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I absorbed Scott Berkun’s Confessions of a Public Speaker (O’Reilly) during the four days after Christmas (amidst the bizarre humidity and noise of an indoor Boston water park with my family). Berkun grabbed & held my attention with amusing stories and solid advice that resonated with my presenting experiences, good and bad.

Read this book if you present at conferences, pitch your ideas, your products, or your firm. It’s a manual for being prepared and engaging. (It is not an in-depth discussion of rhetorical styles nor presentation slides; for these Berkun refers the reader elsewhere). The book offers many useful suggestions for conference hosts as well.

The central tenet of the book is that successful public speaking requires serious thinking. The more you’ve thought through your ideas, the more confident you will be in your ability to discuss them, even through technical glitches and difficult audience questions. Read the entire post: Book Review: Confessions of a Public Speaker

I heartily recommend Luke Wroblewski’s Web Form Design (May, 2008) for people who create web forms and for those who hire others to create them. The book is structured in three parts: form structure, form elements, and form interaction, and includes a plethora of real-world examples. Whether you’re a novice or expert, walking through Wroblewski’s overview of forms-related issues will provoke your thinking about design choices and their impact. Luke is Chief Design Architect at Yahoo! and blogs at Functioning Form.

Below are some of my thoughts and recommendations in response to the book.

Deepen your understanding of other people’s experiences

Who are we to not bother to ensure the resources we create are universally usable? As you are thinking about making better web forms, deepen your understanding of how design choices affect people with disabilities. Read the entire post: Book Review: Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks