ahead of death, flying, heights, and even snakes. She states that it is a fear that can be dealt with successfully.

There are six widespread fears that most speakers do face. These include

1 Fear of your mind going blank as you begin to speak, or during speaking.

2 Fear of exhibiting assorted physical signs of stage fright including nervousness, trembling or the shakes.

3 Challenges from someone in the audience for which you do not have an answer.

4 Fear of being judged and embarrassing yourself.

5 Fear that audience members might believe that you don’t know enough regarding the subject.

6 Fear that a bad presentation will destroy your reputation.

Writer Brody advocates that after fears are recognized it is time to commence working toward how to deal with the fears, and, to even use the the fears to help better technique. Self talk for building self esteem is an interesting notion.

Per Brody; Visualization can be another effectual mode for controlling stage fright. She notes constructive self talk coupled with visualization; thinking the setting, talk, possible pitfalls and how to face them, nervousness, loss of memory and how to overcome them; are tools to help control stage fright.

There are some fundamental rules to follow which can also make controlling fears easier. Brody lists: reach your speaking destination early, eat lightly prior to speaking, include a little humor, and utilize some interactive techniques.

More topics include: Why You Need This book, Organizing Your Presentation and The Three Main Parts of Your Presentation.

I found “Speaking Is an Audience Centered Sport” to be a well-written resource which may well prove useful to anyone who wants to deliver more affirmative talks before co-workers, strangers or any audience.

Overflowing with graphic representations, sidebars, and photographs readers of others of Brody’s books have come to expect; this edition is easily read and is intended for use in classrooms as well as on the corporate and individual individual level, and can be used by the private reader. Packed with an abundance of functional lists and infographic materials, Brody’s tightly focused writing maintains reader interest by presenting content in small, well-organized subdivisions.

This tome is presented in 11 chapters consistign of almost 300 pages. I was particularly pleased to find print large enough to read without resorting to magnifying lens. I found the illustrations, photographs and side bars distributed throughout the book to be very helpful.

The author covers speeches over and above discussion of an assortment of types of presentations. Brody says there are three levels of influence meant to persuade intrinsic to presentations these include: motivate, convince, and call to action.

Writer Brody is the president of Brody Communications, Ltd., her international training corporation, centered on promoting people toward accelerating their careers. She is a specialized speaking professional who has authored or co-authored eight books including “Speaking Is an Audience Centered Sport.”

For those considering a career that will embrace public speaking; the data, philosophy and guidelines presented by Brody on the pages of “Speaking Is an Audience Centered Sport” are presented in understandable, concise manner. A first-rate source for those for whom speaking before a group is thorny, part of the job, or, for those who just want to learn to do a better job of speaking whether on an ongoing basis or only now and then Brody’s work fills a real need.

Classroom teachers will discover the work to be an important personal tool as well as a textbook for classroom use. “Speaking Is an Audience Centered Sport” is suggested for school, home, personal and public library lists. Happy to recommend for the target audience.