Enhancing Your Presentation Skills

Rating:
Summary: Great stories-wonderful practical application!!!
Review: Excellent Book! This in-depth approach really takes Presentation Skills to a new level, especially the areas on eye-contact, physical skills, and organization/content. I recommend that candidates for public office on all levels of government use this public speaking tool. It is insightful, entertaining, and all of the concepts Till Kahrs presents in "Enhancing Your Presentation Skills" are right on target. Till shares his vast knowledge of this subject matter skillfully with his readers. It's obvious that Till Kahrs is a seasoned pro and that he has 'been there', and that's probably why "Presentations Magazine" gave this book such a great review in their May, 2001 issue. I'm delighted that I picked up this book. It's definitely well worth the money and I highly recommend it to anyone who speaks in public or gives presentations. Well done indeed!

Rating:
Summary: Practical, but too shallow
Review: I examined this book in hopes of finding a reference text on presentation/training skills and principles for the participants in my company's train-the-trainer sessions. Early on, I thought that Kahr's book might fill the bill, but the further I delved into it, the more it became apparent to me that while it was a very broad treatment of the subject, it was also far too shallow.

For example, while addressing such issues as eye contact, Kahrs overlooks the deeper issue of establishing rapport, including reasons for why this skill is essential. Likewise, his section on gesturing focuses on all the things you shouldn't do to limit your ability to gesture, but never develops a strategy for designing meaningful gesturing into your presentation, let alone providing a discussion of the contribution of visual reinforcement to the effectiveness of the verbal communication.

Some of Kahrs' recommendations seemed a bit quirky. His recommendations to not use "progressive reveal" with an overhead transparency but to use builds in electronic presentations, asserting that the former is distracting (really? I've always found that it helps...), but the latter i s helpful, came off as inconsistent. Similarly, his advice that classroom-style seating is better than U-shaped seating is both counterintuitive and unsupported.

Finally, the book's organization is rather casual, making it difficult to use as a reference--it's as if this book is a transcription of his personal ruminations on the subject. For example, when I wanted to quote his statement about seating rather than paraphrasing, I was unable to find that paragraph despite 20 minutes of searching.

All that being said, much of what Tills writes is on target--and it's a very big target, ranging from vocal skills to visuals to media relations. An experienced presenter/trainer might well find 2 or 3 real gems that hit home, but most of what's here is too basic for that audience. Conversely, the novice might be overwhelmed by Till's tendency to focus on behavioral recommendations (lots and lots of them), rather than principles of effective communication. All-in-all, it's hard to say that this book is worth the price asked for it--it would make a much better booklet (if edited down to 30% of its current lenght) than it does a book.

Rating:
Summary: Good Tips & Ideas but BAD Writing!
Review: Kahrs' book reflects his experience and subject matter expertise, but this is one of the most poorly written books I have ever come across. Grammatical, punctuation and spelling errors abound and I found it very distracting. The author's style comes across as unprofessional and uneducated and made it very difficult for me to take anything in the book seriously.

Rating:
Summary: Great Writing, Extremely Helpful
Review: Someone recommeded that I read this book and I was so happy they did. This book is so well written and very easy to understand. I have a tremendous fear of public speaking, and this book helped me overcome those fears. I am very grateful and highly recommend this book to anyone who has the same fears that I do!

Rating:
Summary: Great stories-wonderful practical application!!!
Review: This book sure was fun to read! Unlike most books about presentation skills, Kahrs makes this subject fun to read about. As a storyteller, Kahrs is a hysterically funny genius. The stories make sense and show the practical application of his methods. Kahrs writes very well, and I found myself not being able to put this book down.
Particularly helpful were the sections on rephrasing questions and recommendations for gesturing. Kahrs pinpoints and gives clear directions on what to do and how to do it, relative to public speaking skills.
My only negative comment, I wish that Chapter 8, which deals with dialogue skills would have been longer and had included more stories. Perhaps a writer as prolific as Kahrs is simply wetting our appetites for another well-written, fun-reading book.
Definitely worth the read and the money!

Rating:
Summary: Definitely a Hit with Me!
Review: Till's book is wonderful! It is very easy to read, yet sophisticated enough for business people who really need to improve their public speaking skills. "Enhancing Your Presentation Skills" gives very specific tips on how to improve your presentation skills from physical skills development to designing effective visuals. I also found the section on handling tough Q & A to be invaluable. You can tell that Till Kahrs definitely has a high level of expertise in this area. Small wonder that he's the co-founder of PublicSpeakingSkills.com. I highly recommend this book to any business person who makes presentations, no matter how large or small the audience is. Definitely 5 Star material!