I’m a professional speaker. For more than forty years, people have been paying me to give presentations on creativity, innovation, and leadership. During this time, I’ve learned, and I continue to learn, a lot about what works and what doesn’t work in presenting to all kinds of audiences. I’m also a professional executive coach, and over the years I’ve helped many clients overcome fear and develop confidence and poise so that they can deliver engaging, meaningful, and memorable messages, sometimes with high stakes involved.
I love helping people in this way! There’s something especially wonderful when a client who is terrified of public speaking transforms that fear into confidence and then as a direct result becomes more successful in her career. The “Transform Fear and Supercharge Your Career” part of this book’s subtitle comes from watching what happens when people apply the secrets you will learn in this book.
I’ve coached clients to prepare presentations in their quest to secure multimillion-dollar contracts and to inspire thousands of employees to align with a higher purpose in the face of challenging circumstances. I have coached many aspirants who are now successful professional speakers.
For many of my clients the ability to rise to the challenge of speaking effectively to larger and larger groups became the secret of their success and in many cases the turning point in their careers. And now many of my clients need help learning how to connect with and influence audiences via various online modalities. The principles and methods that will make you effective with an in-person audience become even more important when you are presenting online.
All my books are a response to one simple question: What skills, competencies, or insights do people need that I know the most about?
A few years ago my answer to that question was relationship building. So in 2017 New World Library released The Art of Connection: 7 Relationship-Building Skills Every Leader Needs Now. The book provides compelling evidence that our ability to connect effectively with others is the secret to leadership — and to health, happiness, and longevity.
This book builds on the fundamental skills covered in The Art of Connection. The core principle of connection is expressed in the motto Conjungere ad solvedum: Connect before solving. In other words, when you create rapport, alignment, and a sense of shared humanity with others, it becomes much easier to be creative and find innovative solutions to problems.
The same principle holds in public speaking. Our motto for this book is:
Conjungere ad orationem: Connect before speaking.
When you connect with yourself by organizing your nervous system — one of the most important secrets you will learn — and clarifying your message and objectives for your audience, you can then connect with others and establish the rapport that transforms fear into enthusiasm.
If you have read The Art of Connection, you’ll discover that it has prepared you to get the most from this book. If you haven’t, don’t worry; it isn’t a prerequisite to reading this book, but you may find that it’s a perfect follow-up.
In this book you will learn how to make Mind Maps to help you generate and organize your presentations. I use Mind Mapping to prepare all my presentations and to write all my books, including this one. You’ll discover that when you are making your own Mind Maps, it’s best to place just one key word on each line, and to follow the other guidelines for classic Mind Mapping, as described in chapter 3. The maplike images for each chapter, generated by our illustrious illustrator, Brian Weller, are designed to create an easily accessible and memorable summary / study guide for the book. These summary illustrations reference many of the important quotes and key phrases in each chapter to help you remember and apply the key information you need to master the art of public speaking.