Comments on: Best deals for wow guides

By: Skandale

Skandale — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 15:37:43 +0000

As a regular trade speaker, I found Tony’s book to be a powerful helper in the crafting and delivery of speeches that will create lasting impressions. Breaking the boundaries of PowerPoint-constrained presentations, The How of Wow will help apprentice speakers as well as seasoned orators to better connect with their audience. People crave for stories they can relate to, and Tony’s experience will help most speakers deliver them in the most engaging ways.

By: Vanderloo

Vanderloo — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 09:02:25 +0000

To deliver a memorable speech you need a combination of the right words and a great performance. Both are crucial, but performance often makes the difference between a mediocre presentation and an exceptional one. Author Tony Carlson has written a useful book on how to prepare and deliver a speech to achieve maximum impact on your audience. He covers all the details, from manuscript preparation to rehearsal techniques to post-speech follow-up. He writes in a witty, flowing style, and he includes invaluable anecdotes, useful checklists and a section on dealing with speechwriters. While “wowing” today’s skeptical audiences is no easy task, Carlson’s tips will help you get listeners on your side. We recommend this book to professionals who want to sharpen their speaking skills, speechwriters and anyone involved in corporate communication.

By: Ozzie

Ozzie — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 03:27:56 +0000

As an active professional speaker, I have far too many opportunities to witness well-meaning corporate executives damage their reputations by delivering speeches that are lame and embarrassing, using presentation styles that are as inappropriate as their talking about the topic to begin with. As I shake my head in wonder, I contemplate whether any of these people ever read a book on what speech-making is all about.

If they were to search for such a book, The How of Wow would certainly meet their needs. The author has written speeches, delivered speeches, critiqued speeches, and enjoyed the journey of coaching executives how to present their ideas-and their ideals-in public.

This book is not quite what you might expect it to be. It is not a rah-rah volume, nor it is a step-by-step handbook for writing and delivering a speech. Rather, Carlson's book is a lighthearted look at one of the biggest fears harbored by men and women in today's business world.

In an unusual approach for a book on this topic, Carlson begins by asking why the reader should even care about giving a blow `em away speech. Then, part two challenges whether you should even accept the invitation. Not all opportunities are right, so be careful. In the third section of the book, Carlson digs into how to think about what you will say...and why. Preparation gives you strength, as in part four you settle into the writing phase. Craft the story, make the connection, Carlson advises repeatedly. Then, to demonstrate, he does exactly that in these pages. You'll learn more about hooks to connect with your audience than you ever thought existed.

The writing section explores ways to build simplicity-much more effective in speechmaking than complexity. You'll learn about language, quotations, and words and phrases that detract from, rather than contribute to, the positive influence of the speech.

The last section of the book takes us into the actual presentation, with a follow-up emphasis on going beyond merely the basic strength of the speech itself. The supplemental questions at the end of the chapters is exceeded only by appendices that take you deeper into the knowledge base of speech-writing.

Well-directed toward executives; value for professional speakers, as well.

By: Jimenez

Jimenez — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 20:40:50 +0000

One of the greatest anonymous quotes ever written is, “Talk is cheap because supply exceeds demand.” The reality of this quote is evidenced in the sleep-inducing meetings, presentations, conferences and speeches we all endure every day. Research has found that within 30 minutes of a presentation, 99.98% of a given audience has forgotten what they’ve heard. It’s obvious that we suffer from epidemic levels of chronically-bad communication and paralyzing PowerPoint presentations. However, in his book titled – “The How of Wow” – communications expert Tony Carlson explains how anyone can learn to deliver dynamic presentations that leave a lasting impact on listeners. Soundview likes this book because Carlson shares ways to build empathy and respect with an audience; command attention; craft a compelling message and develop a larger than life stage presence. These strategies and tactics that Carlson shares offer invaluable benefit to any communication – and can’t we all benefit from more valuable communications?

By: Tetrow

Tetrow — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:11:44 +0000

I enjoyed this book and it helped give me the basics to lua and wow programming. It takes you through several helpful addon examples that I now use after some minor customizations.

By: Fuchs

Fuchs — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 09:37:59 +0000

I’ve been struggling to write an add-on for World of Warcraft, and have mostly been using the WoWWiki site with various other framework sites to learn. While those resources have been pretty helpful, this book has provided a clear, concise explanation of Lua and the WoW API that is unrivaled. In the week that I’ve owned it, I’ve been able to accomplish more with my own add-on than ever.

By: Thomsen

Thomsen — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 03:05:39 +0000

Programming in WoW is extremely fun; takes me back to the old days of learning a new programming language for the first time. I have also missed Waite Group Press and glad to see they are making a comeback (still love their unmatched use of high-quality thin paper). This book starts off by giving the reader access to a custom WoW plugin called WoWLua, which is a LUA editor that works right inside WoW itself. There is also a larger addon environment/IDE for working with graphics, etc, right inside WoW. So, to answer the most common question, you don’t need to shut down WoW and restart it every time you make changes to your scripts! I am an instructor who is using this book for a LUA programming class and enjoying it very much.

By: Rottner

Rottner — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 20:41:53 +0000

An ok book if you are into this sort of thing...

The WoW game itself is pretty restricted it what it will allow you to do programming wise; consequently this book is pretty limited in what you can do with it...

I enjoyed the information in the book; however, I didn't find much practical use for it - other than intellectual...

MJL

By: Orth

Orth — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 14:42:07 +0000

I've written code in a lot of different languages, but had never really touched Lua (the language used to write WoW addons).

I picked up this book hoping that it would give me a good foundation on WoW addon creation, and it did. What I didn't expect was just how much I'd be going back to the book over and over as an API reference.

Although Blizzard keeps updating the WoW API, this books extensive reference section covers enough of the fundamentals, that I always start there.

I can't say that this book would be the best starting point for anyone who has never programmed before, but then again, creating addons for WoW isn't really an endeavour for anyone who hasn't programmed before.

However, that's what made this book so great for me. The Lua language and WoWs API are full of eccentricities and "gotchya"s. This book provided a really good "get up to speed quickly", and functions as an ongoing reference.

The authors also maintain a website that updates as the WoW API updates.

By: DeLaTorre

DeLaTorre — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 08:53:41 +0000

This has the makings of a good book but you soon tire of the writing style. Sappy and preachy, written by Canadians who bop into Utah, profess to be experts, but really miss the point most of the time. Save your money, there are much better books out there. Unless you appreciate someone constantly telling you what to think, or what to feel when on the trail.