So what’s the big deal about making a presentation? You simply stand there and tell people what’s on your mind. Right? Well, not necessarily, if you want to be effective.

This book gets its title from advice that presentation coaches often give new presenters to help them conquer their nervousness. The theory is that if you can visualize the audience as being naked, you won’t be so afraid to talk to them.

Hoff claims to have researched the premise on three occasions and found he was unable to maintain any semblance of concentration. He also realized that the audience was able to visualize the presenter naked, advancing the opinion that concern over such audience behavior leads to presenters hiding behind podiums with their heads down, reading from scripts.

So Hoff gives us an exceptional book chock full of suggestions for ways to ensure that we feel the joy that comes with presenting well.

As a teacher, trainer, and consultant (in addition to being a writer), I’ve given my share of presentations over the last 15 years or so and generally have gotten high evaluations. But I still learned a lot when I re–read Hoff’s book for this review.

He divides the book into more than 50 short chapters that are written in a bright and breezy manner to convey some very specific recommendations.

Hoff is quick to point out that making a presentation is not the same as making a speech. Rather, he defines it as “a commitment by the presenter to help the audience do something—and a constant, simultaneous evaluation of the worth of that commitment by the audience.”

That definition emphasizes a number of his key points. First, presentations are (or should be) made to meet a need felt by the audience, to help the audience do something. Presenters who concentrate on themselves and talk only about themselves and their ideas will fail. It is necessary to present from the point of view of the audience and what’s in it for them. A second key thing to remember is that presentations are interactive. They are not one–way communication in which a supposed expert tells the less–informed what to think or do. Rather, they are two–way communication in which the presenter and audience work together to meet the audience members’ needs.

Hoff stresses that presentations are becoming more and more of a visual medium, an important point to remember for someone who is print–oriented like me.. Audiences think visually and it helps if presenters use visual images to make their points. He suggests we think of our next presentation “as a big, buoyant medicine ball which you must keep ‘alive.’ It’s your responsibility to keep that ball up in the air, guiding it deftly, tapping it ever higher, perhaps hitting it smartly with your head. Occasionally you’ll boost the ball toward someone in your audience. That ball will move around a lot, people will get involved with it, but it will always come back to you—because you’re the one who keeps it alive. Besides, it’s your ball.”

After discussing what a presentation is and what we are getting ourselves into when we are scheduled to make a presentation, Hoff reviews the critical first 90 seconds; offers suggestions for dealing with nervousness; tells us how to move out of the bland, gray area of making a presentation; stresses the need to understand the audience; looks at how to deal with questions; and suggests how we can learn from those classic presenters who stay with us forever.

Because presentations contain so many elements of entertainment and theatre, he suggests that someone who makes many presentations would do well to “find your own Stanley Kubrick,” someone we trust to be our personal director, giving us honest feedback and critique, monitoring the audience for reactions, signaling us to stop if we run over our time or don’t notice that we no longer have the audience with us.

One of his key presentation tips is that audiences like presenters who give them lists of things because they are easy to take notes on and remember. Hoff follows his own advice, putting lists of suggestions in most of his chapters.

Recognizing that the first 90 seconds can make or break a presentation, he offers these ideas: (1) remember that great presenters always make the audience feel good; (2) when you’re introduced, move into your mission with zeal and let your energy carry you forward; (3) when you arrive in the presentation area, rather than stand like you’ve been dropped there by a moving van, smile and move toward the audience; (4) give the impression that you’ve been genuinely looking forward to making this presentation and meeting this audience for a long time; and (5) plunge into your subject forcefully and leave no doubt that the subject has been engaged.

Hoff offers tests to help us determine whether our basic presentation style is “red” (emotional), “blue” (analytical), or gray (bland and boring), and there are specific recommendations for those who are gray so they can move out of that zone.

He devotes considerable attention to proper dress when making a presentation, effective use of visual aids, and means of overcoming nervousness. For those of us who never quite know what to do with our hands, there are some specific thoughts.

After describing the many things we do with our hands that are awkward or distracting, Hoff suggests we stand in front of a full–length mirror with a heavy book in each hand and then talk. At times, he says, we’ll probably raise one hand or the other in a gesture, even though the books are heavy. “Those are the real gestures. Save them. Eliminate all others. Those are nervous gestures. You’ll also discover that the books will tell you exactly how your hands should be positioned—bent slightly at the biggest knuckle—comfortably close to your body. Not moving except when there’s an important point to be made. Then, when you get up to speak—visualize yourself in the mirror with the books. Concentrate on it. You’ll find that your hands stay where they belong—and you won’t twirl, twiddle, or shake again.”

Hoff also points out that one reason we have so much trouble knowing what to do with our hands is because presenters like to stay in touch with themselves, to gain confidence or safety by maintaining contact. His suggestion: let the hands hang comfortably at your sides and then touch the thumb to the forefinger on each hand. “It has the same effect as hands touching each other (you know you’re there), only you don’t appear to be self–concious or nervous. You look perfect. Marvelous. You’re in touch with yourself—feeling the warmth of your own body heat—but you’re the only body who knows it!”

Richard Hoff, who has taught thousands of business professionals how to make presentations has something (actually many things) here for every presenter, no matter how skilled or inexperienced. And it’s fun to read besides. There are things I learned from this book that will definitely show up in my next class or presentation. And that means the audience will enjoy it more and so will I.