Just Read: Speak Up! A Woman’s Guide to Presenting like a PRO0

I can usually be spotted reading books about physics, astronomy, art, design, and tons of graphic novels. It’s my nature. However, I am addicted to expanding my professional skill sets. I have overflowing towers of book about writing, web, and social media. I have acquired profound knowledge on these topics from extensive research. But I realized one problem – I didn’t sound like it.

This was most likely due to a lack of presentation skills although I’m no stranger to the topic. My first job was at a production agency where PowerPoint presentations were our bread and butter for no less than 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.

But then it hit me.

I’m good at presenting others’ knowledge, highlighting their achievements, making them look and sounds like a million dollars, but I did not know how to do it for myself. Upon realizing this, I got to work. I decided to head to my local library to find some books on the topic. After rummaging rows of books, I found one that spoke to me in particular. A medium sized  paperback pastel blue and hot pink book called, Speak Up! A Woman’s Guide to Presenting Like a Pro.

I will admit I am not one to fall into the trap of girl focused books. After all, I think we are all equal. I will chalk it up to the colors of the cover (ironically, I like this color scheme) and the time limit I was under as the reason I checked this book out.

First page in, I was glad I did. This book is extremely easy to digest, and the writers have a friendly, warm personality that just comes right off the pages. Each chapter is short, concise, and clear. At the end of each chapter they provide you with bullet points summarizing what was covered which is great for someone with short attention span. At the end of the book, the writers provide resources,  top ten tips, and FAQ’s which condense the book and serve as a refresher.

The writers, Cydi Maxey and Kevin E O’Connor, specialized in presentation and communication and seem to have the art of speaking and conveying messages in public down to a science. However, this is the first public speaking book I have ever read, making a lot of this content brand new to me.  The author’s also cover a lot of tips on communicating and making great impressions in the corporate world. That said, I doubt you will find their tips on  writing emails, holding meeting, and making good impressions on corporate suites useful.

Speak Up! A Woman’s Guide to Presenting Like a Pro gives you the tools and the knowledge to make it happen. Can’t guarantee what you will read will be new to you if you have read presentation books before, but the information is so well organized and so easy to digest, that I would give this one a try as a refresher. If you are not into corporate communications, I would give this one a pass. The book is all about dealing with the corporate world from writing emails, organizing meeting, giving keynotes, and even eulogies.

Buy Speak Up!: A Woman’s Guide to Presenting Like a Pro on Amazon!