Working the Room: How to Move People to Action Through Audience-Centered Speaking

by Nick Morgan

Offers a new approach to public speaking based on Greek oratory and modern communications that focuses on a three-part process--content delivery, rehearsal, and delivery--to give an effective speech.

Genres: Communication, Self Help

224 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2003

About the author

Dr. Nick Morgan is one of America’s top communication speakers, theorists and coaches. A passionate teacher, he is committed to helping people find clarity in their thinking and ideas – and then delivering them with panache. He has been commissioned by Fortune 50 companies to write for many CEOs and presidents. He has coached people to give Congressional testimony, to appear in the media, and to deliver an unforgettable TED talk. He has worked widely with political and educational leaders. And he has himself spoken, led conferences, and moderated panels at venues around the world. During the last election cycle, he provided expert commentary on the presidential debates for CNN.

Nick’s methods, which are well-known for challenging conventional thinking, have been published worldwide. His acclaimed book on public speaking, Working the Room: How to Move People to Action through Audience-Centered Speaking, was published by Harvard in 2003 and reprinted in paperback in 2005 as Give Your Speech, Change the World: How to Move Your Audience to Action. His book on authentic communications, Trust Me, was published by Jossey-Bass in January 2009. His book on communications and brain science, Power Cues: The Subtle Science of Leading Groups, Persuading Others, and Maximizing Your Personal Impact, was published by Harvard in May 2014. His latest book, Can You Hear Me?, on the perils of virtual communication, is due out from Harvard in 2018

Nick served as editor of the Harvard Management Communication Letter from 1998 – 2003. He has written hundreds of articles for local and national publications, and appears frequently on radio and TV. Nick is a former Fellow at the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

After earning his PhD. in literature and rhetoric, Nick spent a number of years teaching Shakespeare and Public Speaking at the University of Virginia, Lehigh University, and Princeton University. He first started writing speeches for Virginia Governor Charles S. Robb and went on to found his own communications consulting organization, Public Words, in 1997.

Nick attributes his success to his honest and direct approach that challenges even the most confident orators to rethink how they communicate.

Reviews

[Dennis Leong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Working the Room sets a good foundation for giving a speech or presentation. I wished it delved deeper into some of the details. Having the book formulate an example speech using the techniques provided would also have helped. The book uses short examples and analysis of famous speeches to illustrate the concepts but I would have preferred building a speech throughout the book as a way to understand the process.

There are a lot of concepts here but none of them are explained in great detail. This book serves as a good jumping off point to further explore the ideas presented within. References and suggested reading would have been helpful at the end of the book.

[Debbie Gore]

I am a speaker and Nick Morgan teaches this "The only reason to give a speech is to change the world. You accomplish that by moving your audience to action. To do that, you have to be willing to listen to the audience, and to give it your passion. To get to that happy state, you need to find kinesthetic connections with the audience." You can buy an easy download to work on your kinesthetic connections...that's what I did!http://www.publicwords.com/

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good book on how to give a presentation that the audience WANTS to listen to, not that I WANT to give.

Too long, like most books! But really good presentation information. "Presentation" meaning speaking, presenting, selling, lecture, mentoring, etc. (i.e. NOT just speech-with-slides kind of thing).

I rather enjoyed the book.

[Jacob Cruzan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an okay book, with some good information. A lot of it I already read in other books. There were more example speeches and examples of how to engage the audience.

[Gayle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book! Provides a great way to present - as a gift to the audience. Take yourself out of it and give it away. Good stuff!!