Schwartzberg - Get to the Point!: Sharpen Your Message and Make Your Words Matter

Praise for Get to the Point!

Schwartzberg sketches out a simple tool kit on how to know, make, and sell your point. His book is worth a close read.

Hari Sreenivasan, Anchor and Senior Correspondent, PBS NewsHour

Joel Schwartzbergs step-by-step guide will help you find your point, hone it, and deliver it powerfully.

Mark Ragan, CEO, Ragan Communications

If every speaker absorbed the contents of this wee volume, every speech would be a vital speech.

David Murray, Editor and Publisher, Vital Speeches of the Day, and Executive Director, Professional Speechwriters Association

Get to the Point! delivers on its promise, enabling you to effectively get to, stick to, and make your point. The lessons enabled me to communicate more effectively to my employees, clients, and vendors.

Jeremy Miller, founder and CEO, FSAstore.com/HSAstore.com

This should be required reading whether youre presenting an annual report, a book report, or anything in between. Its that simple, incisive, and applicable!

Douglass Hatcher, Vice President, Executive Communications, Mastercard

This quick guide will help any busy professional become a more persuasive and effective speaker.

Lowell Weiss, former presidential speechwriter for Bill Clinton

Chock full of clearly written, easy-to-apply tips, Get to the Point! is a no-nonsense guide to communicating efficiently and effectively.

Monique Visintainer, Senior Director, Executive Communications, and Speechwriter for the President, Concur

Finally, a book with actionable tools that show you how to make a point and stick to it. If you have something important to say, take Joels advice and use it.

Allison Shapira, founder and CEO, Global Public Speaking LLC, and Harvard Kennedy School lecturer

Business leaders everywhere should buy copies of this book and dole them out like candy to their teams to see their communication capabilities transform overnight.

Allison Hemming, founder and CEO, The Hired Guns

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to be a better, more effective communicator.

Risa Weinstock, President and CEO, Animal Care Centers of NYC

Get to the Point! presents simple solutions to help salespeople sell, managers manage, leaders lead, and influencers influence.

Josh Steimle, founder and CEO, MWI, and author of Chief Marketing Officers at Work

If I were forced to select only one book for all the technical presenters Ive coached through the years, this would be it.

Dianna Booher, bestselling author of Communicate Like a Leader and Creating Personal Presence

Get to the Point! practices what it teaches. Its a joy to read, and its also funny. Whats not to like?

Sam Horn, CEO, The Intrigue Agency, and author of Got Your Attention?

Joel provided one of the most user-friendly trainings I have received in my professional career. I would highly recommend him and his book for experienced and novice communicators and pretty much anyone in between.

Daniel Elbaum, Assistant Executive Director, American Jewish Committee

Get to the Point! offers a blueprint for the formulation and delivery of effective points, and the incorporation of humor makes this guide a quick and pleasant read.

Will Baker, Director, Global Debate Initiative, New York University, and Chief Information Officer, Baker Consulting Associates

The strategies will force you to rethink every presentation and help you make your point more effectively. I loved it.

Fauzia Burke, President, FSB Associates, and author of Online Marketing for Busy Authors

Get to the Point!

Sharpen Your Message and Make Your Words Matter

JOEL SCHWARTZBERG

Get to the Point!

Copyright 2017 Joel Schwartzberg
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator, at the address below.

Ordering information for print editions
Quantity sales. Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the Special Sales Department at the Berrett-Koehler address above.

Individual sales. Berrett-Koehler publications are available through most bookstores. They can also be ordered directly from Berrett-Koehler: Tel: (800) 929-2929; Fax: (802) 864-7626; www.bkconnection.com

Orders for college textbook/course adoption use. Please contact Berrett-Koehler: Tel: (800) 929-2929; Fax: (802) 864-7626.

Orders by U.S. trade bookstores and wholesalers. Please contact Ingram Publisher Services, Tel: (800) 509-4887; Fax: (800) 838-1149; E-mail: for details about electronic ordering.

Berrett-Koehler and the BK logo are registered trademarks of Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

First Edition
Paperback print edition ISBN 978-1-5230-9411-0
PDF e-book ISBN 978-1-5230-9412-7
IDPF e-book ISBN 978-1-5230-9413-4

2017-1

Cover design: Maureen Forys, Happenstance Type-O-Rama

Cover photo: Shaun Wilkinson/Shutterstock

Book design and production: Maureen Forys, Happenstance Type-O-Rama

Copyediting: Rebecca Rider, Happenstance Type-O-Rama

Proofreader: Elizabeth Welch, Happenstance Type-O-Rama

Dedicated to the hundreds of students and clients who came to me with soft ideas and left with sharp points.

Thanks to the key Schwartzbergs in my lifemy wife Anne; my kids Evan, Mylie, and Josie; and my parents Howard and Susanfor their unconditional love and support.

Also thanks to the crack team at Berrett-Koehler, especially Neal Maillet and Jeevan Sivasubramaniam for their encouragement and expert guidance.

If you cant explain it simply, you dont understand it well enough.

Albert Einstein

When I was in sixth grade, I gave one of my first formal speeches. Wearing a blue three-piece suit and wide clip-on tie, I competed at a forensics tournament and gave a speech about the neutron bomb, a now-obsolete device designed to minimize property destruction while maximizing human destruction through radiation.