title: Present Like a Pro: The Field Guide to Mastering the Art of Business, Professional, and  Public Speaking
author:  Cyndi Maxey 
description: Targeting managers, salespeople, professional speakers and even best men preparing wedding toasts, communications and leadership consultants Maxey and O'Connor provide useful advice and moral support to anyone who is about to speak up. Through judicious peppering of personal stories, they demystify the near-universal fear of speaking in public, while offering potential speakers at all skill levels encouragement and practical advice. The guide is organized for ease of navigation in short, snappy chapters, each concluding with a boldfaced summary of key pointsa boon to time-crunched presenters. Among numerous pointers, the authors emphasize practicing your speech, especially in front of someone or by timing and taping yourself. The authors conclude that any speech is "all about you in conversation with the audience"; they stress the importance of knowing your audience and their language, achieving rapport with repetition and with stories, and making an immediate connection with a creative introduction. Though some of their advice is common sense (e.g., attend to your appearance), inexperienced speechmakers in particular will find this manual instructive. <i>(June) </i> <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
zlib_text: ![](Images/image00153.jpeg)
  
  Thank you for purchasing _**_PAID to $PEAK: How to Become a Professional
  Speaker_**_ _ **!**_
  
  This book will share how I got started in professional speaking, and more
  importantly, it will outline a step-by-step blueprint for you that has enabled
  me to speak for over 1,000,000 people across 1,150 audiences in all 50 states
  and around the world. I was able to quit my full-time ‘day job’ as a Dean of
  Students and live my ‘dream job’ as my own boss. I am confident you can do the
  same by following the roadmap I’ve outlined for you.
  
  ![](Images/image00162.jpeg)
  
  Audiences I speak to range from students to corporate groups, from
  associations to nonprofits…and all in between. Because I have been asked to
  speak for practically every industry I know exists, your target audience(s)
  are likely groups I have previously spoken. Therefore, I am confident that the
  content in this book will equip you with the resources, guidance, templates,
  strategies, and motivation need