The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking

book: The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking
author: Dale Carnegie

becoming a talented speaker is not something innate. public speaking is something you can learn. in “The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking”, Dale Carnegie teaches the reader how they can become a talented public speaker.

Dale believed that “effective speaking is more than ‘saying a few words’ to an audience: it is the revealing expression of a human personality.” it is through speech that a man or woman asserts his or her distinctiveness from other forms of life.

i’m going to run through some of my highlights by section below:

fyi – you can actually get a really good grasp of this book by just reading the table of contents. i’ve listed those below in bold and the parts that make-up each chapter are numbered. my highlights are bulleted and some brief summaries may be structured in sentence form.

Part One / Fundamentals of Effective Speaking

Acquiring the Basic Skills

    1. Take Heart from the Experience of Others
    2. Keep Your Goal Before You
    3. Predetermine Your Mind to Success
    4. Seize Every Opportunity to Practice
  • concentrate your attention on what self-confidence and the ability to talk more effectively will mean to you

the book begins with many mentions of the importance of ridding fear and developing courage and confidence. Dale continuously stresses the significance of those traits. self-confidence is something that your inner-self can benefit from so much, plus it also has a significant amount of value on a social level and for your business or career.

self-confidence and the ability to express oneself acceptably in public are directly related to the art of effective speaking.

Dale goes into a host of tactics that you should practice if you want to improve your speaking. he says to picture yourself as successfully doing what you now fear. this visualization technique should be one of the first steps you take to building up your confidence, which will in-turn directly affect your ability to speak better among a crowd.

Dale Carnegie’s teachings have influenced many, many students. one specific example is the story about David M Goodrich of B.F. Goodrich Company.

David had an extreme fear of public speaking, yet a role within a company that regularly required it.

thought David figured he was too far gone, he still sought out Dale for help.

David explained he came to see Dale because his personal accountant recommended his teachings. David was surprised by how his shy accountant transformed from walking with his head down and hardly ever saying a word to keeping his chin up high and confidently saying ‘Good morning, Mr. Goodrich’ each and every morning.

David’s accountant really rubbed off on him.

Developing Confidence

    1. Get the Facts About Fear of Speaking in Public
    2. Prepare in the Proper Way
    3. Predetermine Your Mind to Success
    4. Act Confident

“Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.” – Emerson

  • you are not unique in your fear of speaking in public
  • a certain amount of stage fright is useful
  • you may never completely lose all your stage fright
  • chief cause of your fear of public speaking is that you are unaccustomed to speaking in public
  • never memorize a talk word for word
  • assemble and arrange your ideas beforehand
  • rehearse your talk
  • predetermine your mind to success
  • lose yourself in your subject
  • keep your attention off negative stimuli that may upset you
  • give yourself a pep talk
  • act confident

Speaking Effectively the Quick and Easy Way

    1. Speak About Something You Have Earned the Right to Talk About Through Experience or Study
    2. Be Sure Your Are Excited About Your Subject
    3. Be Eager to Share Your Talk with Your Listeners
  • put yourself in your talks

Part Two / Speech, Speaker and Audience

Earning the Right to Talk

  1. Limit Your Subject
  2. Develop Reserve Power
  3. Fill Your Talk with Illustrations and Examples
  4. Use Concrete, Familiar Words That Create Pictures
  • speak with stories. speak with narrative or generously sprinkle anecdotes.
  • do not lecture to people. no one enjoys that.
  • too much detail is worse than none.

Vitalizing the Talk

  1. Choose Subjects You Are Earnest About
  2. Relieve the Feelings You Have About Your Topic
  3. Act in Earnest
  • extreme importance of: vitality, aliveness, enthusiasm

Sharing the Talk with the Audience

  1. Talk in Terms of Your Listeners’ Interests
  2. Give Honest, Sincere Appreciation
  3. Identify Yourself with the Audience
  4. Make Your Audience a Partner in Your Talk
  5. Play Yourself Down
  • the audience is composed of individuals and they react like… individuals!
    • in other words, do not openly criticize an audience. they’ll resent it.

Part Three / The Purpose of Prepared and Impromptu Talks

Making the Short Talk to Get Action

  1. Give your Example, an Incident  from Your Life
  2. State Your Point, What You Want the Audience to Do
  3. Give the Reason or benefit the Audience May Expect
  • what’s the purpose of your talk? to persuade or get action? to inform? to impress and convince? to entertain?
    • fit the purpose of your talk to the audience and occasion
  • put action and excitement into the retelling of your incident
  • begin right in your example and you will capture the attention of your audience immediately
    • some examples:
      • “In 1942, I found myself on a cot in a hospital…”
      • “Yesterday at breakfast my wife was pouring the coffee and…”
      • “Last July I was driving at a fast clip down Highway 42…”
  • The Point is the entire theme of your talk

Making the Talk to Inform

  1. Restrict Your Subject to Fit the Time at Your Disposal
  2. Arrange Your Ideas in Sequence
  3. Enumerate Your Points as You Make Them
  4. Compare the Strange with the Familiar
  5. Use Visual Aids
  • “Everything that can be thought at all, can be thought clearly. Everything that can be said, can be said clearly.” – Ludwig Wittgenstein
  • identify the most intelligent looking person in the audience and strive to make that person interested in your argument.
  • don’t use technical terms or industry jargon.
    • Aristotle said, “Think as wise men do, but speak as the common people do.”
  • using visual aid will help promote clarity

Making the Talk to Convince

  1. Win Confidence by Deserving It
  2. Get a Yes-Response
  3. Speak with Contagious Enthusiasm
  4. Show Respect and Affection for Your Audience
  5. Begin in a Friendly Way
  • contagious enthusiasm thrusts aside all negative and opposing ideas.
  • to arouse feelings one must be intensely in earnest.

Making Impromptu Talks

  1. Practice Impromptu Speaking
  2. Be Mentally Ready to Speak Impromptu
  3. Get into an Example Immediately
  4. Speak with Animation and Force
  5. Use the Principle of the Here and Now
  6. Don’t Talk Impromptu –  Give an Impromptu Talk
  • keep your ideas logically grouped

Part Four / The Art of Communicating

Delivering the Talk

  1. Crash Through Your Shell of Self-Consciousness
  2. Don’t Try to Imitate Others – Be Yourself
  3. Converse with Your Audience
  4. Put Your Heart into Your Speaking
  5. Practice Making Your Voice Strong and Flexible

Part Five / The Challenge of Effective Speaking

Introducing Speakers, Presenting and Accepting Awards

  1. Thoroughly Prepare What You Are Going to Say
  2. Follow the T-I-S Formula
  3. Be Enthusiastic
  4. Be Warmly Sincere
  5. Thoroughly Prepare the Talk of Presentation
  6. Express Your Sincere Feelings in the Talk of Acceptance
  • stop worrying about what you are going to say.
  • the T-I-S formula serves as a handy guide in organizing the facts you have collected in your research:
    • T – Topic – give the title of the speaker’s talk.
    • I – Importance – bridge over the area between the topic and the particular interests of the group.
    • S – Speaker – list the speaker’s outstanding qualifications.

Organizing the Longer Talk

  1. Get Attention Immediately
  2. Avoid Getting Unfavorable Attention
  3. Support Your Main Ideas
  4. Appeal for Action
  • seize favorable attention as fast as possible.

Applying What you Have Learned

  1. Use Specific Detail in Everyday Conversation
  2. Use Effective Speaking Techniques in Your Job
  3. Seek Opportunities to Speak in Public
  4. You Must Persist
  5. Keep the Certainty of Reward Before You