Naked People Won't Help You: Keep Your Cool, Capture the Confidence, and Conquer the Fear of Public Speaking

by Steve Ozer

“Steve Ozer offers a practical step-by-step process for conquering the fear of public speaking that will help even the most timid become strong, confident speakers.” —Donna Groh, Former Executive Director, Toastmasters Int’l Keep your cool, capture the confidence, and conquer the fear of public speaking. Being comfortable while speaking and sharing with others is one of the greatest skills you can have to maximize your success! Whether you’re scared to death, somewhat shaky, or want to improve your speaking skills, this book is for you. Surveys show that more than 100 million adults in the U.S. alone rank public speaking as their #1 fear. In fact, many fear it even more than death! Have you ever heard “Imagine the audience naked and you’ll feel more comfortable”? The trouble with that advice is that as soon as we’re behind the podium, we learn the truth—naked people won’t help you! Naked People Won’t Help You is the first book of its kind to offer basic, grassroots help to anyone who is faced with dread, horror, anxiety, helplessness, and mind-numbing trepidation. Steve Ozer, who used to be scared to death himself, exposes the origins, symptoms, and consequences of the fear of public speaking, and lays out a simple, step-by-step plan for tackling and conquering it forever! In this powerful, practical, hand-on, inspiring, and often humorous handbook, Steve shows you how dealing with and overcoming this fear can help you unleash your true potential and get what you want in life. Read Naked People Won’t Help You and apply its tips and techniques. They can help you re-energize your business or professional life, as well as you interpersonal relationships. You can also gain the self-confidence you need to attack other fears with a positive attitude and a can-do spirit. Naked People Won’t Help You could give you the edge you need to accelerate your success. Steve Ozer is founder of Powerful Public Speaking. Since conquering a debilitating fear of public speaking (he even quit two jobs when he discovered he had to give a presentation). He has spoken at national conferences, performed in comedy clubs, appeared on television and radio, and has helped countless people overcome the fear of public speaking.

176 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2003

Reviews

[Alpa Saxena · Rating 2 out of 5]

For me, the interesting part kicks off with ‘Part 2’ that explains the ‘Five actionable steps’ in ‘Acknowledging and annihilating’ the fear of public speaking. I would like to believe that if these are attempted with some sincerity, can be good exercises to debilitate your fear of speaking openly.

However, the actual win for me from this book was when I could self-confess that I do have such fears - how often I had framed something beautifully in my mind and it never came out in those words, and how often I kept juggling in my head if my talks would make any difference in group discussions but instead found myself a corner to hide. The author has empathised it rightly on the ‘Act of avoiding’ such fears with some real case history of individuals.

Well is that your question that if so good, then why 2 star? Till now, I have read only 1 Dale Carnegie book and was super impressed with its writing and adequate explanation on each topic. So, by instinct, I am comparing it with the DC book and to me, this one was more of beating around the bush with repetitive motivational sentences (referring mainly to Part 1). I honestly had to skip few lines and paragraphs (guess so could read it in a day and a half :)).

Between, for anyone new to the genre of ‘Self- Help’ books, these books will mean anything only if you are able to self-reflect and make some efforts to improve on those. They can be boring for some, but I personally have found them useful in my journey of self-improvement.
.....But mind it, this should definitely not be your first self-help book to read- Dale Carnegie is way better!