Bio: Brian Lomas is a business consultant and trainer based on the south coast of England. He is a visiting lecturer at the Southampton University School of Management and has written the Easy Step by Step Guide, Stress and Time Management, also published by Rowmark. His first experience of public speaking was as a 5-year old sitting on his father’s knee and talking into a megaphone. What did he say? Four words: ‘Vote for my daddy.’ Although his dad didn’t get elected to the House of Commons on that occasion, neither Lomas gave up their public speaking. Lomas the Elder did become a Member of Parliament and Brian watched, listened, practiced and learnt during a business career on both sides of the Atlantic. And has he learnt? Well, his dad thought so and he didn’t offer praise easily. On his parents golden wedding anniversary (when Brian was somewhat older than five), his dad took him to one side after he had made his speech and said: ‘Well, Brian, how did I do?’ During his career, Brian has presented to audiences in excess of a thousand, faced the friendly (and the not-so-friendly), been asked the questions he wanted and the questions he didn’t want. And when asked: ‘Are you nervous when presenting?’, Brian answered, ‘Absolutely! In fact, the more laid-back I might feel, the more dangerous it is. Nerves make for a good presentation – the trick is to appear and speak confidently. And that trick – along with many others – is what this book is all about.’