Issue 26(1)
Speaking
Effectively: Achieving Excellence in Presentations.
(2004). John
A. Kline. Prentice
Hall. 108 pp., $20.67. ISBN # 0-13-112833-7.
Review by: Moira
Fracassa
Academic
Services Officer
College
of Nursing
Wayne
State
University
Kline is
a motivational speaker and, therefore, meets one of the requirements
he outlines in the book: "Choose the right subject" (p. 7). He
brings over 30 years of his own experiences as a researcher, speaker,
and instructor to the table in a book he promises to be "as short
as possible yet cover what's really important about preparing
and presenting different kinds of talks" (p. xi).
The
book certainly appears and reads like a textbook, but do not let
that scare you off. For any professional in higher education (or
in almost any field, for that matter), being able to prepare and
conduct better-than-adequate speeches and presentations is a critical
skill that, when mastered, promises success and advancement. I
find that, in the organized textbook-style approach, Kline has
made the material most manageable and I believe that NACADA members
will find it of great value, both those who are seasoned presenters
and those who are drafting their first conference proposal.
Each
chapter provides an objective and tasks at the beginning, insights
and exercises within, and a summary of key points at the end.
That all provides a nice summary of what a student using
the book might need to study to pass an exam. What I found most
useful for the professional are the examples, concrete
instructions, and guidelines provided to help speakers carefully
think about their words and to deliver engaging presentations.
One
such simple instruction is a mnemonic Kline created, TOOTSIFELT:
"The Objective Of This Speech Is For Each Listener To." Completing
that statement before beginning the nitty-gritty work on a presentation
forces the speaker to focus on the audience and establish concrete
objectives. That is the kind of usable tip found throughout the
book. An area of great practical value is his chapter on visual
support. Kline doles out detailed advice about using various visuals,
including white boards, flip charts, props, and the ubiquitous
Power Point.
Examples
provide a solid foundation for the book. In the chapter about
using humor, he breaks down types of humorous support: definitions,
comparisons, testimony, etc. While readers may not need to know
or remember the types in order to use humor in a presentation,
the examples and insights he includes can help one decide when
and how to use humor (a challenge in any context!).
Despite the
book's presentation as a textbook, I ultimately came to see it
as a well-organized guide from which professionals can glean useful
tips. A message that Kline returns to thematically throughout
is putting yourself in the seat of the listener. Even if you lose
sight of that, his concrete lessons will force you to prepare
with that in mind. The book provides the basic structure needed
to improve presentations and gives readers the opportunity to
consider not only what they want to accomplish, but why and how
to best do it.
