Speaking to inform: Discussing complex ideas with clear explanations and dynamic slides
Description
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About this course: In the professional realm, most speeches and presentations we give are informative in scope. A scientist needs to explain her recent research findings. A financial officer needs to report on quarterly earnings to his company’s board. A technology professional needs to educate a consumer about a new product. Any time you need to convey ideas or demonstrate a process, you’re dealing with informative speaking. Informative speaking is a fun puzzle. You need to think from the perspective of your audience to identify what they need to hear in order to understand the key ideas. How much does the audience already know? What are the most important elements to convey? How shoul…
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When you enroll for courses through Coursera you get to choose for a paid plan or for a free plan .
- Free plan: No certicification and/or audit only. You will have access to all course materials except graded items.
- Paid plan: Commit to earning a Certificate—it's a trusted, shareable way to showcase your new skills.
About this course: In the professional realm, most speeches and presentations we give are informative in scope. A scientist needs to explain her recent research findings. A financial officer needs to report on quarterly earnings to his company’s board. A technology professional needs to educate a consumer about a new product. Any time you need to convey ideas or demonstrate a process, you’re dealing with informative speaking. Informative speaking is a fun puzzle. You need to think from the perspective of your audience to identify what they need to hear in order to understand the key ideas. How much does the audience already know? What are the most important elements to convey? How should one convey these ideas with appropriate breadth and depth given the time constraints of the speech? This demands a strategic approach to speech design that we’ll undertake in this class. By the end of the course, you should be able to explain complex ideas vividly and accessibly, design clear and compelling presentation slides, convey your passion for a topic while maintaining your professional credibility, and speak dynamically from notes and/or a manuscript. Learners will record speeches, providing and receiving peer feedback.
Created by: University of Washington-
Taught by: Dr. Matt McGarrity, Principal Lecturer
UW Department of Communication
Each course is like an interactive textbook, featuring pre-recorded videos, quizzes and projects.
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University of Washington Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest state-supported institutions of higher education on the West Coast and is one of the preeminent research universities in the world.Syllabus
WEEK 1
Week 1: Targeting your presentation
This week, we’ll focus on essential strategies for designing informative speeches. The key issue is: what does the audience need? This process of identifying constraints and opportunities will allow you to zero in on a set of achievable goals, not trying to do too much nor too little. By the end of the week, you will have some tactics for thinking strategically about your goals in any speech. If you want some feedback, you’ll be able to upload an introductory speech for peer review.
16 videos, 1 practice quiz expand
- Video: 2.1.1: Welcome to speaking to inform
- Video: 2.1.2: Summary of previous course
- Video: 2.1.3: Course overview
- Video: 2.1.4: Assignment overview and rubric
- Video: 2.1.5: Overview of week 1
- Video: 2.1.6: A speech preparation process
- Video: 2.1.7: Drafting a sample speech
- Video: 2.1.8: Planning an audience-oriented speech
- Video: 2.1.9: What do I know about my audience?
- Video: 2.1.10: What does my audience know about the topic?
- Practice Quiz: Valuable talks
- Video: 2.1.11: Identifying your speech goals
- Video: 2.1.12: Writing your speech goals
- Video: 2.1.13: Revising your speech goals
- Discussion Prompt: Writing speech goals
- Video: 2.1.14: Review of week 1
- Peer Review: Introductory speech (Optional)
- Video: 2.1.15: Sample introductory speech
- Video: 1.1.13 (Review): Recording good speech videos
Graded: Week 1 quiz
WEEK 2
Week 2: Designing informative speeches
In this module, we'll move an informative speech from idea through to completed outline. Arrangement is always important. It's doubly important in informative speaking. We have to be clear and that starts with good speech design. By the end of the week, you should have a storehouse of arrangement strategies to organize almost any informative speech. If you want some feedback, you’ll be able to upload an informative speech outline for peer review and engage in some speech analysis.
13 videos, 4 readings, 1 practice quiz expand
- Video: 2.2.1: Overview of week 2
- Video: 2.2.2: Levels of meaning
- Video: 2.2.3: Simplicity
- Video: 2.2.4: Order
- Video: 2.2.5: Balance
- Discussion Prompt: Outline evaluation
- Reading: A note on these models
- Video: 2.2.6: Briefings and updates
- Video: 2.2.7: Product and design presentations
- Video: 2.2.8: Explaining research to a general audience
- Video: 2.2.9: Teaching talks
- Video: 2.2.10: Conference talks
- Video: 2.2.11: Informative introductions
- Video: 2.2.12: Informative conclusions
- Reading: Rosling and Shepard talks (Optional)
- Practice Quiz: Introductions and conclusions
- Video: 2.2.13: Review of week 2
- Peer Review: Informative speech outline (Optional)
- Reading: Speech analysis #1 overview
- Reading: Matt's feedback
- Discussion Prompt: Speech analysis #1 discussion
Graded: Week 2 quiz
Graded: Speech analysis #1
WEEK 3
Week 3: Clarity through support and slides
This week is all about helping the audience see what we’re talking about. We’ll begin by talking about how to explain details in a vibrant way, working in tandem with how an audience will hear this information. This ability to explain details and evidence well is essential to scientific speaking, business presentations, and any situation when you need to walk an audience through a new set of ideas. Then we turn to slides! They can make or break a speech. We’ll talk about how to design slides so that they support you as a speaker (not replace you). By the end of the week, you should have skills and experience explaining ideas richly and designing and using clear presentation slides. If you want some feedback, you’ll be able to upload a draft slide deck for peer review.
17 videos, 1 reading expand
- Video: 2.3.1: Overview of week 3
- Video: 2.3.2: Support overview
- Video: 2.3.3: Examples and illustrations
- Discussion Prompt: Metaphors
- Video: 2.3.4: Summarizing complex information
- Reading: Warren clip
- Video: 2.3.5: Audience-centered explanations
- Video: 2.3.6: Increasing your speech vocabulary
- Discussion Prompt: Copiousness
- Video: 2.3.7: Picking purpose for slides
- Video: 2.3.8: Presentation slides for presentation
- Video: 2.3.9: Slide simplicity
- Video: 2.3.10: Slides as support
- Video: 2.3.11: Using text in slides
- Video: 2.3.12: Using images in slides
- Video: 2.3.13: Using video in slides
- Video: 2.3.14: Presenting with slides
- Discussion Prompt: What slides do you like best?
- Video: 2.3.15: Review of week 3
- Video: 2.3.16. Sara Battersby, Part 1
- Video: 2.3.17: Sara Battersby, Part 2
- Discussion Prompt: Discuss your slides
Graded: Week 3 quiz
Graded: Informative speech slides
WEEK 4
Week 4: Delivering informative speeches
Now for some delivery work. We start with the concept of ethos. It is that performance of credibility that all great informative speakers have. We'll dive deep into how you can refine your ethos as a speaker. We’ll finish this course by focusing on the unique delivery demands of informative speaking: using notes, mics, and podiums effectively. Interacting with the audience well. By the end of the week, you’ll have some strategies for speaking more smoothly and with greater credibility. If you want some feedback, you’ll be able to upload a practice informative speech for peer review.
13 videos, 3 readings, 1 practice quiz expand
- Video: 2.4.1: Overview of week 4
- Video: 2.4.2: Defining your ethos
- Video: 2.4.3: Arete
- Video: 2.4.4: Phronesis
- Reading: Neil deGrasse Tyson clip (Optional)
- Discussion Prompt: Phroneisis
- Video: 2.4.5: Eunoia
- Video: 2.4.6: Presidential ethos analysis
- Video: 2.4.7: Using podiums
- Video: 2.4.8: Using microphones
- Video: 2.4.9: Using notes
- Practice Quiz: Interacting with your materials
- Video: 2.4.10: Interacting with the audience
- Video: 2.4.11: Delivery change-ups
- Video: 2.4.12: Review of week 4
- Reading: Speech analysis #2
- Video: 2.4.13: Speech for analysis
- Reading: Matt's feedback
- Discussion Prompt: Speech analysis #2 discussion
Graded: Week 4 quiz
Graded: Speech analysis #2
WEEK 5
Week 5: Review and assessment
Thank you for time in this course! I hope that the material has proven helpful to you. We concluded our discussion of the speech last week. This week, I would like to spend a bit of time reflecting on the course and talking about other exercises and activities that you can use to continue improving your public speaking abilities. We will end this week with your final informative speech.
3 videos expand
- Video: 2.5.1: Course review
- Video: 2.5.2: Other recommended courses
- Video: 2.5.3: Sample informative speech
Graded: Informative speech
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