Crafting Memorable and Influential Presentations

Asynchronous Course

14 August through 11 September 2023

Registration closes 11 August 2023

THIS IS AN ASYNCHRONOUS COURSE. The recording for each week's session will be opened on Monday morning. Students may view the recording at a time convenient for them. Homework assignments will be due on the day and time specified by the instructor. There will be an optional live session for students to ask the instructor questions in real time on 31 August from 5:00 to 6:00 PM ET. More live sessions will be scheduled if there's interest. 

How often have you had to sit through presentations that left you making a to-do list in your head?

If you do not pay attention to the presentation, you will not retain the information. What would have made those presentations—what would make your presentations—memorable, influential, and successful?

In Deconstructing Presentations, we will review how the brain processes visuals, stories, data, and information, and then we’ll apply that knowledge to a step-by-step process for you to use in order to make a more memorable and engaging presentation.

We will cover how to apply the principles discussed in PowerPoint, Keynote, or Google Slides, and we will review how virtual presentations should be designed differently than in-person presentations. With your new skills, you will leave with the tools needed to ensure your next virtual or in-person presentation engages your audience, persuades them, and is memorable.

Over the five weeks, you will:

• Discover how to cater to your audience’s working memory using schemas and chunking
• Learn how cognitive overload is rampant in presentations and how to prevent it
• Hear why stories are so influential and persuasive and how you can use science to ensure your story is heard
• Learn how to implement effective visuals that will be more memorable for audience members
• Apply visual rules to sample slides and your own deck to make them more memorable
• Learn how to direct your audience's eyes to enhance learning instead of distracting
• Learn how to create slides like a designer in PowerPoint, Google Slides, or Keynote
• Make an infographic using only the tools found in PowerPoint
• Be given tips to set up your desk and workstation so that it doesn't distract from your content
• Apply learning theory to your presentations to engage your audiences
• Hear how to break up your presentation, meeting, or workshop in order to keep your audience’s attention

Come to this workshop, and leave with the tools to never fall into the same pitfalls most presenters do, ever again!

For current CPTC certificants: This course  provides 6 CEUs for recertification, in the Visual Communication core compentency area.