Overview

Learn how to be both confident and competent in your public speaking.

Course Description

The power of an effective speech is undeniable. It has the capacity to engage, inform, motivate, and create change in an audience—and in the world. In this compelling 24-lesson course, How to Speak Effectively in Any Setting, taught by Molly Bishop Shadel, Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, you will learn the fine art of speaking clearly, effectively, and persuasively in contexts across the spectrum, from the boardroom to the barroom and everywhere in between.

With an eye toward the role of ethos, pathos, and logos in effective writing and presentation, Professor Shadel helps you organize and construct a speech in ways that are different from what you might write for other purposes. Focusing on timing and environment in audience experience, you will learn to structure and deliver speeches that your audience can easily follow. Practice, preparation, and some tricks from the actor’s bag of tricks will support great vocal presentation with equally skilled physicality.

Whether you are expected to deliver a eulogy, a wedding toast, a commencement speech, or a formal workplace presentation, advice and direction from Professor Shadel will guide you to success. Learn the underpinnings of effective speech writing and skilled delivery in settings both personal and professional, providing you the tools needed to appear confident and competent during all your public speaking experiences. Finish the course with a new understanding of context, occasion, purpose, and audience, prepared to craft and deliver discourse for any occasion and every situation.

Course Lectures

01: Establishing Your Credibility as a Speaker

Follow along with Professor Molly Bishop Shadel as she details the highlights of this vital series, focusing on ethos—“good sense, good moral character, and good will.” Learn how you can use each aspect of ethos to generate trust, understanding, and support from audiences.

Duration: 32 min

02: How to Engage an Audience’s Emotions

Think of your favorite speech from a movie or play. How does it make you feel? Here, Professor Shadel connects audience emotional response to speech success through pathos, helping you build a relationship with your audience.

Duration: 29 min

03: Speaking with Clear Logic

Most humans are single-path thinkers with relatively limited attention spans. Follow along as Professor Shadel addresses the role of logos, or logic, in effective speech organization and delivery.

Duration: 31 min

04: Logical Fallacies and How to Disarm Them

Flaws in reasoning, known as logical fallacies, can derail your arguments. By learning the specifics of more than a dozen types of logical fallacies, you can become a more effective speaker and a more discerning consumer of information.

Duration: 31 min

05: Avoiding the Pitfalls of Propaganda

Learn how propaganda operates and how it can be disarmed. Understand Aristotle’s approach to persuasion through good character, emotional appeal, and sound logic.

Duration: 29 min

06: How to Write for Public Speaking

Writing for public speaking differs from writing for reading. Unpack the common pitfalls and opportunities in writing for speaking and construct a speech that establishes credibility and grabs your audience’s attention.

Duration: 30 min

07: Analyzing and Rehearsing Your Speech

Once you have written an outstanding speech, learn how to present it in a way that brings your words alive. Explore a variety of techniques used by actors as you prepare to take the stage.

Duration: 25 min

08: Using Body Language in Public Speaking

Break problematic physical and vocal habits and practice delivering your speech with confidence. Learn about stance, movement, and assertive posturing to convey confidence and competence.

Duration: 25 min

09: Eye Contact and Pacing in Performance

Engage in rehearsal exercises designed to hone your performance and establish credibility. Learn how rhythm, tone, and cadence affect the meaning of your words.

Duration: 26 min

10: Finding Your Best Voice for Public Speaking

Investigate ways to develop projection, enunciation, and articulation through physical stretches and breath exercises to stay calm and clear-headed.

Duration: 31 min

11: Managing Stage Fright

Delve into the role of the amygdala in fear response and learn step-by-step exercises to overcome public speaking anxiety.

Duration: 28 min

12: Speaking with Props or Visual Aids

Learn how to design effective visual aids and deploy them skillfully to enhance your speech and engage your audience.

Duration: 27 min

13: Making a Celebratory Speech

Prepare to speak publicly at important celebratory occasions like weddings and graduations. Learn to craft your own epideictic speeches.

Duration: 28 min

14: Giving a Eulogy

Explore the purpose and process behind delivering an outstanding eulogy, a challenging yet important type of speech.

Duration: 26 min

15: Speaking Skills for Social Settings

Discover how to make a great first impression and tell a good story in social settings, preparing your audience for effective listening.

Duration: 27 min

16: Communicating Successfully at Work

Investigate best practices for effective workplace communication through strategic selection of position, audience, environment, and approach.

Duration: 27 min

17: Making a Powerful Business Presentation

Learn how to pitch your product and impress your audience by employing the same principles of ethos, pathos, and logos.

Duration: 27 min

18: How to Handle a Media Interview

Learn how to share your expertise with the media effectively, emphasizing competence and credibility.

Duration: 27 min

19: Negotiating without Fear

Practice strategies necessary to negotiate with skill and create win-win outcomes for yourself and others.

Duration: 28 min

20: Giving Helpful Verbal Feedback

Discover how to apply your public speaking skills to feedback situations, changing the dynamic from resistance to acceptance.

Duration: 29 min

21: Speaking Effectively in the Classroom

Examine the role of negative self-talk and focus on connecting with your students as a teacher or guest speaker.

Duration: 28 min

22: Making a Persuasive Political Argument

Deploy ethos, logos, and pathos to help your audience see the logic of your position and create a path to better understanding.

Duration: 33 min

23: How to Argue in Court

Understand legal argument to become a better-informed citizen. Review jurisdictions and rules to prepare a clear legal argument.

Duration: 28 min

24: Assembling the Elements of a Winning Speech

Finish the series with a critical review of key concepts that will help you craft and deliver effective discourse for any occasion.

Duration: 26 min