PSCOMEPS1032 - Effective Public Speaking
Communication drives success and change. Now that companies are moving to a more blended workstyle, presentations are often conducted in an online format. How do you maintain engagement, and what tools/ tactics can make you as engaging online as in-person? The goal of this course is to empower you to communicate effectively to management and engage colleagues. Through lectures and discussions, you will focus on skills that make you more persuasive. These skills include how to craft a persuasive argument, overcome resistance, enhance trust and how to make engaging presentations in an online environment. In this class, you will have opportunities to practice communication on topics of interest to you. Your instructor and peers will provide feedback to accelerate your growth as an effective speaker.
Course Details
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Present your ideas persuasively
- Establish rapport with listeners
- Overcome resistance
- Manage status dynamics
- Use confident body language
- Design powerful slides
Assignments & Course Deliverables
- Four Minute Presentation: You will deliver a four-minute presentation on the topic of your choosing. Focus exclusively on techniques taught in class. No slides.
- Self-Critique. You will have the opportunity to submit a single-page (~400 word) self-critique on how to improve your presentation. Specifically, identify four ways you can use the approaches from class more effectively after observing how other students used those approaches in their presentations.
- TED Analysis: TED talks are an opportunity to learn innovative ideas as well as observe powerful communication skills. Watch a TED talk of your choice, and submit a single-page analysis of the presentation, identifying techniques discussed in class.
- Group Presentation: You will deliver an eight to 10-minute presentation in partnership with a classmate. Slides and delivery will play an important role in your presentation.
Discussion
- Self-Introduction: Introduce your professional background, something unique about yourself, your struggles with communication, and what you aim to achieve in this course. Be sure to leave comments for your peers to enhance connection.
- Peer Feedback: Provide concrete written feedback to at least two of your peers on their four-minute presentations, focusing on what they did well and how they might improve on techniques taught in class.
- Visionary Speech: Post a short visionary and/or inspiring speech, whether fact or fiction, and list out the techniques used that make the speech effective.
Policies & Grades
To earn CEUs/Satisfactory grade in this course, you must complete both presentation assignments, provide feedback to peers, participate in class, and participate in the discussion.
Attendance
Attendance is required, and you need to arrive on time. Please contact the instructor if you can’t make it to class.
- Anyone that wants to sharpen their public speaking skills
- Experienced speakers who want to become more convincing
- Individuals and recent graduates who want to give high-impact presentations and feel more comfortable when doing it
- Professionals such as engineers, scientists, physicians, researchers and educators who often need to communicate complex information and motivate others to take action
The Cost of Attendance (COA) is $750.00. Financial assistance information can be found on Rice Financial Aid's Visiting and Continuing Education Students page.
Due to the high demand for courses, registrations are considered final as of 10 working days before class starts. No refunds will be issued after these dates and credits will not be given for future classes. No refunds will be granted for participants who miss a portion of a program. Refund requests before the deadline are subject to a 10% processing fee and must be made in writing to gscs@rice.edu. If books have been issued, the cost of the books and any shipping fees will be deducted. Refunds for credit card payments will be processed as credits to the accounts from which they were paid and may not appear as a credit until the following statement. Refunds for enrollments paid by check take up to four weeks to be processed and mailed by the Rice University accounting office. There is a $30 charge for any check returned for insufficient funds.