Back to Speaking to inform: Discussing complex ideas with clear explanations and dynamic slides

Learner reviews & feedback for Speaking to inform: Discussing complex ideas with clear explanations and dynamic slides

4.8468 reviews

About this course

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.

Featured reviews

4.0Reviewed Sep 10, 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.

5.0Reviewed Nov 20, 2020

One of my best learning experiences. Matt has worked extremely hard to create comprehensive content. Huge thanks to him for that. Happy learning!!

5.0Reviewed Mar 29, 2022

the content of the course was super useful and helpful. Prof. Matt McGarrity was really really amazing

5.0Reviewed Oct 20, 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.

4.0Reviewed Jan 29, 2021

Excellent course to brush up those skills and there are some inherent nuances shared by Dr. Matt which are highly practical and important.

5.0Reviewed 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.

5.0Reviewed Aug 16, 2023

Great course: highly instructive, well-structured, it shares a lot of advice for various situations. Many thanks!!!

5.0Reviewed 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.

5.0Reviewed 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.

4.0Reviewed Apr 22, 2020

Enjoyed doing the course. I think I have learned skills that will be very useful in future. It was good to engage in all the assignments as it really does help build confidence

5.0Reviewed 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

5.0Reviewed Jun 12, 2018

I like this course so much. I like the way Dr. Matt McGarrity encourage and teach everybody to overcome the fear of public speech.

All reviews

Showing: 20 of 133

Prashant Tomar

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

Muthukumar Somasundaram

5.0

Reviewed Dec 13, 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.

Susan Kelly

5.0

Reviewed Aug 3, 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.

Olexander Tverdohleb

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!

vikas deepak arora

5.0

Reviewed Apr 28, 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.

Joseph Brumbeloe Jr

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.

Bernard De Villepin

5.0

Reviewed Dec 18, 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.

María Luisa Blanco Morales

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.

Elizan Strauss

5.0

Reviewed Apr 24, 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.

Hammad Naeem

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.

Omraj Sharma

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.

Arinze Uzo-Okereke

5.0

Reviewed Jun 25, 2017

Very informative course.

Matt McGarity is a very insightful and well-spoken teacher.

RICARDO CARGGELL BOX

5.0

Reviewed Jul 16, 2020

Muy bueno, no me gusta hacer presentaciones en Ingles.. Pero ni modo gracias...

Julie Coleman

5.0

Reviewed May 24, 2020

Audited course, but learned a lot. Great information, suggestions and examples.

Dina Mendez

5.0

Reviewed Jun 27, 2020

Excellent¡ I learned and practice several advice provided in this course.

Tamara Cabezas Quintero

5.0

Reviewed Aug 14, 2020

Great course. Thanks a lot for all the important information.

Narzillo Ziyadilloev

5.0

Reviewed Sep 4, 2020

I have learned how to make good spech . Thanks to coursera!

OKEKE GREGORY

5.0

Reviewed Aug 19, 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.

MAROTTA MARIA

5.0

Reviewed Mar 20, 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!

Metuh Chidiogo

5.0

Reviewed Aug 18, 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.