Did you know that public speaking is reportedly the number one fear? The second greatest fear is death! The best idea is meaningless if you cannot present it to other people and get them to rally around it. Had Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. kept his dream in his head and not shared it with others, the civil rights’ movement may have been much less successful. Dr. King was, of course, a gifted and inspiring speaker, able to transfer his passion to others, create excitement and inspire his audiences to take action. For some of us, this ability seems to come naturally; for most of us, however, we need some guidance and a fair amount of practice.

In a Forbes post (Gallo, 2014b), presentation expert Carmine Gallo stated that in order to reach a person’s head you must first touch his or her heart, and the easiest way to do that is through stories. In his research on the best TED Talks, Gallo found that "stories make up anywhere from 65 to 72 percent of the presentation content." He also stated, "Most business presentations are heavy on facts, figures, and statistics, and light on stories. The stories that work best are personal ones, but stories about other people or brands (case studies) work well, too." (Gallo, 2014a).

In this course you will learn how to make presentations that are effective in getting your ideas across and gaining support for them. You will learn strategies for using visual aids and for presenting in a way that is credible. At the end of this course you should be able to:

• Describe the different types of presentations you may be expected to give.
• Organize and prepare for presentations designed for different purposes and audiences.
• Increase your speaking and nonverbal presentation skills.
• Develop and effectively use presentation props and slides.
• Evaluate your presentation skills and develop plans for continuous improvement.