Recommended Resources

Other Presentation Skill Resources

We like to think that Fearless Presentations ® is a great solution for everyone, but just in case you haven’t found exactly what you are looking for yet, below are the absolute best resources (besides us) for learning to create and deliver fantastic presentations. We have added comments to each link with our professional opinion about the resource and the strengths and weaknesses of each. Many of these resources can be used as follow-ups to The Fearless Presentations^® class. Remember that if you are experiencing public speaking fear, and you have tried technique after technique without a lot of change, it may not be a new “technique” that you need. It might be a new “coach.”

• Toastmasters International: Toastmasters has been around for over 100 years and has helped hundreds of thousands of people reduce their stage fright. The major advantages of this group are that it is very inexpensive to join a club, and there are multiple locations and meeting times in every city. So convenience is a major advantage. The drawback for Toastmasters is that each meeting is organized by a different single member of the group every week, so the coaching that you will receive will be dependent upon the experience and skill of the particular Toastmaster who is leading your group at the time that you present. Basically, if you have a really good group, you’ll get really good coaching, but if you have a poor group, you’ll get poor coaching, and it is hard for a new speaker to know which is which. Another drawback is the amount of time that it takes. Each member will only give a prepared speech once every couple of months, so it’s hard to build up momentum.
• Dale Carnegie®*: Dale Carnegie® was the founder of the modern self-improvement training program, and he created some dramatic breakthroughs in how to coach and train people. In fact, he pioneered a coaching technique called “time spaced” learning where he taught participants for a couple of hours per week over a series of weeks. This technique, by the way, is a fantastic way to guarantee long term retention of the content. It is a slow and methodical way to learn a process or a skill, but it works really well. As a result, the instructors for this organization are some of the best coaches in the world. (*Dale Carnegie is a registered trademark of Dale Carnegie & Associates, Inc.)
• The American Management Association: The AMA offers a variety of seminars and classes for both members and non-members. They offer a number of presentation skill classes and have a very good reputation for offering a quality product. They are a tad pricey, but they have a number of locations and dates available.
• Self-Growth Website: David Riklan has created one of the vastest self-help websites in the world, and he has hundreds of thousands of articles, videos, website links. Best of all, the whole website is free and open to the public. If you like his website, make sure and take a look at his sponsor’s, because they are what allows him to create so much free content.
• Business Know How: www.BusinessKnowHow.com is a great website with free articles and content related to leadership and running and managing a business. This website is also very helpful with human resource issues and labor laws, etc.
• Fearless and Persuasive Speaking: This website offers free presentation skills articles from a number of different blogs and authors, so it is a good source of free tips and ideas about presenting.
• LJL Seminars: Lenny Laskowski has been a presentation trainer for a number of years and offers a number of two and three-day programs. I believe he only offers these on a private basis for groups now, though.
• Tom Antion: Tom Antion started out as a speech coach, but now specializes more in helping create professional keynote speakers. He offers a number of fairly inexpensive books, e-books, videos, and home study courses on his website. So if you want to get into the speaking business, he is a good guy to know.