Do you ever wonder how speakers put their talks together? As a preacher, do you struggle with lesson preparation? Do you want a system that can help you prepare lessons that connect with people? If you answer yes to any of these questions, either or both of these books will be helpful and useful to you.
Last year I read World Class Speaking by Craig Valentine and Mitch Meyerson. Meyerson provides some information about marketing yourself as a speaker and building an online system for doing such, but the meat of the book is Valentine's instruction about the nuts-and-bolts of speaking.
Craig Valentine is a "world champion of public speaking" through Toastmasters and has identified a clear system that can help any speaker create an idea and move it forward to a full-blown keynote speech. He lays this system out in his book. The book is organized around three parts that focus on building your speech, generating leads, and building an information business through your speaking.
The heart of the book, for me, is Part I, "How to Master the Art of Public Speaking." In four chapters, Craig covers general speaking tips, speech-structure, content development, and stage presence and delivery. His chapters are well-written and filled with examples that illustrate his point and hints to help you put these concepts into practice in your own speaking.
The final two Parts have more to do with marketing and business and are probably more useful for professional speakers than preachers, though I was able to apply some of the concepts to my blog and social media strategies.
I'm using Craig's 9 Step Structure Model to develop my sermons and have been rewarded with several comments about the clarity of these lessons. It's a useful approach and well worth investing about $15 in for the book.
Craig is also a contributor to The Speaker's Edge, along with four other full-time speakers (Mark Brown, Darren LaCroix, Patricia Fripp, and Ed Tate). Although the book appears to be a promotion for their World Champions EDGE speaking program, it provides short, simple, clear, useful chapters about speaking.
Also organized around three parts, this book covers "Platform Presence," "Content Excellence," and "Winning Techniques." The chapters are short and provide just enough information to help you understand the concept. The contributors obviously want you to seek more information from their membership website, but if the information is as good as Craig's World Class Speaking book, the membership site will be worth the monthly fee ($29.95).
These are two good books for presenters and speakers of all stripes. Of the two, World Class Speaking is better, but both are helpful and useful, and I recommend both of them.
Last year I read World Class Speaking by Craig Valentine and Mitch Meyerson. Meyerson provides some information about marketing yourself as a speaker and building an online system for doing such, but the meat of the book is Valentine's instruction about the nuts-and-bolts of speaking.
Craig Valentine is a "world champion of public speaking" through Toastmasters and has identified a clear system that can help any speaker create an idea and move it forward to a full-blown keynote speech. He lays this system out in his book. The book is organized around three parts that focus on building your speech, generating leads, and building an information business through your speaking.
The heart of the book, for me, is Part I, "How to Master the Art of Public Speaking." In four chapters, Craig covers general speaking tips, speech-structure, content development, and stage presence and delivery. His chapters are well-written and filled with examples that illustrate his point and hints to help you put these concepts into practice in your own speaking.
The final two Parts have more to do with marketing and business and are probably more useful for professional speakers than preachers, though I was able to apply some of the concepts to my blog and social media strategies.
I'm using Craig's 9 Step Structure Model to develop my sermons and have been rewarded with several comments about the clarity of these lessons. It's a useful approach and well worth investing about $15 in for the book.
Craig is also a contributor to The Speaker's Edge, along with four other full-time speakers (Mark Brown, Darren LaCroix, Patricia Fripp, and Ed Tate). Although the book appears to be a promotion for their World Champions EDGE speaking program, it provides short, simple, clear, useful chapters about speaking.
Also organized around three parts, this book covers "Platform Presence," "Content Excellence," and "Winning Techniques." The chapters are short and provide just enough information to help you understand the concept. The contributors obviously want you to seek more information from their membership website, but if the information is as good as Craig's World Class Speaking book, the membership site will be worth the monthly fee ($29.95).
These are two good books for presenters and speakers of all stripes. Of the two, World Class Speaking is better, but both are helpful and useful, and I recommend both of them.
