Product Description

Sooner or later, we all find ourselves in front of an audience with nothing more to rely on than the power of our words.

To lead today is to be a great persuader. We need the ability to mobilise ideas, appeal to values and inspire action.  To find the right words, and the memorable words, to carry an audience and change things.In the business world it is no longer enough for executives to be good at making things or selling them or keeping costs down.  They are also expected to explain things and persuade people to do things, and so crafting good speeches has become an essential business skill and a component of any successful career.

A good speech is a good career move.

More and more of us, in life and work then, can expect to find ourselves in front of an audience hoping to move hearts and minds. If you want to shape a collective vision, craft a compelling case or simply explain your plans with clarity and purpose, this book will help you write and deliver a memorable speech.

There are many different skills involved in speaking well, but ultimately you need to know how to choose and organise words – you need to be able to write. High Impact Speeches will teach you how.  It will also help you to develop a unique style and a unique copmand of your subject, with techniques that have worked for some of the greatest speakers in history.   A good speech can inform, persuade, win a debate, make money or make news. It can advance your career and enhance your reputation.  A bad one can only bore or make enemies. Whether the speech that you are writing is for you or for your boss, this book will teach you how to deliver a winning speech - from scratch.  

Expert speech-writer for business-leaders and leading politicians, Richard Heller will show you how to:

• Accept the right speaking opportunities (and reject the wrong ones)
• Identify your desired result
• Research your audience
• Structure and plan your speech
• Create an attention-grabbing beginning and a rousing finish
• Make it rhythmic and colourful
• Add changes of mood and pace
• Deploy killer logic, winning arguments and powerful persuasion
• Edit and refine the sharpest draft and rehearse for perfection
• Carry your audience to their destination of agreeing with you
  

"Essential reading for anyone who has to prepare and deliver a speech."
      - Baroness Boothroyd

"No one is better suited to write a primer of speechmaking than Richard Heller. One of the few modern journalists with a real talent for language …he has set out what to say and how to say it."   Tribune

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #62100 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11-11
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 206 pages

Review

 

No one is better suited to write a primer of speechmaking than Richard Heller. One of the few modern journalists with a real talent for language …he has set out what to say and how to say it."  

Tribune

"Essential reading for anyone who has to prepare and deliver a speech." 

 Baroness Boothroyd

"Richard Heller has produced a superb manaual for speechwriters and speechmakers. From now on, no one need be nervous about public speaking."

David Brook, Head of Strategy and Development, Channel Four Television

"Richard Heller has thought deeply about the craft of writing and delivering effective speeches. He has written a wise and enteratining book."

Liz Padmore, Director of Policy and Corporate Affairs, Accenture

From the Back Cover

"Essential reading for anyone who has to prepare and deliver a speech." 
Baroness Boothroyd

"Richard Heller has produced a superb manual for speechwriters and speechmakers. From now on, no one need be nervous about public speaking."

David Brook, Head of Strategy and Development, Channel Four Television

"Richard Heller has thought deeply about the craft of writing and delivering effective speeches. He has written a wise and entertaining book."

Liz Padmore, Director of Policy and Corporate Affairs, Accenture

Modern business and modern life are making more and more of us into public speakers. If you ever represent your business, your organization or your cause at a formal meeting; if you ever have to persuade people to vote for you, work for you or finance you; if you ever teach or become any sort of leader; if you ever have to give or receive a reward … some time, somewhere you will be on your feet in front of an audience with nothing more to rely on than the power of your words.

For many people, public-speaking is an ordeal. It need not be. Richard Heller knows the secrets of High Impact Speeches, and this book will help you to harness your unique gifts to create speeches which you can deliver with confidence and conviction. Speeches that get the results you want from your audience.

In simple language, High Impact Speeches shows how to plan, organize, write and deliver the words that will move minds.

About the Author
Richard Heller has written speeches for political leaders. He is a columnist on The Mail on Sunday and is an associate of the Clarity think-tank and communications agency, which writes speeches for a wide range of clients, particularly in the business world. He drafted the New Statesman Media Lecture on global business for Vernon Ellis, International Chairman of Accenture, and has written for Denis Healey and Betty Boothroyd amongst others in the world of British politics.

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Customer Reviews

The Pleasure of Public Speaking
Public speaking is an essential skill in business and, I suppose in every other walk of life. At some stage in your career you will find yourself having to promote your company, your product, your idea, yourself, to a live audience with nothing to rely on but the power of your words.

I used to hate public speaking. Not any more. A brilliant book has turned a chore into a pleasure. Richard Heller's High Impact Speeches told me, very simply but very entertainingly, everything anyone needs to know about how to compose and deliver a public speech - how to connect with the audience, how to arrange words and thoughts, how to rehearse, how to beat stagefright (check out the brilliant idea of writing your own press release about the enraptured audience). And his ideas work - they deliver results.

Richard Heller has much more to pass on than tips and techniques. He explains why public speaking is the most trusted form of communication in the world today and why a good public speech is a unique opportunity to build lasting confidence in an audience.

I thought this book was superbly written - passionate about the arts of good writing and speaking and often hilarious (check out the passage on Birtspeak). I would recommend it to anyone who cares about language.

The best book on public speaking on the market
I have finished reading your book; High Impact Speeches which I want to
>let you know was excellent. I found it very difficult to put down
>because it felt like reading a story, knowing that with every chapter I
>was becoming more and more knowledgeable about delivering an effective
>speech. It is the first book on public speaking which I have read which
>I can use as a guide for preparing to speak to groups of people. Thank
>you for producing a valuable tool which I can guarantee I will use
>again and again.

A must for every corporate speaker
As a professional speaker, I read lots of books on speaking. But this one really hits the spot. Using examples from many of the top speakers in the world (all of them his clients), Lee Bowman explains the elements of great speaking. If you only read one book on speaking, make sure it is this one.