Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World

It really is a step-by-step guide for anyone with something to say or sell.  He is not lying.  As with everything Michael does, says, or writes about, he is only putting out there what he knows to be true from his own wrestling, practice, and long-endured experience.  The integrity behind what he says is tested before it comes out of his mouth or before the pencil is put to paper.

Michael is the real deal - and I have known his work for many years and on many frontiers.

Over the past 25 years everything has changed.  It is not only true for the world of writers; it is true for every person's individual world (predominately because of the shift in the world of the writers/information givers).  Everything has changed.

Whether it is the packaging, the content, the style, or the delivery; everything in writing has changed.  The speed with which you can get an idea/bit-of-info out into the world, digested and commented on has exponentially increased to dizzying speeds.  And Michael has seen it coming from several perspectives.  As both a writer/informer and a publisher/enabler he has seen the world of creatives be born anew.

I think we all knew the world changed when the internet hit the scene.  We were reminded that things were still changing when Apple helped speed up the evaporation of paper-books and journals.  We gasped in fear when Borders died wondering if we could stop the eventual digitization of everything in the world.

What Michael has done here is to take all of that input and map out a pathway through the haze of progress that will keep us on target - even when we cannot see - because of what he has sensed and experience in his life as and individual, author, and professional.

This guide is based on that which he has heard, seen with his eyes, looked upon, and that which his hands have handled.  Because of that, this is clearly Michael's very own Gospel and Epistles. This "ain't just his passion" this is his passion and experience.   He is not "all hat and no cattle"; as he reminds us Texans are ofttimes known and want to say.  He is hat and cattle.

The book is divided into strategy by processes.  It is a beginning, middle, and end guide for building the platform you need to shout out your "offering" to the world in such a way as to be heard.  He lets you know what works and what doesn't work in each of the phases of the work.

"Do this."  "Don't do this."  Every section is chocked full of the advice he has lived; and, each and every suggestion is backed up with solid fact.  You will find nothing pulled out of thin air.  I have always loved that about Michael.  Nothing hits his blog unless it is based in his own experimentation and acceptance process.  Michael is a master at processes.

He helps you to strategize and implement the building of your platform within the framework of these milestones:

 I. Start with WOW
 II. Prepare Your LAUNCH
III. Build your HOMEBASE
IV. Expand your REACH
 V. Engage your TRIBE

You need to build a platform to share what you have with the world.  You need help to do that because it is impossible to go it alone.  Let Michael start the project with you and help you see it through to the end.  You cannot afford to not read this book if you have anything to offer while you are here on this planet.  Hurry up, life is short and time is wasting.  Don't miss the prophet's suggestions and message - Borders did fall in a day (well, just about).



Check out Michael's short bulleted synopsis of his offering at:
http://michaelhyatt.com/platform

How to be a Presentation God

Scott Schwertly's book, How to be a Presentation God, is a must read for anyone who ever has to give a presentation.  I do not care if it is your first presentation or you 10,000th.  You need to read this book.

I have been speaking since the age of 15 - I just turned 50 - and I found this book added deep focus to the pieces of speaking that I have picked up intuitively through trial and error over the 35 years.  It added some new tools to my toolbox for crafting presentations.  These tips could help you avoid taking the long hard road and improve your craft early on in the practice.

Truth be told, my speaking experience and refinement over thirty-five has gotten me to a place where I end up leaving about 70% of the presentations I attend as a listener.  I usually leave within the first five minutes.  Right at the outset you get all the vibes you need to make a darned good assessment of whether or not the person your are listening to has any passion, any skill, and can give you any ROI.  If I feel I could get all of the above at Google in five minutes, then I am out of there.  I have books to write and a family to live and play with before I die.  I don't need another bad presentation.

That being said, I wish everyone of those presenters I had walked out on had given me their cards because I would give them a link to this book and tell them that they could step up their engagement with the community by giving this book a serious read.  Scott, you ROCK!

Our culture has accepted presentations as a valuable form of communication.  But, they have not given enough education toward accomplishing this with any real success.  Scott not only reminds us of the tools we need to research, develop, and deliver an awesome presentation, but he reminds us of the things he cannot give us.  He cannot give us a passionate fire about the topic and he cannot make us extraordinary people.  This we must come to terms with on our own.  So get busy on your personality while you are preparing to give your presentation.

The first major fact that he drops in your lap about your presentation is that it takes about seven seconds for folks to make a decision about whether or not you will be worth their while to engage with in your presentation (this gets at what I said about leaving within the first five minutes).  The second fact is that a presentation is all about perception.  Not only the perception of the crowd listening, but also about your perception of the needs of those folks listening.  If you are not up their pulling in data from how the crowd is reacting while your are jabbering on, then you are not flexible enough to provide a fluid presentation that meets the needs of the people who have come to allow you to serve them.

Make your topic and your presentation EXCELLENT.  Raise your EXPECTATIONS.  Deliver STORIES not data.  Do not be TRENDY.  Research how peoples' brains LEARN.  Research how peoples' ears HEAR.  Live the fullness of the content of your presentation with ALL of yourself - heart, mind, and body.  Don't WASTE their time.  These are just a few of the awesome tags he throws into the mix of content in the book.

The rest of the book is a broad and thoughtful expose on content, design, and delivery.  Get these three things into your head as the process guides toward making your presentation robust, not flashy.  He lays out powerful tools for each of the three portions of the process.  You will hear about styles, methods, procedures, and suggestions that the best of the best have used over and over again after countless failures at other attempts.  Take a lesson from Scott.  The stuff he has written about is the cream of the crop.  He will help you build, clarify, brainstorm, outline, drill, perfect, individualize, and experience the whole process of presentation crafting from beginning to end.

I love all of the insight he sneaks into the text and all of the website options he puts forth.  I am all over the internet looking for ideas and I have to say that the content Scott puts out there is new, vital, and rich in nutrients.  If you ever have to do, or ever have done a presentation, you need to go online or to Borders and get this book.   It is perfect.  And, Scott has thrown in enough of his personality in the writing that it is edgy, challenging and dead-on honest.  I read the book on the flight to Yosemite and never lost interest.  He is a Master!

Order book HERE - http://presentationgod.com/go/index.html
View Michael Hyatt's Vid with Scott HERE - http://michaelhyatt.com/an-interview-with-scott-schwertly.html