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Public Speaking: Banish the Butterflies
Whether an accomplished speaker or a nervous novice, you'll acquire invaluable insights from seasoned speakers. Discover practical techniques on what to embrace and pitfalls to avoid. Witness how they conquered their fears and mastered the captivating art of public speaking, transforming trepidation into triumph.
If you’ve ever:
-- Been passed up for a promotion because it involved public speaking
-- Been afraid to speak up in meetings
-- Accepted an invitation to speak and choked
-- Doubted your ability to effectively communicate your ideas to others
-- Missed out on opportunities to network and build relationships
-- Felt isolated or overlooked because of your not speaking up in group settings
With this step-by-step guide you'll not only conquer your fear, you’ll come to enjoy and become expert at public speaking! It’s the only guide you’ll ever need.
“As a career public speaker, I can say that this book was an awesome little breath of inspiration and renewal. Good, commonsensical tips are presented in a practical way. Very helpful and refreshing and full of good ideas that I wish I’d had when I was just starting out.” Karen Siddall, professional public speaker.
Jan Hurst-Nicholson has 35-years’ public-speaking experience as a speaker and a public-speaking educator. Her ground-breaking book will push you over the edge from being anxious to being excited about public speaking. Move up in your career, expand your social impact, and master your fear by following Jan's proven tools.
(Formerly published as Would You Rather be in the Coffin than Give the Eulogy?)
.* Makes a great graduation gift.
If you’ve ever:
-- Been passed up for a promotion because it involved public speaking
-- Been afraid to speak up in meetings
-- Accepted an invitation to speak and choked
-- Doubted your ability to effectively communicate your ideas to others
-- Missed out on opportunities to network and build relationships
-- Felt isolated or overlooked because of your not speaking up in group settings
With this step-by-step guide you'll not only conquer your fear, you’ll come to enjoy and become expert at public speaking! It’s the only guide you’ll ever need.
“As a career public speaker, I can say that this book was an awesome little breath of inspiration and renewal. Good, commonsensical tips are presented in a practical way. Very helpful and refreshing and full of good ideas that I wish I’d had when I was just starting out.” Karen Siddall, professional public speaker.
Jan Hurst-Nicholson has 35-years’ public-speaking experience as a speaker and a public-speaking educator. Her ground-breaking book will push you over the edge from being anxious to being excited about public speaking. Move up in your career, expand your social impact, and master your fear by following Jan's proven tools.
(Formerly published as Would You Rather be in the Coffin than Give the Eulogy?)
.* Makes a great graduation gift.
106 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 12, 2018
3 people are currently reading
4 people want to read
About the author
Jan Hurst-Nicholson
22 books49 followersJan Hurst-Nicholson has been writing for about 25 years. Her articles, humorous articles and short stories have appeared in South African and overseas magazines and these were compiled into a book: ‘Something to Read on the Plane’ a bit of light literature, short stories & other fun stuff.
Her first children’s book was ‘Leon Chameleon PI and the case of the missing canary eggs’ published by Gecko Books, and was one of Bookchat’s 1993 South African Books of the Year. This was followed by ‘Leon Chameleon PI and the case of the kidnapped mouse’ (both now available as e-books on Amazon) ‘Leon Chameleon PI and the case of the bottled bat’ is awaiting publication. These are humorous, animal, detective stories set in a nature reserve.
‘Bheki and the Magic Light,’ which tells of a rural child’s fascination with a torch, was published by Penguin SA.
‘Jake,’ was published by Cambridge University Press.
The Race (an inspirational story for LEFT-HANDERS)is now avilable as an e-book
Born in the UK, Jan emigrated from Liverpool to South Africa in the 1970s. Her experiences moving to a new continent were the inspiration for her humorous novel ‘But Can You Drink The Water?’ which was a semi-finalist (top 50 out of 5000) in the 2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.
This is now available on Amazon as a Kindle digital book and has sold over 15 000 copies.
Jan worked in the R&D department of a large bakery for several years, and this gave her the idea for ‘The Breadwinners,’ a family saga spanning 50 years and set in Durban. This is now available on Amazon as a Kindle digital book.
Jan has also written a YA novel, Mystery at Ocean Drive, which was a runner-up in the 2010 Citizen/Pan MacMillan YA novel award, and is now available as a Kindle digital book.
Jan's latest novel is "With the Headmaster's Approval" a contemporary story set in the UK,
Jan has also written a non-fiction book. PUBLIC SPEAKING - Banish the Butterflies. A must-read for anyone involved with public speaking.
Jan’s writing also appears in ‘Edge Words’ (20 stories from the Cheshire Prize for Literature 2006) published by University of Chester, ‘Chicken Soup for the Caregiver's Soul’ and ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul 101 best stories On Being a Parent,’ and ‘Summer Shorts’.
Her first children’s book was ‘Leon Chameleon PI and the case of the missing canary eggs’ published by Gecko Books, and was one of Bookchat’s 1993 South African Books of the Year. This was followed by ‘Leon Chameleon PI and the case of the kidnapped mouse’ (both now available as e-books on Amazon) ‘Leon Chameleon PI and the case of the bottled bat’ is awaiting publication. These are humorous, animal, detective stories set in a nature reserve.
‘Bheki and the Magic Light,’ which tells of a rural child’s fascination with a torch, was published by Penguin SA.
‘Jake,’ was published by Cambridge University Press.
The Race (an inspirational story for LEFT-HANDERS)is now avilable as an e-book
Born in the UK, Jan emigrated from Liverpool to South Africa in the 1970s. Her experiences moving to a new continent were the inspiration for her humorous novel ‘But Can You Drink The Water?’ which was a semi-finalist (top 50 out of 5000) in the 2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.
This is now available on Amazon as a Kindle digital book and has sold over 15 000 copies.
Jan worked in the R&D department of a large bakery for several years, and this gave her the idea for ‘The Breadwinners,’ a family saga spanning 50 years and set in Durban. This is now available on Amazon as a Kindle digital book.
Jan has also written a YA novel, Mystery at Ocean Drive, which was a runner-up in the 2010 Citizen/Pan MacMillan YA novel award, and is now available as a Kindle digital book.
Jan's latest novel is "With the Headmaster's Approval" a contemporary story set in the UK,
Jan has also written a non-fiction book. PUBLIC SPEAKING - Banish the Butterflies. A must-read for anyone involved with public speaking.
Jan’s writing also appears in ‘Edge Words’ (20 stories from the Cheshire Prize for Literature 2006) published by University of Chester, ‘Chicken Soup for the Caregiver's Soul’ and ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul 101 best stories On Being a Parent,’ and ‘Summer Shorts’.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 22, 2018
The title of this book comes from the punchline of a Jerry Seinfeld joke. It’s his reaction to hearing that studies have found most people fear public speaking more than death. It’s true that most of us fear public speaking. Yet most of us have situations where we need to do this. Some of those situations, say explaining something in your team meeting at work, aren’t even what most of us view as public speaking, but they require some of the same skills, and many of us react the same. Whether at work, in social and family situations, or to help meet our commitments in church and community groups, public speaking skills are something we could all benefit from obtaining.
This book aims to be an extensive reference to help obtain those skills. It has sections that have hints for preparing and delivering a speech. Another section focuses on different kinds of speaking situations with discussion on the unique aspects to be aware of and prepared for in each.
The author mentions spending 35 years as the member of a club that was focused on learning public speaking skills. It’s apparent she’s learned a lot and that knowledge is reflected in this book.
If the book falls short, it is because building public speaking skills exclusively by reading is tough. The opportunity to practice speaking and obtain knowledgeable feedback as part of a club or group, as Ms Hurst-Nicholson did, is the other part of the equation for many people. I’m surprised the author didn’t at least briefly outline the advantages of this and include some suggestions on how to find such a club. (Many clubs are associated with Toastmasters International. That and your favorite search engine will get you headed the right direction.) To be fair, there are a couple sentences as part of the last paragraph of actual content in the book that mention the potential of finding a club, but given the emphasis and location, I suspect it won’t register with most readers. My advice is to do both. Buy the book. Join a club.
**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. May have received a free review copy. **
This book aims to be an extensive reference to help obtain those skills. It has sections that have hints for preparing and delivering a speech. Another section focuses on different kinds of speaking situations with discussion on the unique aspects to be aware of and prepared for in each.
The author mentions spending 35 years as the member of a club that was focused on learning public speaking skills. It’s apparent she’s learned a lot and that knowledge is reflected in this book.
If the book falls short, it is because building public speaking skills exclusively by reading is tough. The opportunity to practice speaking and obtain knowledgeable feedback as part of a club or group, as Ms Hurst-Nicholson did, is the other part of the equation for many people. I’m surprised the author didn’t at least briefly outline the advantages of this and include some suggestions on how to find such a club. (Many clubs are associated with Toastmasters International. That and your favorite search engine will get you headed the right direction.) To be fair, there are a couple sentences as part of the last paragraph of actual content in the book that mention the potential of finding a club, but given the emphasis and location, I suspect it won’t register with most readers. My advice is to do both. Buy the book. Join a club.
**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. May have received a free review copy. **
September 5, 2018
Would You Rather Be in the Coffin Than Give the Eulogy? How to take the terror out of public speaking and advance your career and social network by Jan Hurst-Nicholson is a fantastic relatively short book that has inside anything you need to know about contacting various forms of public speaking.
It covers a plethora of items like Skype interview, Telephone interview and many more.
The book is practically divided into four instrumental and functional parts. The parts are: Preparing and writing the speech, Delivering the speech, types of speeches and finally Formalities which I found very interesting.
The book was well researched and comprehensive it gives you in a bullet point form what you need to know for each occasion, and I am sure I will have it as a reference on my desk all the time.
Highly recommended, it will save you time and money.
It covers a plethora of items like Skype interview, Telephone interview and many more.
The book is practically divided into four instrumental and functional parts. The parts are: Preparing and writing the speech, Delivering the speech, types of speeches and finally Formalities which I found very interesting.
The book was well researched and comprehensive it gives you in a bullet point form what you need to know for each occasion, and I am sure I will have it as a reference on my desk all the time.
Highly recommended, it will save you time and money.
November 20, 2018
As a career public speaker, I can say that this book was an awesome little breath of inspiration and renewal. Good, common-sensical tips are presented in a practical way. Very helpful and refreshing and full of good ideas that I wish I’d had when I was just starting out. I especially enjoyed the asides of actual experiences “on the road.” I recommend this book especially to those that find themselves having to speak up and speak out at public gatherings of any kind! There is even a section regarding being chosen to say grace before a public meal.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews