Developing Effective Communication skills for Presentations, Negotiation and Cooperation with people

a) [WHY]
It's very important to present your ideas to the stakeholders and people who make the decisions.
This article started out as mail of 2 lines of copy-paste. But its grown into an article so blogging for other people to find and use.

Communication, marketing are some very important skills which are not taught in schools/colleges. But they're essential in day-to-day life.

Most people assume it's some kind of magic/in-born talent for some gifted people. However, like most things with patient practise we can grasp at least 50% of the skills by studying with the Masters in these fields.

I've seen some very hardworking, talented people miss out on what they deserve because they didn't have proper guidance on these very important topics.

b) [WHAT]
These are some good books that I found to be very useful in breaking the communication barrier.

I've personally benefited from reading, understanding and applying the techniques/principles given in them.

These people are gurus in their respective fields i.e.
a) Negotiation [Herb Cohen]
b) Marketing [Dale Carnegie] and
c) Open Source development [Eric S Raymond]

These books are available VERY cheaply on the roadside stalls or you can try for e bo oks also.
If you find reading tiring videos, Audio books, ebooks are also available on these topics.

c) [HOW]
[Communication skills]
1) You can negotiate Anything [Herb Cohen] Rating: (12/10)
This slim booklet is so powerful = power + full !!It helps you understand the games that go on behind the scene in any negotiation.
Whether its bargaining with a salesman or negotiating your salary with your boss.
As they say "You don't get what you deserve. You get what you negotiate"
This book has helped me to confidently negotiate my salary successfully at least 2-3 times.
This guy could negotiate with even ter ror ist s.

2) Art of Public Speaking [Dale Carnegie] Rating: (10/10)
This book is about effectively communicating your ideas.
So that people listen, understand and appreciate them.
"Effective communication" - Presentations, Emails, Phone conversations,
Business case presentations all come under this.

Have you seen a really great idea die just because the innovator could not sell his idea to others?
Have you seen speakers bore people into a coma during a presentation?
Have you seen an expert talk incoherently on a really good topic?

This world famous book teaches how to avoid all these and other basic pitfalls/mistakes people make.
It also teaches you some great methods/principles to follow in any communication scenario.

3) How to Win Friends and Influence People [Dale Carnegie] Rating: (10/10)
How to talk so that people listen to your ideas.
How and Why do people cooperate? Why don't they cooperate even if its in their interest?
How to get past the barriers which prevent people to cooperate for mutual benefit

4) How to ask questions the Smart Way [Eric S Raymond] Rating: (10/10)
http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
This small but powerful howto tells you how you can get people to help you.
All you need is to make it easy for them to help you.
A superb collection of methods to get an answer on a newsgroup/forum.
Helps equally well with team members who can help you but are too busy to sit with you for 30 minutes or more.