TJ Walker interviews Matt Brown about his book Presentation Training A to Z. Brown argues speaking skills aren't innate: a decade of training professionals taught him that videotaping and rehearsal work, and that fear is learnable too.
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Okay.
And we're joined today by public speaking expert Matt Brown, who's the author of Presentation Training A to Z. Matt, thanks for joining us today.
Thanks for having me.
So why did you decide to write the book? What are the big insights you learned about public speaking?
This is a great book. This is what people need to know about my book, Presentation Training A to Z. They could find this book on Amazon.com right now in the first week of publication. It's actually on sale with a discount. Okay, but what's different about it?
Let's face it, there are a thousand books on public speaking. What insights do you deliver to your readers? That's really different here.
That's a great question. I'm glad that you asked me that question, because one of the things that is different about this book is that it's real world experience. I've been training people for over a decade now, and all of my training experiences are. Are in this book. So you're learning from a lawyer. You're learning from the things that I tell a doctor, a CEO, an international world leader. So these are all the things.
Were you ever afraid of public speaking? How did you get over your own fear? Because it is something that people commonly fear.
I had a great fear of public speaking. And you're right. People do have a fear of public speaking that a lot of them can't overcome. But if you read my book, if you do some of the techniques that I talk about, and you rehearse yourself, you videotape yourself, it's like pretending that you're a golfer. You can't just go from the driving range out to the masters. You have to learn the skills.
Are some people just born speakers? I mean, Tiger woods seems as though he was born a great golfer. Isn't this something you either got it or you don't. Right.
Some people are born great speakers, but other people need to learn how to do it. And that's what you learn in my book, Presentation Training A to Z. Moving forward, everyone will need to learn how to become a better public speaker, whether it's job interviews or whether it's giving great big speeches.
Well, but why is that? Some would say we are governed too much by leaders where all they do is focus on speaking skills and they don't have actual substance. Can't people's actual accomplishments speak for themselves?
I don't really think that. Because what I found is that great public speakers, that's a skill that you need to practice. And again, that's what you'll learn in my book presentation training A to Z.
All right, Bat Brown, thanks for being our guest today. Any final comments?
No, I think I've said everything that I've needed to say.
