The hope good presenters project when pitching their ideas is not naïve hope. They’re not Pollyanna at the podium. Instead, the solutions they offer are supported by research, data, and expertise. This course will teach you how to merge hard facts with an imaginative vision in a way that at once resonates with and inspires your audience.
This course is part of the Good with Words: Speaking and Presenting Specialization
Offered By
About this Course
No prior experience necessary
What you will learn
How to inspire people with a sense of "informed hope"
How to treat storytelling as an "entrepreneurial superpower"
How to expand your range of dynamic gestures and facial expressions
How to increase the creativity you bring to your next negotiation
Skills you will gain
- Problem Solving
- Dynamic Movement
- Resilience
- Optimism
- Ingenuity
No prior experience necessary
Offered by

University of Michigan
The mission of the University of Michigan is to serve the people of Michigan and the world through preeminence in creating, communicating, preserving and applying knowledge, art, and academic values, and in developing leaders and citizens who will challenge the present and enrich the future.
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
Week 1 |Optimism: Vocabulary
What do the British writer George Orwell and the American designer Charles Eames have in common?
Week 2 | Optimism: Speaking Studies and Speaking Exercises
We’ll take a deeper look at the quality of optimism this week, with a little help from a 19th-century neurologist, a 20th century graduate of Harvard Law School, and a set of 21st-century experiments.
Week 3 | Dynamic: Vocabulary
We’ll start by taking a new look at Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream Speech” at the March on Washington in 1963. But we won’t be focusing on his rhythmic cadence or strategic uses of pauses. Instead, we’ll turn our attention to the persuasive power he generates with his head, his arms, and even his heels.
Week 4 | Dynamic: Studies & Exercises
The first American woman to become a Supreme Court justice. The first German Chancellor to commemorate the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. And a brave political activist who decided the best way to make a statement would be to climb up a flagpole. We learned about each of those figures last week and are now ready to take a look at some helpful research about the quality each of them shared: they communicated with more than just their mouths.
Reviews
- 5 stars87.50%
- 4 stars4.16%
- 3 stars4.16%
- 1 star4.16%
TOP REVIEWS FROM SPEAKING AND PRESENTING: PITCHES AND PERSUASION
A very good course, taught by an exceptional instructor. It has helped me a lot in both my personal and professional life.
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.

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