Providing complete step-by-step advice and practical answers, Loud and Clear: How To Prepare And Deliver Effective Business And Technical Presentations is just what today’s managers and technical experts need to make sure their messages come across clearly and confidently.

As consultants and trainers who specialize in public speaking and other elements vital to a persuasive corporate production,  Thomas Sechrest, George Morrisey and Wendy Warman are well-versed in the good (as well as the bad and the ugly).

The fourth edition of their time-tested guide, Loud and Clear: How to Prepare and Deliver Effective Business and Technical Presentations, offers step-by-step advice on critical components from visuals to logistics to delivery. It unequivocally views preparation as the crux, however, and fully outlines six integrated planning procedures certain to improve one’s chance for success. (more)

Loud and Clear: How To Prepare And Deliver Effective Business And Technical Presentations is a superior resource for anyone who is serous about delivering an effective, high impact presentation. The emphasis on audience analysis, which is so often overlooked, is excellent and will lead you to focus on the things that matter for your presentation.

Don’t skip the suggested exercises! You will learn more about your style of communication and your ability to connect with audiences than you had ever imagined.

This book is probably most effective for newer presenters who need a foundation in the building blocks of assembling an effective presentation.

But, it will also be instructional and valuable to check the effectiveness of more experienced presenters. This valuable resource is a concise, yet essential guide for producing highly effective presentations.

For more information about Steve Roye, author of this blog and the Killer Stand-up Online Course, click here.

After his last two highly rated specials and multi-platinum selling albums, Dane Cook reinvented his act and took it to the stage in front of 400 people at the Laugh Factory in Hollywood.

Whether you are a fan or not, Dane is one of the biggest stand-up comedians of this generation. And though he’s been in a handful of high-profile movies the past few years, 2009 is the year he promises to “replant the flag” of stand-up comedy he had established years ago.

And this time he does it all in a much more intimate setting — his home club, the Laugh Factory in Los Angeles — than he did on his last two releases; 2007’s album Rough Around the Edges and 2006’s HBO special and DVD Vicious Circle were both recorded at arenas, proving he doesn’t necessarily need a raucous crowd of 15,000 to prove he’s funny.

The material on Isolated Incident helps reassert Cook’s position as a masterful entertainer, deft storyteller and just plain engaging. But more importantly, it establishes him as a versatile comedian who’s unafraid to dip — however lightly — into politics, the relatively recent death of his parents and the hordes of faceless message board posters who seem to hate the fact that he exists.

This intimate show was performed in a nightclub atmosphere where Dane shared the audience’s energy in a real-time performance, without a safety net.

Here, he showcases a darker and more personal set with cutting edge material that pushes the envelope. The double-digipak contains a full-length CD of his best new material plus a DVD documenting the making of the album. (more…)

For more information about Steve Roye, author of this blog and the Killer Stand-up Online Course, click here.

In a superior stand-up comedy performance called Dress to Kill, Eddie Izzard spins free-flowing jokes about San Francisco (where the comedy concert was filmed), transvestitism, squirrels, American optimism, Hitler, the British royal family, mass murder, and Stonehenge–and that’s only the first 30 minutes.

The centerpiece of the performance is a retelling of British history from Stonehenge through to the Reformation. This is done with Izzard adopting a very Italian accent (and miming riding on a Vespa) to signify the Pope talking to Henry VIII (“who is Sean Connery for this film”) and explaining that he can’t marry as many wives as he wants to.

This is set against the backdrop of Martin Luther pinning his 95 Theses on the door of Wittenberg Cathedral, a paper that reads “Einen Minuten bitte. Ich habe einen kleinen Problemo avec diese Religione.” “He was from everywhere,” explains Izzard to great cheers from the audience. Similar to his use of Sean Connery as the voice of Henry VIII, he uses the voice of James Mason as the voice of God.

His mercurial patter is sprinkled with four-letter words, but his twinkling glances make this more mischievous than crude. Izzard has delivered some excellent performances in movies (like Velvet Goldmine and The Cat’s Meow), but it’s on stage that he really explodes with daffy wit and charisma. Simply brilliant and completely addictive; you will want to watch this over and over.

It’s as if this ingenious comedian says whatever comes off the top of his head, but giving that impression demands cunning and skill; Izzard romps through human history and transforms surprisingly complex ideas into biting satire–as well as knockout bits of sublime frivolity, like describing the movie Speed entirely in French. — (more…)

For more information about Steve Roye, author of this blog and the Killer Stand-up Online Course, click here.