I'm currently clearing out all of the books that were published in 2019-20 from my title feedback view!

The nitty gritty of building additional income in the speaking business. I'm guessing this is more virtual since covid, but the principles remain.

One Great Speech is an instruction manual for becoming a paid speaker. In many ways, this is a recruiting manual for public speakers. The author, James Marshall Reilly, writes from the perspective of an agent who is responsible for booking public speakers. This book functions as a training manual in that it offers direction in how a public speaker should behave and what opportunities are available. It is a highly persuasive text that offers hypothetical as well as concrete examples for the audience.
This book offers an interesting perspective on public speaking. It also places a firm value on the professionalism of a public speaker.
The one thing that this book doesn’t offer is the instructions for writing one great speech. The entire book functions on the premise that you (the audience) already has what it takes to be a successful speaker. That you already have your niche, your theme, your unique selling point.
The emphasis on personal branding and use of public speaking as a book sales platform is interesting for authors, professors, and other content creators. The model presented by Reilly is a financially sustainable self-promotion. It offers a slow-build, strategy of public speaking as a career. This system is a self-feeding loop of content creating a platform and platform providing content.
Like many self-help books, this book has the near constant, “You too can...” theme. This book offers a glimpse into a system that is tied to conferences and large gatherings of individuals. It will be interesting to see what changes are made to this model Post-COVID 19, since many of the events that would require public speakers have been canceled.

I received an electronic review copy in exchange for an unbiased review.
#NetGalley

A great resource for anyone who wants to jump-start a career managing paid speakers. The book is written in a format that is easy to read. Although it become somewhat repetitive, the author delivers a lot of good advice, solid observations and insight. As someone who never heard of this industry or realized how much money floated around it, reading this book was eye-opening.

Fascinating insider’s look at an industry I’ve never given much thought to. Loved it, and thought it was surprisingly compelling, made me want to know more about speaking as a side gig.

As someone who struggles with public speaking, this book brought a ton of intriguing strategies to the table. Would recommend for those who are looking to make public speaking their career (which I personally am not but still found interesting).

One Great Speech is one great book! It wasn’ t until 15 percent into the book that I really became hooked. The first 15 percent has a bit of repetitive rhetoric, but hang in there! The content is worth it! You don’t have to be a paid speaker to benefit form this book either. If you need to give the occasional speech or presentation or need to toot your own horn as an entrepreneur, you need this book!

This is the ultimate guide to "one great speech." Take that title seriously because James Reilly is signaling the most important (and hardest) challenge of speakers: find the ONE thing that for you to tell your audience (check that: to ENGAGE your audience), which you can uniquely offer.

I read this book not just because I often speak and want to get better and market myself better. I also read it because I'm a writer who teaches writing. I am always looking for tips to improve my ability to connect, whatever the medium and whatever the audience. This book produces all that in spades. It's full of thought-provoking material for anyone who wants to say something, somewhere, to someone, in one or another medium.

Reilly offers a useful challenge (which you should read about yourself): Pick three topics and write no more than six sentences about each. It ain't easy. I have talked to different audiences about all kinds of topics: the civil rights movement, urban politics, presidential politics, writing, and much more. But doing this exercise, I realized how much I need to hone my pitch. That, in turn, caused me to think LONG AND HARD about how I can best use my knowledge and experience. That's been an incredibly useful process, which will affect my work in the months (and possibly years) to come.

So here's to James Reilly, a smart and sharp guy with an essential message for anyone with a message. If you want to do this kind of work, take heed.

Wow, simply amazing. The auhtor called writing this book, a passion project. it reflects. Great care has been taken to show different angles and agents involved in the whole speaking business. Some myths about entry into the paid speech amrket is broken with examples. There are examples on how to w rite the speakers bio, number of sample speeches to be had, the level of detail for each speech, the audience to gear it to, the broad categories of speeches. There are many case studies of Speaker A and speaker B and counterintuitive attributes that work in ones favor and not the other.

This is a great book that every professional speaker or professional speaker to be should read. It shows the backstage of speakers agencies work which sometimes can be not 100% clear when you enter speaking industry as a front stage occupant. Lots a good tips!