Speak Without Fear: A Total System for Becoming a Natural, Confident Communicator

For many of us, public speaking is at best a chore marked by great anxiety and at worst a potential career stopper. Ours is a time when the ability to communicate in front of individuals or groups in all types of business and other situations is becoming paramount. Speak Without Fear offers a unique, practical process for combating the stage fright that plagues us every day in these situations.

Unlike other books on public speaking, Speak Without Fear goes beyond the external techniques, such as how to breathe properly and keep eye contact, to delve deeply into the reason for your performance anxiety. It gets to the root of what's giving you the sweats so you can identify what's in the way and work through it to communicate naturally and comfortably before audiences of any size.

Ivy Naistadt's easy-to-follow, step-by-step program will help you:

• Identify the degree and type of your nervousness
• Pinpoint the incidents and issues that, directly or indirectly, cause you fear and loathing in the spotlight
• Develop and master a technique for over-coming your anxiety that's adaptable to your level of experience and need
• Use your new skills to shine in a variety of situations — whether speech making, interviewing, auditioning, or presenting

No matter how anxious you are about going before an audience — any audience, whether it's 1 or 1,000 — Speak Without Fear will give you the tools to speak powerfully and persuasively.

Library Journal

These books point to authenticity as the key to public-speaking success. The politically motivated Phillips, a presentations skills coach, and Ferguson (A Passion for Politics) stress that for women, presentation skills equal power. Women, they note, face a double bind: along with the usual anxieties about public speaking, they have to manage the unease of assuming the traditionally "masculine" role of public speaker. Later sections of the book focus on how to retain feminine authenticity, cultivate delivery skills, and bring aspects of one's personal life into the public-speaking arena. Practical tips and skills are presented, but readers must wend through repeated pro-woman arguments to find them. Naistadt's work is much more a public-speaking primer, though it adds value by providing excellent advice for overcoming common fears and obstacles. A former actress and public-speaking coach, she notes that companies of all kinds expect employees to dazzle audiences during presentations. While all readers have at least some practical presentation skills, many also have emotional hindrances that hold them back. Naistadt's program specifically addresses these folks, particularly those burdened with stage fright, and aids them in developing a style of communicating that is natural and authentic. Obstacles vary from the easily remedied (e.g., poor grammar or nervousness) to major inhibitions like fear of criticism, humiliation, or failure. Methods like how to stand, breathe, make eye contact, gesticulate, and properly vocalize are discussed, as are rehearsals and structuring messages for maximum impact. Speak is a fine guide, recommended for all public libraries; Women Seen is a good bet for business and women's studies collections. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.