Win the Crowd: Unlock the Secrets of Influence, Charisma and Showmanship [Kindle Edition]

I am a professional speaker and I speak more than 120 times per year. These events include crowds from 5 to 5000 and I haven't come across a book in a long time that I really thought brought something new to the table. This does not mean that there are no other books I find helpful, it's just that most newer books simple say the same ol' thing about giving speeches and presentations. Some of the other reviews here are accurate when they say that the book is mostly about working the crowd, but what they have failed to do is put in the mental and emotional effort to apply the concepts to what they do.

In the world of speaking, there are those who know how to organize and deliver a speech and then there are those who know how to woo the crowd and ingrain the concepts into their minds through emotional and fact-based implanting. Most speakers have no concept of "Positional Communications: Having a specific spot for delivering certain important messages so the audience expects it without conscious awareness" or "Theme-ing: Having a consistent theme that is used to program the audience and ingrain long-term recollection."

While these specific elements are not directly covered, this book provides the possibility of these deep insights. Understanding that it's important to have credibility and not just the facts. Knowing that your confidence determines, in large part, their receptiveness. Grasping that the words you use will impact whether the group remembers, regards, or relies on you and your information for their use and success.

The point is that this book is not for the beginning presenter or speaker - he or she should get the basics of an organized speech down first (great opening; useful transitions; excellent ending; a body that is applicable, practical, and useful) then move onto more advanced concepts. This is a book you must read with the following question continually in mind: How does this apply to what I do? If you answer this question, the book will be beneficial to anyone who has to give a presentation and also for sales people, marketers, managers and leaders.

If you haven't read this book, you don't know everything you need to know about relating to groups and individuals.

Magicians have an interesting job. Unlike a talent for singing or telling jokes, their performance has to depend on the setting of an expectation in the part of the audience and then performing something that you would normally think impossible. When you strip away the sleight of hand tricks, magicians are essentially masters of attracting and holding attention and impressing audiences, exactly the psychological secrets you need to be successful in life and business.

In this book Mr. Cohen talks about, not the magic tricks themself, but the staging of a magic show. How do you keep the audiences attention where you want it? How do you prepare them for something unexpected so that they will remember your point later? How do you make them listen to you carefully so that they won't miss a word, and thus remember it better? How do you sense what people are thinking, and perhaps more important, feeling while you are presenting so you can make them feel like they are getting your points?

Remember, he's talking about showmanship, not magical tricks. For those you need a different book. For some interesting tips on how to hold attention while making a presentation, this is the book.

Win the Crowd is a good primer for people who want to understand some of the skills necessary to be effective presenting yourself with confidence and being persuasive in front of groups of people. The book categorizes what is needed to be effective with crowds (there are one-on-one discussions as well) and suggests some tricks to help strengthen the skills which may need to be improved.

Steve Cohen obviously has worked for many years perfecting his stage presence (he is a successful magician), and how he presents himself to smaller groups at private functions. His opinions on how to improve presentation skills in front of people come from his successful trial and errors. The most helpful portion of the book is when he gives practical advice on how to be more engaging, confident and improve ones appearance when on stage giving a speech.

However, the book has a lot of filler that contains generalizations merely touching on other important aspects that reader may want to study further. These sections also tend to mutate into references of magic that are interesting but not necessarily informative. His sections on building a better personality, charisma and reading people just scratch the surface of what can be done, and offers no enhancements from what someone could find in a psychology text book. His build-up to the chapter "Misdirection" led to a major let down. Although I did try the magic trick he teaches to my children and failed miserably. Practice, practice, practice is a major theme. Obviously after the magic trick failure I need to be reminded of that more.

Win the Crowd has good stuff and does identify the secrets needed to be effective with crowds (both large and small). It's only fault is that it does not dig deeper into some areas. However, once these areas are identified, more research from other books can be found if the reader wants additional advice.