Pf Reviews
Wrestling With Crocodiles - Your Ultimate Guide to Effective Presentations
Many of us are a lot less confident standing up in front of a group than we are when talking to just one or two customers. Stuart Wineberg has clearly been there and done it and his book provides a good-humoured and highly effective insight into how to deliver with authority and impact. Based on his ‘presenting with confidence’ workshops, it breaks the process down into a series of manageable chunks supported by hints and tips from a friendly crocodile that populates the pages.
The catchy title apparently comes from a comment from one of his delegates that “he would rather wrestle with a crocodile than present”. It goes without saying that his opinion had changed by the end of the day.
The book follows a logical flow, taking in the importance of your objective in delivering your presentation, physical presentation skills, use of voice and plenty more, including the all–important topic of handling questions confidently, which he tackles in depth. He also takes a good look at an ideal presentation structure, managing the hardware and how to maximise your own confidence.
It isn’t easy to bring something as practical as presenting to life in writing, but this book achieves just that. I found it to be of real value and would recommend the book to anyone who presents to groups from the sales representative to the senior manager.
Elaine Kilbey
Win a free copy of Wrestling with Crocodiles!Presentation skills workshops teach that the relative importance of content, voice and non-verbal signals is 7%:35%:58%. You may know that this is based on the work of Prof Albert Mehrabian, but what was the name of the book in which the findings were published? Be one of the first four people to email the answer to
diana.spencer@healthpublishing.co.uk to win.
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Summary: Marvel Comics’ latest film Iron Man was released in UK earlier this month after huge success in the US. In the film, billionaire industrialist Tony Stark’s life is turned around when he is kidnapped, and on his release he resolves to tackle injustice and settle the score with his duplicitous business partner. It is: A very cool, high tech explosion-fest It isn’t: Very believable, but then, realism isn’t really the point to superhero films It will appeal to: Men in general, and fans of Robert Downey Jr, who carries off the self-assured Tony Stark with panache Worth seeing for: The spectacle, though not necessarily the plot |
Magic in Practice — Introducing Medical NLP: the Art and Science of Language in Healing and Health
by Garner Thomson and Dr Khalid Khan - Hammersmith Press, £24.99
Neuro Linguistic programming has been around since 1975, but this book presents NLP in a medical context. It suggests Medical NLP can provide a link to ‘whole person healing’ for those doctors looking for ways to improve the patient experience. It may also offer a solution to the clinician striving towards improving their communication skills and patient consultations, whereas in current practise people are seen as machines that need fixing, ignoring the emotional/spiritual implications.
 Medical NLP presents a reasonable analysis of current medical practice, and recognises that changes are needed to make improvements to patient care. A limitation of the book is that the data is theoretical rather than evidence-based. However, the techniques presented, if used correctly, could be an asset.
The book is an informative read, offering practical solutions for everyday use. The exercises at the end of each chapter teach the reader to utilise techniques, although as NLP seems to be based on its own language and assumptions, it is questionable whether a novice could implement these techniques successfully. The authors do offer an online test after reading the book, where successful candidates can gain accreditation.
Being specifically designed for use by clinicians, this book may be a less than ideal introduction to the uninitiated representative. However, if a pharmaceutical company was looking for an interesting book to give away, I think it would be well received.
This book is well written and presented, although the title may prevent some clinicians from picking it off the shelf. Its endorsement by one of the co-founders Richard Bandler – Mr NLP himself – will no doubt add to its success.
Trisha McGarry |