How to be Heard: Secrets for Powerful Speaking and Listening

How to be Heard: Secrets for Powerful Speaking and Listening by Julian Treasure          AudioBook:   12 hrs., 29 mins       Paperback Book:  308 pages             

Excellent book on how to speak effectively so that everyone in the meeting room, auditorium or even one on one with friends or lovers.    He talks about how to know when you are losing your audience, visual, and non-verbal body language cues, or if someone pulls out a copy of the Wall Street Journal and starts reading it during your talk.    One of his guest speakers says to memorize everything you want to say even if that means memorizing a quote from someone else and never use notes, unless it is an absolute must.   He says you lose 1/3 of your audience when you look down at notes.   If people are making eye contact and leaning toward you you’ve got them if they are leaning back away from you or worse crossing their arms in front of them not so much they have mentally checked out.  The author is a well known and often asked back TED talk speaker at TED events all around the world.    He discusses knowing who you are speaking to.   If it is a group from another country they may not react in the same way as audiences or people from your own hometown.   He spoke in front of a group of people in Finland for the first time and only got minimal applause and he thought he bombed but after his talk several people came up and told him what a compelling talk he gave.  He give so much good information this book is a treasure trove of communication examples, exercises and he brings in other TED talk speakers to share their insights on communication and the value of speaking and also listening.    He says we all desire to be heard, to be valued and to be understood.   He says you can’t truly listen to anyone if you are doing something else.   If someone is dropping pearls of wisdom but you are checking your email you will miss it.   He and the other guest speakers often come back to the point that to be a good speaker you have to first be a good listener.    People know when you are engaged in what they are saying and they also know when you aren’t.   So many excellent points are made here.   He even brings in speakers who discuss communicating via alternate routes, a deaf woman who plays music after her teacher taught her to feel the vibrations, a man and his wife who have recorded sounds from nature and turned it into music from which they have made 2 documentaries, one in particular titled, “Animal Symphonies.”   They say with all the clearing of land what originally took them two hours to record, now takes them thousands of hours to record then pull useable sounds from that ending up with a 2 hour track.   He says the main point he wants readers to take away and the main theme of the entire book/audio is:  Intention, Focus, Reflection and Summarizing can help you to clarify what you heard someone say, correctly, to make sure the information ws accurately received and to let the person know you did hear them.   That is what active listening is all about.   Excellent book!   You will learn a lot and expand your way of thinking about the myriad types of communication.  I highly recommend this book.

- Shirley J