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

Joel Schwartzberg

Oct 2017 · Berrett-Koehler Audio · Narrated by Jeff Hoyt

About this audiobook

In this indispensable guide for anyone who must communicate in speech or writing, Schwartzberg shows that most of us fail to convince because we don't have a point-a concrete contention that we can argue, defend, illustrate, and prove. He lays out, step-by-step, how to develop one.


In Joel's Schwartzberg's ten-plus years as a strategic communications trainer, the biggest obstacle he's come across-one that connects directly to nervousness, stammering, rambling, and epic fail-is that most speakers and writers don't have a point. They typically have just a title, a theme, a topic, an idea, an assertion, a catchphrase, or even something much less.

A point is something more. It's a contention you can propose, argue, defend, illustrate, and prove. A point offers a position of potential value. Global warming is real is not a point. Scientific evidence shows that global warming is a real, human-generated problem that will have a devastating environmental and financial impact is a point. When we have a point, our influence snaps into place. We communicate belief, conviction, and urgency. This book shows you how to identify your point, leverage it, stick to it, and sell it and how to train others to identify and successfully make their own points.

Ratings and reviews

Great examples!

About the author

Joel Schwartzberg has over a decade of experience as a strategic communication executive with major organizations and as a corporate communication trainer. He is the senior director of strategic and executive communications for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.