Dale Carnegie: The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking

Dale Carnegie penned one of the most bought and most influential business books in the English Language: How to Win Friends and Influence People. The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking is not that book.

However, in true Dale Carnegie style, he delivers.

• First, this book covers the essentials of pubic speaking, no matter when, where, or why you need to speak.
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• In doing so, Carnegie understands the difference between principles and techniques. On this website, we talk about both - principles for the long term, techniques for the short term. Carnegie understands that principles are essential, and he sets out to teach those principles. On the very first page of part one he says:

  In every art there are a few principles and many techniques. [...] The only way we can achieve results quickly is to have the right attitude about achieving our goal and a firm foundation of principles to build upon.

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• In order to teach principles, Carnegie provides detailed and useful examples. Though a bit dated sometimes (the book starts out, "I started teaching classes in public speaking in 1912, the year the Titanic went down in the North Atlantic..."), they're useful models. The examples are key to understanding.
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• Finally, Carnegie bundles everything in chapters that double as quick and useful speech checklists. Even if you don't buy the book, check out the table of contents! Here's a sample from chapter 4, "Earning the Right to Talk":
  • Limit your subject
  • Develop reserve power
  • Fill your talk with illustrations and examples
  • Use concrete, familiar words that create pictures
  Reviewing this list before writing a speech then checking for these points afterward alone would make most mediocre speechs become good, and most good speeches become great! Every chapter is the same way, from "Developing Confidence" to "Making the Talk to Convince" to "Applying What You Have Learned."

Dale Carnegie's books are classic, and The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking doesn't let down. Highly recommended.