Speaking and Presenting: Pitches and Persuasion (Coursera)

Speaking and Presenting: Pitches and Persuasion (Coursera)

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.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see Coursera's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

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

Course 2 of 4 in the Good with Words: Speaking and Presenting Specialization

Syllabus

WEEK 1
Optimism: Concept
What do the British writer George Orwell and the American designer Charles Eames have in common?
We’ll find out in this first week of “Pitches and Persuasion,” the second course in the four-part series “Good with Words: Speaking and Presenting.”

WEEK 2
Optimism: Studies & 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.
It’s going to be a fun week.

WEEK 3
Dynamic: Concept & Stories
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.
Body language, we’ll see, can be some of the most effective languages around.

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.

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Job Success: Get Hired or Promoted in 3 Steps (Coursera) Coursera
The State University of New York

Job Success: Get Hired or Promoted in 3 Steps (Coursera)

This course, Job Success: Get Hired or Promoted in Three Steps, will prepare you to stand out in a crowded applicant pool so that you can get hired or promoted. In three steps you will leave this course with : an upgraded social media presence (one that you can be proud of); a visual, infographic resume that will get you noticed; a professional pitch that highlights your strengths and skills.

Jun 8th 2026
3 Weeks
Vozes da Mudança Social (Coursera) Coursera
Laureate Education

Vozes da Mudança Social (Coursera)

Em tempos de instabilidade política, desequilíbrio ambiental e desigualdade social, jovens agentes de mudanças sociais estão liderando o caminho para solucionar os desafios da atualidade. O que você está fazendo para gerar mudanças positivas e sustentáveis? O programa Vozes da Mudança Social é um curso on-line, gratuito e de curta duração, elaborado e ministrado por oito jovens empreendedores.

Jun 8th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Creative Writing: The Craft of Plot (Coursera) Coursera
Wesleyan University

Creative Writing: The Craft of Plot (Coursera)

In this course aspiring writers will be introduced to perhaps the most elemental and often the most challenging element of story: plot. We will learn what keeps it moving, how it manipulates our feelings, expectations, and desires. We will examine the choices storytellers make to snag our imaginations, drag them into a fictional world, and keep them there. We will learn how to outline and structure a plot, discuss narrative arc, pacing and reversals and reveal the inevitable surprise: connecting the beginning, middle and end.

Jun 8th 2026
4 Weeks
Speaking to a Technical Group (Coursera) Coursera
University of Colorado Boulder

Speaking to a Technical Group (Coursera)

Great speakers focus on voice, nonverbals, eye contact, body language, and storytelling to captivate their audiences. Moreover, as a leader, it is possible to communicate in such a manner and in such a tone of voice so as to inspire in others nothing but an intense desire to excel, making this form, potentially, the most powerful leadership-communication skill of all. This course focuses on the fundamentals of excellent oral communication.

Jun 9th 2026
4 Weeks
Entrepreneurship (Coursera) Coursera
The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Entrepreneurship (Coursera)

An entrepreneur is someone who is always on the lookout for problems that can be turned into opportunities and finds creative ways to leverage limited resources to reach their goals. In this course, learners will be introduced to the fundamental concepts, theories, and frameworks of entrepreneurship and learn how to apply them within the context of the world's largest market: China.

Jun 8th 2026
4 Weeks
Voice Disorders: What Patients and Professionals Need to Know (Coursera) Coursera
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Voice Disorders: What Patients and Professionals Need to Know (Coursera)

Knowledge regarding vocal production physiology and management options for voice disorders have experienced rapid growth over the past 40 years. This growth has resulted in a knowledge gap amongst patients and practitioners. Entirely new subspecialties of laryngology under otolaryngology and vocology under speech-language pathology have developed in response to this gap. This MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) is designed to educated patients, allied healthcare providers, vocal trainers/coaches, general medical practitioners and otolaryngologists.

Jun 8th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Writing in First Person Point of View (Coursera) Coursera
Wesleyan University

Writing in First Person Point of View (Coursera)

If you have always wanted to tell your own story—in a memoir, first-person essay, or any other form of autobiographical non-fiction—but felt you lacked the tools or the framework, this is the class for you. We will learn how successful first-person writing is structured to offer the reader a sense of propulsive motion, and is guided by a narrator who is deliberately crafted. We will explore the ways in which language can be used to create tone, so that the emotional freight of your words is as potent as the storytelling. And crucially, we will consider the writer's responsibility to the reader: the importance of being a guide who includes the reader in the sensory, emotional, and intellectual experience you mean to share through your writing.

Jun 8th 2026
4 Weeks
Introduction to Imagemaking (Coursera) Coursera
California Institute of the Arts

Introduction to Imagemaking (Coursera)

This course for serious makers, and for students new to imagemaking. Imagemaking is a fluid and exciting area of graphic design that comes out of practice and process: experimenting fearlessly, showing and sharing ideas, and giving and receiving knowledgeable and constructive input.

Jun 8th 2026
4 Weeks
Be Your Best Creative Self (Coursera) Coursera
University of Colorado Boulder

Be Your Best Creative Self (Coursera)

Welcome to Be Your Best Creative Self, the second course in the Personal Development for Professional Success Specialization. This course is for creative professionals who want to work more efficiently and at higher levels of both job satisfaction and success. As students work through this course, they will: learn to make the creative state more reliable and productive, fine-tune their personal brand so that they present themselves positively and accurately, learn basic skills for working with others that will help to avoid traps as well as to enable success.

Jun 8th 2026
3 Weeks
Design Thinking para Inovação (Coursera) Coursera
University of Virginia

Design Thinking para Inovação (Coursera)

Hoje em dia, a inovação é um negócio de todos. Se você for um gerente em uma corporação global, um empreendedor iniciando em uma função governamental ou um professor em uma escola primária, espera-se que todos sejam enxutos – para fazer melhor com menos. É por isso que todos nós precisamos de design thinking (pensamento criativo).

Jun 8th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Presentations: Speaking so that People Listen (Coursera) Coursera
University of California, Irvine

Presentations: Speaking so that People Listen (Coursera)

Do you have to give presentations in school or at your work? Is it nerve-racking? Then you've come to the right place. Everyone gets a little nervous when they think about having to stand in front of other people and speak intelligently. This course will give you helpful tips for making effective speeches and delivering them well in typical American settings.

Jun 8th 2026
4 Weeks
Speak English Professionally: In Person, Online & On the Phone (Coursera) Coursera
Georgia Institute of Technology

Speak English Professionally: In Person, Online & On the Phone (Coursera)

Do you want to speak better English? This course will help you reach that goal. Speak English Professionally: In person, Online and On the Phone will boost your English speaking skills. In this 5 week course, you will learn how to identify and make a strong personal introduction. You will develop and demonstrate the speaking skills for group discussions: how to agree or disagree, how to clarify, restate and summarise. You will develop and demonstrate the speaking skills for group discussions: how to agree or disagree, how to clarify, restate and summarize.

Jun 8th 2026
5-12 Weeks