Chris Haroun, an award-winning business school professor and former venture capitalist, will teach you how to draft better speeches and deliver them more confidently. In his course, he even includes 25 speech guides and more than 50 slide templates to help you deliver the perfect presentation. This will be especially handy if you’re ever speaking at a conference or in front of potential investors.
Professional mind mapper Barry Mapp will teach you how to brainstorm and visualize thoughts linked around a central concept, allowing you to improvise more freely and make quick connections that will serve you well in sales pitches.
Self-made entrepreneur Brandon Hakim’s course focuses specifically on persuasion. Whether you’re selling a product or trying to give a friend advice, this course argues that a three-step persuasion blueprint is all you need to get your point across and drive others to action.
Finally, training architect Paul Ardeleanu teaches you five public speaking hacks that will help you overcome stage fright and become an extraordinary stage presenter.
By the end of these courses, you’ll have a firm understanding of how to persuade others through public speaking and presentation skills. That will be a huge asset in your career, regardless of your expertise. After all, Warren Buffet has one diploma on display in his office: A certificate he earned after completing a public speaking course. He says it’s the most valuable degree he has.
According to LinkedIn’s analysis, persuasion is one of the skills most worth learning in business. Its study suggested that strengthening soft skills is one of the best investments you can make because they aren’t going anywhere. It’s one thing to have a great product, platform, or service, but if you can’t persuade anybody to buy it or invest in it, then you’re stuck on square one.
The power to change people’s minds is an extraordinarily useful one, whether you’re in management, sales, marketing, customer service, IT, or anywhere else. According to Deirdre McCloskey, an economist and historian at the University of Illinois - Chicago, persuasion is responsible for generating roughly one-quarter of America’s total national income; a number she expects to rise to about 40% over the next 20 years.
That’s a huge amount of money tied directly to individuals’ ability to persuade others to spend their money.