Book Talk

I have been invited to do a book talk at a popular monthly book lovers club/gathering in Bangsar today. My name was on the list for a couple of weeks now. Organiser Sharon Bakar, a book lover, reviewer, and writer have requested me to read November … but i could not make it due to other commitments. As I seldom speak in front of an audience, I felt quite anxious about the idea initally though it would be an honour and privilege to be invited to speak about my book, with the prospect of selling some copies too. However I thought it is time to go for it, and BREAK THE ICE, since I may venture into the speaking route in the near future. So for a couple of days I decided not to think about it, as I did not want to trigger any unnecessary panic attacts, and i thought it was best to keep it light and easy. So I came out with a sketch of what i wanted to say days earlier, but usually when I started expanding on it it becomes too long. There was no way for me to read long script of a few pages when I had only 10 minutes.
Yesterday i slept late, and I woke up at lunch time. I had a great idea for my new Rambo Code website, so i went to the computer and started writing a simple outline about one page. And I thought this will make a good introduction for my reading. So I went along with it. By the time I finish, it was already 3pm and time to go, and a friend is waiting for me to pick her up in Bangsar village, so i collected my stuff and rushed out of the house, grabbed a snack along the way. I have been there about two months ago, and I have a vague idea of the location. By the time I reached there, the event had already started. I settled on an open spot near the entrance and prepared my gear for video recording… I wanted to record it for you tube. After i have set up the camera, I tried to compose my thoughts on what to say, using the note as my guideline. I thought when you have the intro right, everything will fall into place. After the last speaker there was a 20 minute break, and i had more time to myself. that is when i browsed through the book and inserted some strips of paper to help me find the pages to read. After calming myself down, I did a mental rehearse of what would happen in the room, and how would I start my talk. That was an important move as it helped me put the whole thing in perspective. As I browsed through my book quickly, i picked up some points on what i wanted to share… but as I run through the ideas mentally, I got more clarity on what aspect of that quote or idea I wanted to speak about. One important step for me was to feel the room, and figured how I want to relate to the audience. i said although this is called readings, i don’t want to just read, which would end up being a monotone and nobody would get what I will say. So my approach would be different, at least for myself to make it conversational style. Another important thing I told myself was I am not just going to say everything in the beginning,, and then just read all the way. While picking those quotes, i will keep sharing. So it is not just talk… read, read, read, read, but more like talk, read, share, read, share, read, share… so now I had a plan. Because i notice when I was there, some writers took the reading seriously, and just read directly from the text, and there was no way the audience see the big picture unless they read the whole book, so I thougth it is only fair to make it like story telling and fill them with details in between. Now I got it, and i realised eventhough this is a simple idea, not many people get it… that the whole exercise is actually about sharing yourself and why you are passionate about the subject matter, and why you did what you did, and IT IS NOT about trying to impress the audience with your vocal intonation, or clever language. I realised though there was a perceived expectation for readers to be perfect, at the end it is about creating your own rules. So my turn finally came. After a brilliant, powerful and generous introduction by Sharon, i took my seat and started to speak. And my God, everything went smoothly as i had envisioned it. I started conversational style, telling them this has been my dream project for awhile, why i took interest in the subject matter, and what it means to me. Then I proceeded to read the front cover blurb, explain a little bit more, read the first chapter, explain a little bit more, read some quotes, explain again… and then it lead to the climactic moment about how I managed to launch my book with Jackie, as i thought that would be the most interesting part. At that point I just shared… from my heart without reading form notes. I was just bascially telling them a story, about my defination of Rocky and the last moment, when I hit rock bottom and the miracle happened. And from there on.. it was just sharing, because i did not want to miss a thing. A lot of the passages which I marked had to be skipped for the most interesting story to tell. Finally I ended it by reading a quote from Stallone, and I read an e-mail by jason Canton about the Law of Synchronicity to wrap up the whole session. I thought it was a great idea to end the sharing with something profound. For that I read quite a bit, and it reinforces the story which I shared earlier. So the whole thing was kinda explosive in an unintentional way. So this is the secret that i have learnt, to pick the important points and expound on it, and then to back it up also. Not just with what i wrote but with what other people say. It is like I am telling them a complete story. And looking back I only shared with them about the book, what was relevant to push my story. In the end, it was not the book that I was promoting, I was promoting my story, my inspiration, my ideas, and along the way, the book sells itself. The whole session was so fluid, because I decided for it to be that way. i could have bored the audience to tears by just reading straight from my text, instead i decided to share with them. my heart. And there came a point when I was not self conscious anymore. I felt comfortable, at ease, and I knew it was the right thing to do. There was a moment when some people were talking i the background and I increased the clarity of my voice to overcome that distraction. Suddenly I took ownership. I was not something i had to do, but something i wanted to say. I created that space and I put my energy into it, by sharing meaningful thoughts and ideas. At the end i got kudos from my friends saying that it was a wonderful speech. They were surprised how cool, calm and collected I was.. Well, i learnt the secret today. it starts by feeling the room, and what the audience wants, and then give them the best that you have, and then support that with someone else’s sharing. That will be a double, or triple decker sandwich with a lot of good stuff in it, I assure you…
Best of luck in your future presentations.