In Conversation with Eric Feng, TheFAQBook on Public Speaking + Special for SGE readers

Our local young champion of public speaking, Eric Feng has won many speech competitions and manages his own public speaking consultancy. He usually shares his tips on his blog, but now, for the first time, he has gone the way of publishing a book! Here, we speak to him at length and hear his enthusiastic thoughts about The FAQ Book on Public Speaking. Plus, read on for Eric’s special gift for SGE readers – qualification: only the first few who read this announcement will be able to “redeem” this opportunity.

Gwen: Hi Eric, perhaps you can first give us a brief history of yourself.
Eric: Gosh, how do you compress 25 years of history into one brief paragraph?!

Ok let’s see.

Hi, I was born talkative. Even though I was warned countless of times by my teachers to talk less and listen more, I ended up making a living out of talking. On top of representing Singapore in various national-level speech competitions, I get paid to help my clients become confident speakers that leave a lasting positive impression in their listeners. I also write regularly at The Public Speaking Blog.

Gwen: Tell us about your latest project.
Eric: I am writing a book! My first official hard copy book titled “The FAQ Book on Public Speaking”.

Gwen: How did it start?
Eric: It all started with an email sent by my current partner Andrew when he chanced upon an article about me on Straits Time. (Recall Straits Time Top 25 Alternate Achievers under 25 in Oct 2006) He wrote me a 53 page proposal on how we can leverage on my speaking skills to impact more people. Part of the plan was to write a book and viola, The FAQ Book on Public Speaking was birthed!

What triggered the creation of the FAQ book was the stunningly lack of quality books on public speaking. We have friends who read truckloads of public speaking books but they never attain the success they wanted!

And it boils down to one simple reason – these books were simply useless! They give you advices that are absolutely lame. For example in one of the “public speaking” books, we found this advice on overcoming stage fright – be yourself! And I was like “Huh? How exactly do you be yourself? Do you even know who you are in the first place??!!”

Some books even make you browse through 137 pages of crap before finding a paragraph that vaguely answers to your question…

Public speaking is already hard enough and we don’t have to make it any harder.

So we set off to find an answer to this pressing problem. And it started with first asking one question:

“If you get to spend one hour with a world class speaker, for a one-on-one consultation on public speaking, what would you ask?”

Within a month, we had people from all around the world – as far as Ukraine – sending us their burning questions. To date, we have about 267 questions and still counting. We even had to hire a temp staff to help us compile these questions.

Once the questions were compiled, the rest became easy.

The overwhelming response also proves one thing – there is an untapped market of concerned speakers who are looking for answers to help them overcome their fear of speaking and make them stars for their next presentation.

Gwen: Hearing your professional perspective is useful, but how about others? Anyone else we know who will be appearing in your book?
Eric: Since this is officially my first hard copy book, I have invited two of my mentors to write with me. One is Irene Ang, popularly known as Rosie Phua in Phua Chu Kang. The other is Kelvin Lim, my personal coach and also one of the highest paying coaches in Asia. Personal reasons aside, they are also phenomenal speakers in their own rights. And if you want to become a great speaker, you got to learn from the best!

What impresses me the most is Irene’s knack for making people laugh at will, and Kelvin’s incisive “pep talks” that never fails to move listeners to tears. Though their styles of speaking are worlds’ apart, their speeches always carries with them life lessons that inspires the soul and uplift the spirit.

I also had the honor of inviting five other A-list speakers from around the world to contribute bonuses that will be packaged together with my book. Till this point of time, the bonuses are worth a whooping USD 500!

We have Patricia Fripp, an award-winning speaker in States, Scott Friedman, past President of the National Speakers Association and Darren Fleming, the District Champion of the Evaluation Contest in Australia, as part of the all stars line up!

Gwen: A few sneak peeks of your book for our readers?
Eric: Here are some of your burning questions that will be answered in the book.

• What are the three most important attributes the audience look out for in a speaker?
• How can one find and cultivate his very own style of speaking so that no one can duplicate?
• How do I make my speech interesting, impressionable and impactful?
• Are there times when the audience does not react or respond the way you want them to? How do you salvage the situation when you fail on stage?
• Can you recommend me time-tested strategies to overcome my stage fright
• How do you influence someone to your way of thinking?
• I am often distracted by thoughts of not being good enough to be up their on stage. What can you advise me to do?
• How do you be yourself? We hear that so many times but how exactly do we do it?
• What are all the ways to draw the audience into your speech so that they can be connected with you?
• Can a person with a poor command of English be able to speak well like other people do?
• What advice can you give to a novice speaker?
• When I give a presentation, I switch to “presentation mode”. I become monotonous and lifeless. It is a subconscious habit now and it is hard to change. Any recommendations?

You can also sign up for a free chapter of the book at our website www.thefaqbook.com!

Gwen: Pray tell, the launch dates of your book?
Eric: We will be launching the electronic version of the book in end-September. The hard copy of the book will be released to all major bookstores during the Christmas season for obvious reasons…need I elaborate any further? (grins)

Gwen: Why different dates?
Eric: We are still in the midst of finalizing the contract with our publisher. So by the time, we are done, it could be November already. And if we were to wait till then to launch the electronic version as well, the online community will literally murder me especially when they have been waiting since late June for the book.

The early release of the electronic version will also serve to whet the appetite of those who bought. If they like what they read, there is a very high chance that they will buy a copy to keep. Since it is Christmas and it is a season of giving, they will be more than happy to buy a dozen more for their family and friends. That will make all of us very happy people!

Gwen: Future plans?
Eric: Our intention is to make the FAQ Book on Public Speaking a speaker bible, a book that you can carry everywhere with answers on the go! This means that we will continue to improve the book by adding more questions, inviting more experts to answer them and refining the structure of the book.

On top of the book, we are also exploring various mediums to effectively collect and answer burning questions that people may have on public speaking. This includes an online forum, a radio show and even possibly a talk show.

We also have interested parties approaching us to do The FAQ Book on Financial Planning and The FAQ Book on Personal Grooming. Both are interesting topics that we are looking forward to explore.

The best way to keep yourself posted on all the fun stuff that we are up to is to sign up on our exclusive mailing list at www.thefaqbook.com!

Gwen: Why should an entrepreneur obtain a personal copy of your book?
Eric: Entrepreneurs present all the time, to investors, to partners and to clients. In a competitive world where entrepreneurs fight for attention for their business to be noticed, public speaking is the one skill that is going to make all the difference. Not sure if you know this but public speaking is also recognized as one of the world’s most powerful and highly coveted skills. It is thus a no brainer to master speaking in order for you to gain an unfair advantage over your competitors and peers!

Why should anyone for that matter obtain a personal copy of your book?

Firstly, this is a book that answers directly to your most burning questions on becoming a speaker superstar. You don’t have to plough through truckloads of information only to find vague answers or useless facts. Think of The FAQ Book on Public Speaking like your speaker bible with answers on the go!

Secondly, this book is NOT about concepts. It contains time-tested tips from successful speakers, tips that are easy to apply and given in a step-by-step format so you know exactly what to do to improve your speaking skills. This book takes you by the hand and gives you what you really need, not just one-size-fits-all general advice.

Thirdly, geez.. you still need a third reason?

Eric is a great guy. Buy one to support him, will you?

–

Now you can go to TheFAQBook‘s website and sign up for a free chapter to get a peek of Eric’s book.

Now, the part you’ve all been waiting for (everyone loves special one-time offers yeah?): Eric’s Special for SGE readers: For all you impatient readers out there who can’t wait for the book to be out, Eric will personally answer the first ten questions that SGE readers post here on this post! This way, you can ask specific questions pertaining to your needs. So, why wait?

Comments