Lessons from the Podium: Public Speaking as a Leadership Art

While looking for a book on presentations I was delighted to find Lessons from the Podium. The way that presentation skills and leadership were interwoven fit the course format perfectly. The course was designed for arts educators to become leaders in arts education advocacy. A major portion of the course was creating and delivering an arts advocacy presentation that they would give to an audience in their school community. The format of Lessons from the Podium worked well to help students design their presentation. The videos of Steven Cohen talking to his classes also helped bring the book to life. I would highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to have a plan for a presentation. The format of the book is user friendly and works well for teachers k-12 and students of all ages!

Author Steven Cohen presents effective methods for leading through public speaking with wonderful originality and insight. I loved the unique emphasis on the musical elements in speech, which frame the use and effects of musical elements like volume, pitch, timbre, rhythm and tempo in such a way that helped me transcend from merely emulating a concept (from a book or in someone else's speech) into a more creative and natural process to intuitively make powerful and moving messages. I've picked it up on several occasions to find Cohen's concepts to be relevant in new ways each and every time. This book has become an essential part of my public speaking library, and I've gifted enough copies to friends and family to know that the lessons from Cohen's book reach both novice and veteran public speakers alike. If you are looking for a stronger foundation or some fresh perspective in a well written, analytical and accessible package, then I'd suggest checking out Lessons from the Podium.

"Lessons from the Podium" is a fantastic book for all those who will at some point speak in front of others. Within this category I include not only those who will write speeches for the stage, but anyone who will go on an interview, motivate employees at work, or just want to feel more confident in their abilities should they ever feel the need to give an impromptu speech for others. This book provides HIGH-YIELD examples and details within a concise format that would be useful for the reader were it either quickly skimmed or read and re-read to extract every helpful detail. Steven beautifully lays out a foundation in public speaking skills which can be built on and applied for a lifetime. If you have ever wanted to improve your speaking skills and wondered how to do it, do yourself a favor and buy this book!

It is hard to describe in words how the contents of this book have changed my speaking abilities. This book is not just about public speaking, but is filled with direct practical advise on how to speak, act, talk and even think like a Leader.....all those aspiring to create a strong impression both at work and in personal life will enormously benefit from this gift that is brought to us by Steven... if you ever get the chance to take his Public Speaking course at Harvard, I would highly recommend it as well... his book and class have both changed my life. I get compliments everywhere I go on my presentation skills. In addition this book and Steven have helped me polish my aura and demeanor to bring higher levels of appreciation in all my social circles at all levels.

My employer brought Mr. Cohen in for several sessions on public speaking, persuasion, and active listening. All of his classes were interesting, kept us engaged, and gave us both practical and theoretical information I hadn't considered before.Steven's book is very much in that same caliber, and it is nice to have a go-to resource for this without having to call him up or arrange for him to visit our workplace again.For anyone looking to be a better speaker or presenter, or for those aspiring to take on more of a leadership role, this is a must-have for your bookshelf.

Steven Cohen is truly a master when it comes to breaking public speaking down into easy-to-understand, intuitive steps. I mean the guy teaches public speaking at Harvard! This book is critical for people at all levels of public speaking ability, ranging from students to CEOs. I have a significant amount of public speaking experience as a university professor, but this book helped me improve my speaking skills such that I landed a phenomenal job by using his methods when I gave a presentation on my work to the academic department that would eventually hire me. I could not recommend this book with more enthusiasm!

Ordered for my daughter for college. Great deal.

I did not find it helpful and the coding was garbled on many pages making the text unreadable. But that's ok because I suspect I didn't miss much. It's weak on technique tips. Just not much there. Sorry! Good for high school student or novice.

Very well structured, easily applicable examples. Excellent book to have in your personal library. I really enjoyed the praticality of the book, i do recommend.