Speak, Memorably

The Art of Captivating an Audience

By: Bill McGowan, Juliana Silva

Narrated by: Bill McGowan

The media guru and bestselling author of Pitch Perfect helps professionals break away from canned communications and find their true—and most effective—voice no matter the workplace.

The business world has adopted the wrong definition of successful communication. For many years, being “on message” was considered the prime directive. The overwhelming majority of professionals today exist in a rigidly narrow range of bland rhetoric, throwing around industry buzzwords and empty jargon to create the impression of business savvy. But when everyone sounds messaged (and the same), no one stands out. And now, with more ways than ever to get your message across, it’s never been harder to communicate clearly and have your message stick.

Bill McGowan has devoted more than twenty years to helping people find their distinctive voice. From CEOs to White House staffers to television personalities, he has coached thousands of speakers to make their narrative more memorable and distinctive by breaking free from the challenges preventing them from selling their ideas with conviction, motivating their teams during challenging times, or clearly articulating a company’s mission.

Speak, Memorably offers concrete strategies and tools to help anyone, in any stage of their career, cut through the numbing sameness of cliches and boring business rhetoric and find their authentic voice. Inspiring and entertaining, it is a masterclass in interpersonal communication and an inspiring call to action for professionals to break free from forgettable “brand” speak and instead craft thoughtful and memorable messages.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2025 Bill McGowan (P)2025 HarperCollins Publishers

be brief

you need to apply your own advice and be brief in your book. this could have been a 2hours book rather than 8 PLUS hours

Ever heard of Theftosterone or Zoomgenics?

Speak, Memorably The Art of Captivating An Audience by Bill McGowan and Juliana Silva is a rare gem giving simple and actionable suggestions to supercharge your communication skills.

Great insights!

This was a great listen on Audible, like having multiple private sessions with a pro. Entertaining and helpful! I'll be using this advice for sure.
EHM

Good tips but delivery is drone-y

Appreciate the author’s expertise on public speaking but the delivery tone remains the same pattern throughout which causes me to keep drifting out of the information (ironically, as there is a chapter named burying of the zombie drone)

I don’t know what it is, it sounds almost AI, robotic…pacing doesn’t change. So yeah, unfortunately I’m finding it hard to retain the information.

P.S. I got this book because I saw Angela Duckworth post about it on LinkedIn. Guess I got influenced too quickly, should have done my own research!

Useless

This book is supposed to teach how to make your presentations memorable, but it is boring, forgettable, and full of repetitive, mostly already widely known information.