Stand and Deliver!

 

Title: Stand and Deliver! 40 simple steps to successful public speaking

Author: Ian Nichol

Publisher: Matador Publishing

Pp: 528 including index

Price: £12.99

I asked for a review copy of Stand and Deliver because I have a personal interest in the subject of public speaking. It was something I strenuously avoided for decades having made an idiot of myself once or twice at secondary school and never recovered until I discovered a marvellous panacea around July 2004 when I was looking for a way to keep myself occupied of an evening while spending several weeks on a severely restricted diet.

I was suspicious of the potential content because I have watched as a number of people I came to know present themselves as professional speakers on the basis of completion of a few speaking challenges. I thought that possibly Ian Nichol might be doing the same and wanted to satisfy my curiosity.

When I first opened the book almost at random and saw his advice on how to approach the onset of pre-speech butterflies (something along the lines of: ensure they are flying in the right order) I actually groaned. Out loud. I thought this was interesting and amusing the first time I heard someone use it during a speech at Toastmasters International but by the 10th or 12th time it had begun to pall.

But to be entirely fair to the author, that is the one and only reference to Toastmasters International that I can detect. The rest is very clearly his own original thinking, or a well sourced interpretation of someone else's material redeployed to make a point. The George Patton speech on pages 83-85 is an eye-opener. And I did not know that controversial politician Enoch Powell liked to speak with a full bladder, 'presumably to sharpen his faculties before a speech'.

The book is chock a block full of good advice about preparation and research, the power of persuasion and personality, the feigning of cheerfulness, the effectiveness of self-effacement and body language.

Reading this book won't make the reader a good speaker, but it will provide a very good starting place. My own recommendation to anyone who is sincere about wanting to speak in public, and speak well, is to join Toastmasters International (there will be a club near you), participate regularly in every meeting you can attend and work your way through the many different manuals presenting many different challenges.

There were 16 in total when I was a member from July 2004 till a couple of years ago when my wife and I moved to a town that does not yet have its own club, but that number might have changed. Everyone I know who has followed the above advice has improved, often quickly and very dramatically. There is no substitute for doing it, often, in a supportive environment where you will receive personalised, excellent feedback from almost everyone in the room.

It will enable you, without doubt, to Stand and Deliver. Oh, one piece of pre-speech advice I remember from another context, is based on ABC and XYZ. Always Be Courteous and Examine Your Zip...