Book Review: “Do It! Speaking - 77 Instant-Action Ideas To Market , Monetize, and Maximize Your Expertise” by David Newman CSP

How did I get this book?

Oh, this is a treasure from Ollies Bargain Basement!

I had seen it on my first visit, flipped through it, and one of the ideas stuck with me. It was “Put your best work out there.” It nagged me. I was curious what was in the rest of the book. It was discounted to $6.

What’s it about?

It’s about positioning yourself and your material to prospective companies and organizations that hire public speakers in order to fill up your calendar and your bank account.

What did I think?

I learned something.

There’s a whole industry of “speakers” out there that I was completely unaware of. There’s thousands of people doing this all over the world. They make a living by making speeches. The professionals charge at least $4500 for an appearance, but 10k or 25k is common. They have associations. There are organizations that maintain a stable of available speakers.

There’s a handful of things in here that could crossover into ministry. Things like thinking through what you’re passionate about, what you want to be known for, what topic you can make the best contribution to and so forth.

It made me think about the topics within ministry that I’m interested in. It also encouraged me to put more material out there.

Most of this doesn’t transfer, or at least, shouldn’t transfer to ministry. Sadly, I think there are guys (and gals) who are trying some of these techniques and tactics to expand their platform and network within ministry circles. Hopefully, it won’t work, or at least won’t work well. Ministry is a whole different ball game.

Jesus famously told the Pharisees: “You are in error, because you don’t know the Scriptures, nor the power of God.” If we don’t consider what the Bible says, and how the Holy Spirit likes to work, we can make some colossal mistakes. Christian ministry is at it’s core the dissemination of God’s Word and His Spirit. You wouldn’t want to use these tactics for that. Paul wrote we don’t peddle God’s Word for profit.

But, like I mentioned earlier, there’s some perceptive questions to ask yourself here that helped me to consider my contribution. I appreciated that. I found that part helpful.

Any final words?

Here’s a question for you: “Have you encountered one of these kinds of speakers?”