I’ve known Gary and Mike for years at Toastmasters, and I have admired their exciting and engaging speeches and presentations, filled with interesting content, flair, drama and laughs - so it is no surprise to me that they have joined forces as a powerhouse of presentation expertise to create The DELTA-Technique. And now you have the opportunity to learn from their years of experience - both good and bad - and master the art of wowing your audience.

This book is delightfully easy to read, with incredible tips to absorb and instantly apply in your life - and it’s made so much more relatable with Gary and Mike’s shared stories. Even professionals make mistakes - and that’s totally ok - it’s a learning experience for all of the ‘next times’ where you’ll be more aware of what to improve on.

Even if you consider yourself a seasoned public speaker and are just skimming through this book before you gift it to all your friends - make sure you memorise the one page DELTA framework summary because this truly is the key to your success!

One thing that struck me as I read through this fabulous resource, is that the way we communicate to get a message across to an audience is so critical. It doesn’t matter if we are speaking to a packed out venue, or hosting a popular podcast, or having a one on one relationship discussion - the tools in The DELTA Technique apply to all the reasons we communicate because they help the audience understand our intended meaning.

In my opinion, you will absolutely become a better communicator after reading Gary and Mike’s book, and applying their DELTA tips to your own unique style.

So what are you waiting for? It’s time to begin your transformation into a public speaking rock star!

“I’ve read the book, done the exercises” I hear you say. “Now, where do I go from here?

Where you go is to turn theory into practice, because not only does practice make perfect, or at least better, but adults learn best by doing.

What I and the two authors of this book did was to join Toastmasters, where in a collegial and supportive and above all, safe environment, we learnt our basic skills.However, after a while we all become comfortable in this environment and it is as easy to be a comfortably bad speaker as it is to a comfortably good speaker.

It follows then that you must, as we did, put yourself in harm’s way and go out into the cold hard world of public performance.

For me that started with speaking gigs at service clubs like Lions and Rotary.

As a humorous speaker, I just did my own thing, learning about timing and delivery.

This developed over the years into being a professional After-dinner Speaker, Keynote Speaker, Master of Ceremonies, Corporate Impersonator, Marriage and Funeral Celebrant, Speechwriter, Coach and Mentor.

The point of all this is the gaining of experience, development of technique, and understanding my audience which is a form of market analysis.

And it’s fun too!

But all this is probably a bridge too far for most people; it also takes a long time to build up to this and it just isn’t on everybody’s wish list.

So start small.Take every opportunity to speak at work and on behalf of work.

Join community action groups and become their spokesperson.

Or compete in speech contests, which is where I learnt so much about speaking and about myself and over time, my efforts were crowned with success, not unmixed with gloom and doom and being a hapless also-ran too often for comfort.

But you gain more and learn more from defeat than from any number of victories.

I suppose the reason that underlies the desire to be a better speaker is to overcome nerves and to be able to express clearly and forcefully the things that matter to you.

Better to be the focus of attention and perhaps some ire, than to let other, noisier people mess up the world when your voice may make the difference.

So come on in, the water’s lovely!