ImagesQ&A Management

One of the many jobs I had while living in NYC, in between my actor gigs, was at Toy Fair—a yearly event for everyone and everything in the toy industry. Distributors and manufacturers often hire actors to demo their newest toys to potential buyers. This is where toy trends are born.

One year, I got hired to demo a new touch-and-talk fluffy animal-like creature. I was given a 60-second script that explained its unique features, and I delivered this pitch to different groups of potential buyers as they walked by on the trade show floor.

As I was saying my spiel for what felt like the millionth time that week, a large group of buyers ...

Get Presentation Skills For Managers, 2E, 2nd Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.