This course is part of the Good with Words: Speaking and Presenting Specialization

4.6
stars
92 ratings

Patrick Barry

12,649 already enrolled

Offered By

Good with Words: Speaking and Presenting SpecializationUniversity of Michigan

About this Course

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Poise is not some elusive or innate characteristic. It’s a series of choices, all of which can help you better connect with your intended audience. This course will help you identify those choices and teach you how to   make them in a way that consistently enhances the clarity of your message and the effectiveness of your delivery.

Flexible deadlines

Reset deadlines in accordance to your schedule.

Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion

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Coursera Labs

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Course 1 of 4 in the

Good with Words: Speaking and Presenting Specialization

Beginner Level

No background is needed

Approx. 12 hours to complete

English

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What you will learn

How to hold the attention of a wide range of audiences
How to project a powerful combination of confidence, competence, and charisma
How to arrange your content in clear, memorable packages
How to use a well-tested suite of rhetorical rhythms to enhance your delivery and linguistic sophistication

Skills you will gain

Communication
Poise
Advocacy
Rhythm

Flexible deadlines

Reset deadlines in accordance to your schedule.

Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion

100% online

Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.

Coursera Labs

Includes hands on learning projects.

Learn more about Coursera Labs

Course 1 of 4 in the

Good with Words: Speaking and Presenting Specialization

Beginner Level

No background is needed

Approx. 12 hours to complete

English

Could your company benefit from training employees on in-demand skills?

Try Coursera for Business

Instructor

Instructor rating

4.65/5 (32 Ratings)

Patrick Barry

Clinical Assistant Professor of Law

Michigan Law School

123,182 Learners

12 Courses

Offered by

University of Michigan

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Syllabus - What you will learn from this course

Content Rating99%(1,048 ratings)

Week1

Week 1

4 hours to complete

Week 1 | Poise: Vocabulary

4 hours to complete

9 videos (Total 23 min), 14 readings, 5 quizzes

9 videos

Hold People’s Attention2mP-R-O-D-U-C-T7mPoise2mThe Virtue of Clarity1mBeing in Public1mCharisma2mSpeaking Stories: LBJ3mSpeaking Stories: Winston Churchill1mSpeaking Stories: RBG50s

14 readings

Meet Professor Barry2mTeaching Style and Resources10mSyllabus7mUniversity of Michigan Survey1m(Optional) Introduction15m(Optional) Chapter 1—Poise15m(Optional) Class Clips20mExercise ("Carpool Charisma")25mCommunity Engagement Rules3mSpeaking Stats ("Harper's Index")3mEdit Our Edits10mSpeaking Sagacity10mThe Power of Pronouns5mExercise―Chatter: How Well Do You Know Your Inner Voice?5m

5 practice exercises

Low-Stakes Practice5mLow-Stakes Practice8mLow-Stakes Practice5mLow-Stakes Practice5mWeek 1 Review20m

Week2

Week 2

4 hours to complete

Week 2 |Poise: Speaking Studies and Speaking Exercises

4 hours to complete

3 videos (Total 8 min), 6 readings, 4 quizzes

Week3

Week 3

2 hours to complete

Week 3 | Rhythm: Vocabulary

People who have taken our companion course Good with Words: Writing and Editing may remember some of the rhetorical moves we’ll be learning about this week, including anaphora, epistrophe, and the Rule of Three. But even if these techniques are new to you, I hope you’ll soon try to incorporate them into your various speaking opportunities. There are good reasons why everyone from John F. Kennedy, to Margaret Thatcher, to Martin Luther King relied on them to get important points across.

2 hours to complete

10 videos (Total 21 min), 4 readings, 3 quizzes

10 videos

Rhythm 2mMore Saving. More Doing1mIf You See Something, Say Something1mParallel Structure2mThe Rule of Three3mSame, Same, Kind of Different2mVerbal Technology1mWomen’s Suffrage2mSlavery1mSuffrage and Slavery1m

4 readings

(Optional) Rhythm—Chapter 220m(Optional) Resources: Class Clips15mRap Rhythms3mGood Sentences, Good Speeches ("Hollywood")15m

3 practice exercises

Low-Stakes Practice5mLow-Stakes Practice8mWeek 3 Review20m

Week4

Week 4

3 hours to complete

Week 4 | Rhythm: Speaking Studies and Speaking Exercises

3 hours to complete

3 videos (Total 6 min), 5 readings, 4 quizzes

3 videos

Speaking Studies: What Makes it Great?2mSpeaking Studies: Creating Power1m Speaking Studies: Classical English Rhetoric1m

5 readings

Speaking Exercise ("Rhythm and Poise")20mSpeaking Exercise ("Poem Share")15mContext Matters10mCourse Feedback10m"Good with Words: Writing and Editing" and Michigan Online1m

3 practice exercises

Low-Stakes Practice5mLow-Stakes Practice ("Context Matters")15mWeek 4 Review20m

Reviews

4.6

13 reviews

5 stars
75%
4 stars
17.39%
3 stars
2.17%
2 stars
3.26%
1 star
2.17%

TOP REVIEWS FROM SPEAKING AND PRESENTING: POISE

by RPMar 22, 2023

Excellent! I learned some new techniques and confirmed that I am using others correctly.

by CHJan 6, 2022

Great course with a lot of additional resources to help improve skills !

by WRMay 30, 2022

It opened my exers to the patterns and structure of effective verbal communication.

View all reviews

About the Good with Words: Speaking and Presenting Specialization

Suppose you were good with words. Suppose when you decided to speak, the message you delivered—and the way you delivered it—successfully connected with your intended audience. What would that mean for your career prospects? What would that mean for your comfort level in social situations? And perhaps most importantly, what would that mean for your satisfaction with the personal relationships you value the most? This specialization is designed to help you find out. Based on an award-winning course and workshop series at the University of Michigan that has been taken by students training to enter a wide range of fields—law, business, medicine, social work, public policy, design, engineering, and many more—it removes the guesswork from figuring out how to communicate clearly and compellingly.

Frequently Asked Questions

When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?
Access to lectures and assignments depends on your type of enrollment. If you take a course in audit mode, you will be able to see most course materials for free. To access graded assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience, during or after your audit. If you don't see the audit option:
The course may not offer an audit option. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid.
The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.
What will I get if I subscribe to this Specialization?
When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free.
Is financial aid available?
Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.

More questions? Visit the Learner Help Center.

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Speaking and Presenting: Poise

About this Course

What you will learn

Skills you will gain