I came across an article recently called The Ten Most Influential Bloggers on Public Speaking. It’s published by Eric Feng over at the Public Speaking Blog.

It’s a pretty interesting list as he not only ranks them, but he tells you why he ranked them in a particular way. Read his reviews and you’ll be able to decide which blogs you want to read. I re-post the list here, but check out his comment on his site.

1. Garr Reynolds — Presentation Zen

2. Life Hacker

3. John Kinde — Humor Power

4. Nancy Tierney — Unconditional Confidence

5. Tom Antion — Great Public Speaking

6. Paul Evans — Instant Speaking Success

7. Steve Pavlina – Personal Development For Smart People

8. Darren Fleming — Executive Speaking

9. Gary Guwe — Connexion! Communication Resources!

10. Bronwyn Ritchie — Pivotal Public Speaking

Thanks for the insights Eric.

There is a lot of information out there on public speaking so I wasn’t initially sure about getting the e-book: Instant Speaking Success

But then looking at the sales page of author Paul Evans’ website, he does raise some useful points under the warning section. He says:

“DO NOT Buy Any Book or Course on Public Speaking Unless it Meets the Following Criteria…

ONE: It is written by a true professional speaker. Too many courses and books are from theorists who write about speaking, but don’t actually speak. You want a practitioner who speaks to thousands each year on subjects more than just public speaking. I am STILL speaking to thousands each and every year.

TWO: Shows you step by step how to develop, design, and deliver YOUR message. Don’t be conned by someone who wants to “sell you a fish,” without teaching you how to catch them for yourself.

THREE: Explains why certain speaking techniques work, not just that they work. Knowing why helps you understand the reason behind a practice. Without “why” you’ll never reach your full speaking potential.

FOUR: You can actually talk with the author or developer. Unreachable people have no accountability for their product”.

Now in terms of whether he is actually someone who gets paid to do public speaking you have to take him at his word. That’s the difficulty with the internet these days, you can’t always get your hands on physical evidence.

But after reading the information packed guide, I would have to say that I sure do! But don’t take my word for it check out his public speaking blog: Paul Evans’ Blog

He delivers exactly what he says he’s going to deliver:

a step-by-step process to creating a great speech!

I initally only read the first few chapters when I began to implement his advice (I have since read it all). So how did I know that, although the first few chapters were great, the rest were not lousy?

Because one of the bonus books is called “Fast Talker”. This is essentially a condensed version of the main book and takes you through a sep-by-step process of creating a speech in an hour!!

Obviously creating a speech in this way is not ideal. You should spend as much time research writing, rehearsing and re-writing your speech or presentation as much as you can.

But I have to confess…

I’ve been in a situation a couple of times, where I’ve needed to pull a speech out the bag in an hour. I’m not proud of it, but I have.

Yes, I did end up referring to notes on 3×5 cards, but considering it was for one of my local Toastmasters public speaking clubs it didn’t really matter too much. (You can do this for the first couple of speeches, later on you’re expected to memorise what you’re doing). After all, that is a place where you can learn and experiment.

So I figured if the information contained in the “Fast Talker” e-book was anything to go by, then the main Instant Speaking Success e-book was going to be pretty damned good by the time I’d finished with it.

And I was right.

Not only that, but I’ve since exchanged a couple of emails with Paul Evans himself and he seems like a nice guy and certainly accountable for his products. So I decided to send him a testmonial by way of thanks.

Now, I’ve spent a lot of time temping in various offices over the last few years and at the time I didn’t realise that…

…I was subconsciously training myself up to be comfortable in the public and private sectors so I can, in fact, go in as a professional speaker to organisations similar to the ones I’ve worked for and have a basic idea of how they operate.

And from my observations, one of which I spoke about in an earlier post, if the speakers who I have seen are anything to go by then Instant Speaking Success should be mandatory to every organisation. I say that, because there seems to be scant attention paid to any form of public speaking training. This situation could be different in other countries, but it doens’t seem to be the case in many U.K. companies.

The only downside for me is seeing how to apply these techniques if I had to deliver a Best Man’s speech or a similar public speaking scenario. It’s a bit difficult for me to adapt the information or know what is specifically required in that particular circumstance, without me buying another book to deal with that particular issue.

However, there is still a tonne of valuable public speaking information in this guide and well worth your investment.

By now, as you read this, I hope to have given you a pretty good impression of what I think of this product. For my money it should be required reading. It’s certainly helped my public speaking skills. And Paul’s book is one I refer to again and again.

For further information on public speaking and Paul Evan’s system check out: Instant Speaking Success

I just want to include this from Awaken the Giant Within by self-help guru Tony Robbins. Whatever you think of Robbins try to set that aside because this is good stuff as it relates to public speaking:

“People in my seminars often ask me, “How long do you think it will take for me to really master this particular skill?” And my immediate response is, “How long do you want it to take?”

If you take action ten times a day (and have the proportionate “learning experiences”) while other people act on a new skill once a month, you’ll have ten months of experience in a day, you will soon master the skill, and will, ironically, probably be considered “talented and lucky.”

I became an excellent public speaker because, rather than once a week, I booked myself to speak three times a day to anyone who would listen.

While others in my organization had forty-eight speaking engagements a year, I would have a similar number within two weeks. Within a month, I’d have two years of experience. And within a year, I’d have a decade’s worth of growth.

My associates talked about how “lucky” I was to have been born with such an “innate” talent. I tried to tell them what I’m telling you now:

mastery takes as long as you want it to take”.

Certainly something worth bearing in mind if you want to rapidly improve as a public speaker.

From what I’ve heard Robbins improved his public speaking by going along to various different Toastmasters clubs. Although it is not clear if he joined many clubs and completed the manuals, or he just went along as a guest and participated in Table Topics only. However, in the above quote he could have been doing public speaking to any organisation.

For myself I joined two Toastmasters clubs in the beginning. I got advised to do so by the then President of my first club.

She said by joining at least two I can accerlate my opportunities of booking myself speaking slots and reduce the time that it took me to gain my Competant Communicator status.

And she was absolutely right.

I decided that I wanted to achieve my CC status in a year as I was told that it usually takes a year to eighteen months to complete the 10 speeches. I have to say now that I didn’t achieve that goal –

I exceeded it by achieving my CC Status in 11 months!!

I did it using the structure of Toastmasters, belonging to two clubs, and using as the public speaking techniques laid out in Instant Speaking Success

In May 2007 The Guardian newspaper, in the U.K., ran a series called “Great Speeches of the 20^th Century”. They did them as little free booklets, but they are also available to read online with audio versions too.

Here’s a link to their website: Great Speeches

There are some great speeches here… er, just like it says. Some that I’ve heard or read about before, others which are completely new to me. I think that this is quite a fascinating series.

I wanted to add one of my own, but this is for the 21^st Century. I don’t know if it would ever be included in a similar series in the future but I think it’s an important speech. It’s by Colonel Tim Collins OBE, formerly of the British Army.

On the eve of the Iraq War 2003 Colonel Tim Collins’ delivered an inspirational speech which was extemporized and notated by a single journalist.

Politics aside, which is obviously difficult given the content and the situation in which it was spoken, I think that it’s a pretty damned good speech:

“We go to liberate not to conquer. We will not fly our flags in their country. We are entering Iraq to free a people and the only flag which will be flown in that ancient land is their own. Show respect for them.

There are some who are alive at this moment who will not be alive shortly. Those who do not wish to go on that journey, we will not send. As for the others I expect you to rock their world. Wipe them out if that is what they choose. But if you are ferocious in battle remember to be magnanimous in victory.

Iraq is steeped in history. It is the site of the Garden of Eden, of the Great Flood and the birthplace of Abraham. Tread lightly there. You will see things that no man could pay to see and you will have to go a long way to find a more decent, generous and upright people than the Iraqis. You will be embarrassed by their hospitality even though they have nothing. Don’t treat them as refugees for they are in their own country. Their children will be poor, in years to come they will know that the light of liberation in their lives was brought by you.

If there are casualties of war then remember that when they woke up and got dressed in the morning they did not plan to die this day. Allow them dignity in death. Bury them properly and mark their graves.

It is my foremost intention to bring every single one of you out alive but there may be people among us who will not see the end of this campaign. We will put them in their sleeping bags and send them back. There will be no time for sorrow.

The enemy should be in no doubt that we are his nemesis and that we are bringing about his rightful destruction. There are many regional commanders who have stains on their souls and they are stoking the fires of hell for Saddam. He and his forces will be destroyed by this coalition for what they have done. As they die they will know their deeds have brought them to this place. Show them no pity.

It is a big step to take another human life. It is not to be done lightly. I know of men who have taken life needlessly in other conflicts, I can assure you they live with the Mark of Cain upon them. If someone surrenders to you then remember they have that right in international law and ensure that one day they go home to their family.

The ones who wish to fight, well, we aim to please.

If you harm the regiment or its history by over-enthusiasm in killing or in cowardice, know it is your family who will suffer. You will be shunned unless your conduct is of the highest for your deeds will follow you down through history. We will bring shame on neither our uniform or our nation.

[Regarding the use by Saddam of chemical or biological weapons] It is not a question of if; it’s a question of when. We know he has already devolved the decision to lower commanders, and that means he has already taken the decision himself. If we survive the first strike we will survive the attack.

As for ourselves, let’s bring everyone home and leave Iraq a better place for us having been there.

Our business now is north”.

Author’s note: There was a lot of doubt in the UK and, it would seem, in the army at the time about whether the Iraq War was legal. Colonel Collins had to find a way to motivate and unify his men so that he didn’t lose too many of them.

Ultimately, they had a job to do, even if the coalition seemed to be “moral crusaders”. The facts were the government wanted them to go in and he obviously wanted to come back with as many men as possible.

He has since been critical of the war and the lack of support he received when he was falsely accused of war crimes. There was a lot of unsubstantiated evidence about Iraq’s capabilities and has allegedly said he was unaware of the realities of that information.