“You guys have to read this book Resonate from Nancy Duarte. It’s a great piece on how to improve your presentations, how to structure them and make them really engaging. It is full of colorful pictures, interesting examples and analyses of famous TED Talks.”

I gave this pitch three weeks ago in Kopyto (a pub in Žižkov) after a meeting of VŠE Toastmasters (university club where students practice public speaking).

I supported my words by taking out my iPad out from my backpack and flipping through my favorite part of the book.

For a moment I had the feeling that I should be getting commission for every Resonate book sold.

Then, one of the guys asked me: “Wow, this book seems to be really useful and interesting. So, what of these hints did you use in preparing your speeches?”

I knew the answer immediately, but it took me a few seconds to say it aloud.

“Well… I haven’t really used any of those hints in preparation of my speeches.”

“Ah… okay.”

The level of excitement dropped in an instant. “Maybe it’s not too bad I don’t get any commission for selling that book, after all”, I thought.

I always try to think of myself as of a person that always seeks new information and tries to keep pace with what is going on in the world around. Subscribed to The Economist, Internazionale, spending considerable time every day reading blogs on career and business topics and, since I got my Kindle, buying a new non-fiction book every couple of weeks (adding a new book to Goodreads always feels like a nice little achievement!).

But that little conversation in Kopyto made me think – what good is all this reading, if I don’t put it to use?

Coming back to Resonate – I definitely enjoyed reading the book. I felt inspired when I read the analysis of Benjamin Zander’s speech and imagined myself being in such command of an audience as he was. I was amazed by the approach that compared the relationship between the presenter and the audience to the mentor-mentee relationship between Master Yoda and Luke Skywalker (well structured in 12 steps!).

Maybe you have similar experience – enjoying every minute of reading on a topic you’re interested in.

But, could we get more out of it? What if we would really be able to incorporate some of these great ideas into our lives?

With our next read – let’s ask for more!