BOOK RE VIE W
BOOKREVIEW Persuasion &
Influence The Science and Art of Effective Presentation By Bruce Hilliard Published By: Woodslane 2010 ISBN: 9781921606663 RRP: $49.95 AUS
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resentations are a fact of life in the business world. Not many people, whether you work for yourself or are an employee, can advance in a northerly direction up the career ladder without having to give a presentation or two along the way. We’ve all sat through boring, snoozeworthy presentations where it’s a struggle to keep your eyes, let alone your mind, open to whatever the speaker is trying to communicate to us. On the other hand, many of us have also enjoyed interesting, thoughtprovoking presentations where we’ve sat tuned-in and enthralled and walked away thinking ‘WOW that was AMAZING!’. So what makes the difference? Persuasion & Influence, by Bruce Hilliard, may not offer a magical solution, but it does provide an effective system based on more than 25 years of research into the science behind persuading other people, focussing on business presenting as the vehicle for persuasion. This is the first book to apply a truly scientific approach to the subject of presenting and presentations. More importantly, each of the processes described in this book are easyto-use and really work. In practical terms, this means that anyone can take advantage of these techniques to communicate more effectively, and truly influence people. “It is one of life’s great truisms that the way we communicate with others ultimately determines the quality of our
lives, and the lives of those around us. Good communication is particularly important in business, because in this environment it is often critical to change the thoughts and actions of your clients, managers and colleagues,” Bruce said. “When I talk about presentations, this includes everything from a one-on-one discussion through to a video presentation that is broadcast around the world,” he explained. Persuasion & Influence is also the first book to actually explain how you can gain an understanding of audience profiling quickly and efficiently – and you can use these very advanced techniques to shape your message. For example it reveals ‘the Presentation Powerhouse’ as the key to persuasion and identifies the three components ‘entertain’, ‘communicate’ and ‘train’ – and explains how presenters can combine all three to provide an effective and persuasive presentation. The templates provided in this book are possibly the most exciting tool. These are particularly useful for anyone who has ever stared at a stubbornly blank piece of paper, while trying to work out what they need to include in correspondence or a presentation. The author has simplified extensive research into cognition, to develop just five straightforward templates. These templates can be used individually, or together, to literally build any form of message quickly.
Because these are based on detailed studies into the way people think, the content developed through these templates is readily understandable, and highly influential. Bruce Hilliard began his research into the science of persuasion and presentation back in 1983 when he was given the job of running a school for the Australian Navy, despite not having any experience in teaching people. “I had visions of boring my students to death – just the thought of standing up and presenting filled me with panic. To cope with these problems I started to do some research, so I could understand the practical science behind presenting information.” Since beginning this extensive exploration of the subject, Bruce has successfully applied his knowledge to the fields of marketing, teaching, sales and management. Just as importantly, he has worked in many countries, with numerous Government and commercial organisations. This has allowed him to develop a range of easy-to-use frameworks and techniques that work in virtually any situation. Bruce is continuing his research as part of a program at Murdoch University in Western Australia.
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