What do you think?
Rate this book
Present! A Techie's Guide to Public Speaking
The ultimate interactive public speaking guide from tech speakersPoornima Vijayashanker and Karen Catlin that prepares and encourages techies to discover their expertise, confidently share it, and successfully level up in their careers.
Techies around the world can now jump start and grow their speaking careers with the book, Present! A Techie's Guide to Public Speaking, written by tech leaders, Poornima Vijayashanker and Karen Catlin. The book serves as a resource for technology professionals who want or need to develop the skills to communicate their expertise effectively, whether in a meeting at work or delivering an engaging talk at a conference.
Poornima, who is the founder of Femgineer and the founding engineer of Mint.com, collaborated with former Adobe vice president and founder of Karen Catlin Consulting, Karen Catlin, to compile and share their lessons, tips, and techniques learned from their own experiences as professional tech speakers.
"Karen and I wanted to write this book so that our fellow techies would have a comprehensive resource to help them with their own public speaking endeavors. So many folks in the tech industry have amazing ideas and experience, but they often feel stuck on how to present them effectively. Also, our hope is that more women will be inspired by our stories and encouraged to get out there and share their own valuable expertise through public speaking in order to boost representation of women tech speakers," Poornima said.
Present! covers public speaking from A to Z. Through stories, examples, and interactive exercises, Poornima and Karen dive into topics including, overcoming stage fright, exploring personal speaking style, creating the right talk for the right audience, polishing presence and delivery, and nailing any type of talk, whether it's a lightning or long-form talk or being part of a panel.
Karen said, "Even though Poornima and I are professional speakers, we felt it was important to share our own feelings of nerves and uncertainty, and bumps we've had along the way - and sometimes continue to experience. It was important for us to communicate that no one is perfect and it really is okay when talks don't always go according to plan. Our hope is that by being open, we'll be able to give others the confidence and the techniques to handle situations when they arise, deliver an amazing presentation, and most importantly, have FUN"!
Techies around the world can now jump start and grow their speaking careers with the book, Present! A Techie's Guide to Public Speaking, written by tech leaders, Poornima Vijayashanker and Karen Catlin. The book serves as a resource for technology professionals who want or need to develop the skills to communicate their expertise effectively, whether in a meeting at work or delivering an engaging talk at a conference.
Poornima, who is the founder of Femgineer and the founding engineer of Mint.com, collaborated with former Adobe vice president and founder of Karen Catlin Consulting, Karen Catlin, to compile and share their lessons, tips, and techniques learned from their own experiences as professional tech speakers.
"Karen and I wanted to write this book so that our fellow techies would have a comprehensive resource to help them with their own public speaking endeavors. So many folks in the tech industry have amazing ideas and experience, but they often feel stuck on how to present them effectively. Also, our hope is that more women will be inspired by our stories and encouraged to get out there and share their own valuable expertise through public speaking in order to boost representation of women tech speakers," Poornima said.
Present! covers public speaking from A to Z. Through stories, examples, and interactive exercises, Poornima and Karen dive into topics including, overcoming stage fright, exploring personal speaking style, creating the right talk for the right audience, polishing presence and delivery, and nailing any type of talk, whether it's a lightning or long-form talk or being part of a panel.
Karen said, "Even though Poornima and I are professional speakers, we felt it was important to share our own feelings of nerves and uncertainty, and bumps we've had along the way - and sometimes continue to experience. It was important for us to communicate that no one is perfect and it really is okay when talks don't always go according to plan. Our hope is that by being open, we'll be able to give others the confidence and the techniques to handle situations when they arise, deliver an amazing presentation, and most importantly, have FUN"!
281 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 4, 2015
69 people are currently reading
224 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 29, 2015
I've given a few talks already, and I've previously struggled to find one specific resource for tips and tricks on public speaking. This book answers so many of the questions that I've had and so many of the questions I didn't even know to ask. There are so many personal anecdotes and examples that really help me to understand how to implement the strategies.
I breezed through it quickly, and am looking forward to rereading it as I put together a talk from scratch using the activities in this book.
Thank you to Poornima Vijayashanker and Karen Catlin for this great resource. I'll be recommending it to everyone I know that is even remotely interested in public speaking.
I breezed through it quickly, and am looking forward to rereading it as I put together a talk from scratch using the activities in this book.
Thank you to Poornima Vijayashanker and Karen Catlin for this great resource. I'll be recommending it to everyone I know that is even remotely interested in public speaking.
January 10, 2016
Strong 4 stars, maybe even 4.25 :)
On the PROs side - content is very clear & easy to understand, there are some R-L examples provided as well; Formatting & editing is very professional (& it's not always the case when book's not published by a 'big' pub house); Proposed advices, practices & suggestions are indeed useful & they all make a lot of sense -> they are intended mainly for someone who's just starting (or trying to convince her/himself to start) public speaking adventure - such a person would benefit most.
Why not 5 stars then? (CONS side) - I've expected far more advices regarding talk composition - not overall composition, but neat, situational tricks that are useful in particular scenarios. For instance: when do you keep chronological order & when to start by the end of the story; or "5 smart ways to get the full attention of your audience in the first 2 minutes"; or how to navigate a non-linear story (when you're starting with the overview & then dive in particular sections by enriching them with the details), etc.
So, it's actually good news - there's still a room for improvement for authors :) And I still think it's a good book - I don't regret either time or money spent on it.
On the PROs side - content is very clear & easy to understand, there are some R-L examples provided as well; Formatting & editing is very professional (& it's not always the case when book's not published by a 'big' pub house); Proposed advices, practices & suggestions are indeed useful & they all make a lot of sense -> they are intended mainly for someone who's just starting (or trying to convince her/himself to start) public speaking adventure - such a person would benefit most.
Why not 5 stars then? (CONS side) - I've expected far more advices regarding talk composition - not overall composition, but neat, situational tricks that are useful in particular scenarios. For instance: when do you keep chronological order & when to start by the end of the story; or "5 smart ways to get the full attention of your audience in the first 2 minutes"; or how to navigate a non-linear story (when you're starting with the overview & then dive in particular sections by enriching them with the details), etc.
So, it's actually good news - there's still a room for improvement for authors :) And I still think it's a good book - I don't regret either time or money spent on it.
September 11, 2015
Present! is an awesome tool for all techies who want to speak with confidence. It is filled with Poornima and Karen's personal stories, which give honest context to the book's teachings. Their anecdotes also made it relatable, and helped me to visualize how I might apply the learnings to my life experiences. In addition, each chapter includes useful exercises which enrich the content and help you on your journey to become a better speaker.
December 14, 2015
I wish I'd had this book earlier in my career! It’s packed with invaluable advice on giving technical presentations, from concept to delivery. The authors' personal anecdotes are priceless. Karen and Poornima make a convincing case that it's crucial to engage your audience with storytelling and they teach you how to do it with entertaining stories of their own. Covering everything from getting over stage fright to crafting slides, this is a must-read for anyone serious about growing their public speaking career.
August 30, 2016
I love this book very much! This book is perfect to guide me in public speech and career. I learned many useful skills for interview, suggestions of pitching myself, techniques to design stunning slides and methods of dealing with feedback. It helps me a lot.
August 24, 2016
Very readable, with plenty of practical tips, homework assignments and personal anecdotes. Would recommend this to anyone looking to get more comfortable with speaking.
February 28, 2017
Disclaimer: I'm currently enrolled in a Confident Communicator course that Poornima and Karen teach, so I'm obviously a fan of their approach :-)
I've done some public speaking in the past, but this is the first resource I've come across that really guided me through the process of planning, pitching and presenting a talk. The conversational tone of the book makes it an enjoyable read, while the chapter recaps make it a resource I know I'll turn back to again and again over time.
I've done some public speaking in the past, but this is the first resource I've come across that really guided me through the process of planning, pitching and presenting a talk. The conversational tone of the book makes it an enjoyable read, while the chapter recaps make it a resource I know I'll turn back to again and again over time.
November 6, 2020
I quickly grabbed this handy book from the local library in preparation for my own talk, due in 2 weeks. So many concepts are actually popular among public speakers, but Poornima made the texts in a very readable way. Both she and Karen use easy to grasp language, and thus only focus on the content delivery to maximize benefits. Other components that I like are the step by step guides and the structuring of a technical talk. Not only it helps me identify the key messages for my presentation that I mentioned earlier, but also it somehow supercharges the slides as a whole new package. Of course, some other bits such as handling questions and broadcasting performances pre/ post-events are also important. But my concentrations were more drawn towards the first two, which you could think about to level up your next discourses.
December 9, 2020
This was good for what it was, an introduction to several types of presentations. I felt the language was approachable and the tips were really practical and useful. I would flip through this before some future presentations again.
February 14, 2024
This is a good intro into the public speaking. But it’s pretty basic.
If you’re just entering the arena the book can help you navigate the space. But if you have given couple of presentations already I don’t think there is anything to learn from this book.
If you’re just entering the arena the book can help you navigate the space. But if you have given couple of presentations already I don’t think there is anything to learn from this book.
April 30, 2019
garbage
January 13, 2021
A very detailed and practical book for new speakers.
Read
March 13, 2018This book is a unique blueprint to take anyone from being a newbie to a pro in public speaking.I used one of the strategies in the book called the [inventory method] and i was seen as an expert speaker almost instantly.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews