Tell ‘em About it!

Gold, the longtime emcee of Broward County (Fla.) reading festivals, offers tips on public speaking in his instructive debut. He shares a harrowing story of stage fright while speaking in front of his high school peers as motivation for learning the basics of preparing a speech, creating a structure, and showing emotion to one’s audience. For the simplest speeches, Gold suggests an “English composition” paper structure—an opening statement, three examples to support one’s claim, and a conclusion. He recommends using humor, facts and figures, and varying one’s pitch and tempo to keep audiences engaged, and shares many anecdotes about his work as a speaker for parents associations within the Philadelphia school system and speaking experiences at a Dale Carnegie self-improvement course. While he offers much encouragement, many of Gold’s suggestions (“speak to them clearly and effectively and tell them what they want to hear... that’s all there is to it”) are frustratingly basic. Though the writing advice is a disappointment, readers concerned with building the confidence needed to address groups will gain insight from Gold’s public speaking successes and failures. (Self-published)