Book Review — Leaving Nothing to Chance

April 17, 2009 — Piers Nutbrown

Impact — February 2009 — The voice of consultancy and engineering — ACE

On page 162 of Derek Arden’s splendid Presenting Phenomenally — How to succeed at presenting (Tiptree House Publishing, £14.97), a quote can be found from Louis Pasteur, who boasted the invention of penicillin on his CV, amongst other accomplishments. “Chance favours the prepared mind,” it says.

Arden certainly has one of those. His comprehensive guide to speaking, presenting and influencing leaves no stone unturned in its quest to help the reader learn and gain confidence quickly. The latter features as one of the book’s most pertinent themes — you only have to read the blurb on the back cover to find out that public speaking is our number one fear, nudging nervously ahead of the Grim Reaper, no less, and from the outset Arden attempts to shift our focus onto the many techniques we can employ to conquer our abashment and thus avoid knee-knack in the process.

But this book will teach you more than how to visualise your audience naked. After all, to indulge in a bit of number-crunching for a moment, Arden has been in the business for over 20 years, as head of relationship and sales management at Barclays and latterly with his own management consultancy. Only 37 people in the UK can match his qualifications. He has spoken in 27 countries worldwide, negotiated in 35 and his eight publications — including 112 Handy Haggling Hints – have been read by, well, a vast number.

ACE members will be familiar with Derek’s work as he has presented at many ACE seminars over the years and has also worked closely with a number of consultancy and engineering firms training their staff. This unparalleled experience is partly why Presenting Phenomenally is of invaluable benefit.
Intended as a reference resource rather than a switch-your-phone-off-and-lock-the-doors page turner, Arden’s ninth book drives you logically through each stop on the route to proficiency. Preparation, impression management, building self-confidence and visual aids are all dealt with before half-way is reached, and the book masterfully avoids becoming a trashy self-help manual, always lending constructive technical guidance (as in the section devoted to PowerPoint) but still injecting self-belief and just a spoonful of sugar — if you are not yet starting to believe in your presenting powers by the time the topic of body language is tackled, perhaps the visualising naked trick would be best for you after all. With “top top tips”, checklists, FAQ’s and even the odd page for your own notes, Arden really has thought of everything.

He also handles telephone and electronic presentations and, although jargon is considerately sparse throughout, even the glossary is well thought-out.
“Very few people are good at listening,” Arden tells us in section four. By the time you have absorbed this engaging and enlightening book, your audience will have no choice but to listen to you, whether they are naked or not.

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