It's Not What You Say, It's How You Say It: Ready-to-Use Advice for Presentations, Speeches, and Other Speaking Occasions, Large and Small - Softcover

THE TITLE OF THIS BOOK reads It's Not What You Say, It's How You Say It. But I have a confession: That might be a slight exaggeration. Because "what you say" does matter...it just doesn't tell the whole story.

Let me explain.

Maybe you have to run a community fund-raiser, or meet face-to-face with a sales prospect, or handle a tough job interview. Maybe you have to give a short presentation to a few colleagues at a department meeting, or give a big speech at a professional conference.

Whether you're talking to one person or a thousand, you certainly need a message. And that message must be targeted to your listeners' needs.

Before you decide "what to say," ask yourself these important questions:

(1) What do they want to hear from me?

(2) What do they need to hear from me?
(Pamela Harriman, former U.S. ambassador to France, once defined leadership as "the ability to tell people not what they want to hear, but what they need to know.")

(3) What do they already know about this topic--and where did they get their information?

(4) What misconceptions do they have?

(5) What problems do they face--and how did those problems develop?

(6) What solutions have they already tried?

(7) What message would be most comfortable?

(8) What message would be most troubling?

(9) What information could save them money?

(10) What information could save them time?

(11) What changes would I suggest they make?

(12) What recommendations could they put into practice most easily?

(13) What advice would be welcome?

(14) What advice would be resented?

(15) What perspective can I bring to their unique situation?

(16) And, perhaps the most important question: What can I say to them that no one else could say as effectively?

Once you ask yourself these basic questions, you should have a pretty good idea of what to say. And that's important, because you certainly need a message.

But good presentations demand more than a message. And that's why this chapter--the "content" chapter--is the shortest in the whole book. As you will soon see, good communication isn't just "what you say," it's how you say it.