Review of "Confessions of a Public Speaker" - “No matter how much you hate or love this book, you’re unlikely to be a good public speaker”

Those are words from the author, verbatim (p. 140).  You can become a good public speaker if you practice, but don’t believe the marketing hype about this book.  Like most people, you are lazy and you will most likely not practice (also p. 140).  Curiously, Mr. Berkun waited until over 2/3^rds into the book to disclose this pertinent information, when it should have been stated on the front cover. 

You may increase your chances of overcoming your pathetic lazy propensity by watching the documentary “Comedian” to get an appreciation for what it takes to deliver a seamless comedy routine.

Now that it has been well established, quite convincingly so, that most readers interested in enhancing their public speaking skills will not become good public speakers, the question is, can any improvement, however marginal, be achieved from reading this book?  Well, the answer depends on how carefully you read the book, and which parts you choose to focus on.  Most of the book is entertaining.  So if nothing else, readers with at least a mild interest in public speaking should find it worthwhile reading.  Mr. Berkun’s candid writing style, e.g. disclosing his pay per speaking engagement, is refreshing.

I believe reading this book without practice will still increase your public speaking skills, provided the following sections are retained in memory and applied in your public speaking endeavors:

Can’t remember which page:  Take Improv classes.  Mr. Berkun claims taking these classes vastly improved his public speaking skills.

Page 128:  Do not bother becoming a teacher or lecturer.  Based on Mr. Berkun’s vast lecturing experience, in any learning environment “5% are asleep and 25% are thinking about sex.  Another 35% are day dreaming about something else entirely.  Of the remaining 40%, some will be in the wrong room and others will be distracted by text messages or emails.”   By the way, if you didn’t catch the fuzzy math (the percentages add up to 105%, which is an impossibility), it’s because you fall under one of the categories the author mentioned while reading this part of my review.  Feel free to post a comment about which you category you belong to.

Pages 60-61:  Four things to prepare well.  Read the list for yourself. The book may lose sales if I list them here.

Page 88:  “Speak louder, take stronger positions, and behave more aggressively than you would in an ordinary conversation…. They are the same rules that good stand-up comedians, professors, and talk-show hosts follow.”