Free (nook/Kindle/Kobo/DRM-free) Propose, Prepare, Present [Business Speech Advice]

[ATDrake]

Propose, Prepare, Present: How to become a successful, effective, and popular speaker at industry conferences by Montreal-resident Alistair Croll is a concise guide giving useful tips on business-oriented public speaking, free courtesy of publisher O'Reilly Media, who normally give us more overtly computer-tech-related freebie shorts (apparently, Croll got much of his practice doing tech conference presentations).

I had a quick flipthrough this, and while it's pretty short, it looks to provide some very practical tips on keeping your presentations brief* and interesting and understandable.

Currently free @ B&N (also in the UK), Amazon (available to Canadians & in the UK), Kobo & Google Play (both available to Canadians), as well as directly from the publisher (DRM-free in multiple formats available worldwide), and also BookShout (online reading & in-app download).

Description
Every year, tens of thousands of companies—from industry giants to aspiring upstarts—apply to speak at conferences. They pump millions of dollars into these events, hoping to find new customers, strengthen their brand, and meet new partners. Sadly, for most of them, things don’t go that way. Submitted topics aren’t chosen; when they are, they come across as tone-deaf sales pitches.

What does it take to be chosen to speak—and to rock the mic when given the chance? This book takes you behind-the-scenes of the conference process, showing you how to submit, plan, and deliver a talk that matters. Event organizer Alistair Croll provides many examples based on his experience with a wide range of conferences, including O’Reilly’s Strata, Velocity, Web2Expo, and TOC Conferences.

• Learn 11 items that help your submission stand out—and 11 items that will get it tossed
• Explore the hurdles your proposal has to clear before it’s accepted
• Tailor your talk to a conference’s topics and themes
• Discover why images work better than words in your slide deck
• Achieve your business goals by engaging the audience before, during, and after your talk

* If you can only achieve one out of three goals, and don't think you can hit "interesting", I personally advise going for "brief", for the sake of your audience. YMMV.