Speaking to inform: Discussing complex ideas with clear explanations and dynamic slides
In the professional realm, most speeches and presentations we give are informative in scope. A scientist needs to explain her recent research findings. A financial officer needs to report on quarterly earnings to his company’s board. A technology professional needs to educate a consumer about a new product. Any time you need to convey ideas or demonstrate a process, you’re dealing with informative speaking.
Informative speaking is a fun puzzle. You need to think from the perspective of your audience to identify what they need to hear in order to understand the key ideas. How much does the audience already know? What are the most important elements to convey? How should one convey these ideas with appropriate breadth and depth given the time constraints of the speech? This demands a strategic approach to speech design that we’ll undertake in this class.
By the end of the course, you should be able to explain complex ideas vividly and accessibly, design clear and compelling presentation slides, convey your passion for a topic while maintaining your professional credibility, and speak dynamically from notes and/or a manuscript. Learners will record speeches, providing and receiving peer feedback.
Status: Constructive Feedback
Constructive Feedback
Status: Communication
Communication
Beginner·Course·14 hours
Featured reviews
5.0
·Reviewed Oct 19, 2025
The course is very informative and life-changing being a teacher. It gives a lot of substantial tips in order to improve my speaking abilities.
5.0
·Reviewed Apr 26, 2020
Perfectly designed course for taking you to the next level in public speaking. Immensely added to the knowledge on designing a speech for the audience.
5.0
·Reviewed Nov 13, 2017
Excellent lecture structure. The logical progression of the lessons made it easier to understand and grasp the key concepts of the course. I would recommend this course to everyone.
5.0
·Reviewed May 27, 2017
Useful tools to help boring, data driven presentations come to life and keep your audiences attention.
4.0
·Reviewed Jan 28, 2021
Excellent course to brush up those skills and there are some inherent nuances shared by Dr. Matt which are highly practical and important.
5.0
·Reviewed Dec 3, 2020
Dr. Matt McGarrity, is an excellent lecturer and this course is a must have regardless of your field of study/expertise.
5.0
·Reviewed Oct 14, 2017
Great course, excellent structure and content, the exercises help to fixate and practice the learning's.
5.0
·Reviewed Mar 28, 2022
the content of the course was super useful and helpful. Prof. Matt McGarrity was really really amazing
5.0
·Reviewed Jul 25, 2024
I loved this course! Really helped me make better slides and learn ways to engage audiences.
5.0
·Reviewed Sep 29, 2020
great course , nice materials provided. it is surely going to help me and all others who needs to explain and present things to others on daily basis as a part of their profession
4.0
·Reviewed Sep 9, 2020
Hola termine mi curso de forma exitosa,pero en la ultima semana aparece un comentario de que abandone,lo cual no es verdad si revisan mis trabajos y tareas están completas.Gracias.
5.0
·Reviewed Nov 19, 2020
One of my best learning experiences. Matt has worked extremely hard to create comprehensive content. Huge thanks to him for that. Happy learning!!
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P
Prashant
5.0
·Reviewed Sep 30, 2020
great course , nice materials provided. it is surely going to help me and all others who needs to explain and present things to others on daily basis as a part of their profession
M
Muthukumar
5.0
·Reviewed Dec 12, 2020
This is my second course in public speaking with Matt. I love the way he teaches. I enjoy attending his courses. I strongly recommend his courses on Public speaking.
S
Susan
5.0
·Reviewed Aug 2, 2017
This course taught me so much and helped me and my students, who are professors in Indonesia, get rid of some common bad habits. I've used this course as a component of a 3 week presentation workshop. The presentations this year are so much better than last due to these videos. I tossed aside the other materials because this course's videos outshone them.
O
Olexander
5.0
·Reviewed Apr 17, 2017
Awesome course in Public Speaking from Dr. Matt McGarrity and same awesomeness level! This is the second course in this specialization out of four and I am going to finish them all.
I recommend this course to everyone regardless you activity, job and lifestyle!
V
vikas
5.0
·Reviewed Apr 27, 2020
Perfectly designed course for taking you to the next level in public speaking. Immensely added to the knowledge on designing a speech for the audience.
J
Joseph
5.0
·Reviewed Nov 14, 2017
Excellent lecture structure. The logical progression of the lessons made it easier to understand and grasp the key concepts of the course. I would recommend this course to everyone.
B
Bernard
5.0
·Reviewed Dec 17, 2020
I have done quite a few courses about presentation skills, storytelling, public speaking and such on Coursera. This is the best one I found online. It is more theoritecal than the others but the course is complete and the teacher is great. The guy conveys his passion in a brilliant way. By following this specialisation, you will need everything you need to know to be good at public speaking.
M
María
5.0
·Reviewed Mar 3, 2020
I have learnt a lot from the teacher. Since he is a philosopher, he has got a lot af clarity in his explanations. Also, the summary at the end of each week is useful to retain some concepts. When it comes to the content, although I had some notions of communication and explanation, I learned a lot of techniques to make an argument easy to follow.
E
Elizan
5.0
·Reviewed Apr 23, 2020
Really enjoyed this course. Very practical. Dr McGarrity is professional and has a passion for public speaking which he shares with his students. I especially learnt a lot about slides and visuals to accompany your speech. Will be able to use this information in the future.
H
Hammad
5.0
·Reviewed Nov 23, 2018
This course was very informative. Lectures were recorded excellently. Respected Mr. Matt McGarrity Expressed his Good will and full knowledge about the course. I would recommend this course for anyone who wants to up their speaking Game.
O
Omraj
5.0
·Reviewed May 3, 2020
Very informative and practical course.Very interesting and well structured course for building confident in public speaking and exercises are very interesting to keep learner on track.
A
Arinze
5.0
·Reviewed Jun 24, 2017
Very informative course.
Matt McGarity is a very insightful and well-spoken teacher.
R
RICARDO
5.0
·Reviewed Jul 16, 2020
Muy bueno, no me gusta hacer presentaciones en Ingles.. Pero ni modo gracias...
J
Julie
5.0
·Reviewed May 24, 2020
Audited course, but learned a lot. Great information, suggestions and examples.
D
Dina
5.0
·Reviewed Jun 27, 2020
Excellent¡ I learned and practice several advice provided in this course.
T
Tamara
5.0
·Reviewed Aug 14, 2020
Great course. Thanks a lot for all the important information.
N
Narzillo
5.0
·Reviewed Sep 4, 2020
I have learned how to make good spech . Thanks to coursera!
O
OKEKE
5.0
·Reviewed Aug 18, 2020
The course is very helpful. I can now speak in a simple, logical and understandable manner and learners/listener can now enjoy to listen to me and get value as well. Thank you Dr. Matt McGarrity. You are good at what you do. I will really have to finish thus course specialization.
M
MAROTTA
5.0
·Reviewed Mar 19, 2021
It was useful to continue learning and practicing, after the first "Introduction to Public Speaking" course.
I'm not convinced of why is left the choice between final speech or manuscript assignment.
It is a speaking specialization, not writing. However, I enjoyed it!
M
Metuh
5.0
·Reviewed Aug 17, 2022
I would find it hard in the past to speak in a group or clearly communicate my ideas to people. being part of this course on coursera has not just helped put my words and thoghts together but has also given voice to my words.