Public Speaking: Communication Skills for Artists, Designers and Professionals

This course tackles public speaking and self-presentation and teaches students how to use the body and voice to achieve greater professional and social success by increasing the relational and communication capacities of every student, preparing them to enter and thrive in the working world, as artists, designers and professionals. The course examines and illustrates the relationships between nonverbal behaviors, persuasiveness and credibility. The training is aimed at acquiring expertise linked to verbal and nonverbal control, physical relaxation, body language control, presence, and confidence in ourselves. The “learning by doing” methodology is very practical and involves the student in a pro-active way, through exercises, public speaking and presentation techniques, testing individual attitudes and personal capacities. This is not an acting class. However, some elements of theatre and public “performance” will be incorporated in order to find the proper confidence and animation necessary to be an engaging and effective artist, speaker, academic, performer, or business person.