I don't believe "speed reading" is helpful if you want to properly comprehend what you are reading. If you want to completely understand or retain the material then you can't skim over it or read it as fast as possible. No matter what strategy or course you take, you will miss most of it.
If the idea is to go into work and truthfully say "I've read the material" and offer some broad or vague observations then it can work (which I know people do and it works), but if you have to take a test or you are reading fiction it won't be very helpful and could be counterproductive.
Sorry to be such a Debbie Downer about it, but I have spent some time teaching people reading comprehension skills and speed-reading is the exact opposite of what I tried to teach them. For adults especially, much of the time was spent trying to convince them that faster does not equal better.
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