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Rated 3 out of 5 by joe27 from OK for some basic communication tips Pros: teacher clearly passionate about his topic. Seems like a nice enough guy. Some good advice about basic communication skills including public speaking. Cons: way too much self promotion. He should have let the host introduce his experience and background at the beginning of the first lecture and then let it go. Just about every lecture he found an opportunity to boast about his TED talk experience and lectures to "thousands of people". I unfortunately found it quite off-putting and it detracted from my enjoyment of the course.

Date published: 2023-04-29

Rated 1 out of 5 by ChessFellow from Word Salad This is like a term paper in high school that needs to be a certain amount of words but you only have one good paragraph. So naturally you encase that one good paragraph with hours and hours of filler nonsense. Save yourself time you can never get back and youtube how to communicate.

Date published: 2023-01-10

Rated 2 out of 5 by DREDDING from This course is really bad. I've gotten as far as chapter 7 and he is just now getting into speaking. Perhaps if this chapter and the next two are good I will raise the rating, but it was difficult to get to this point. The Great Courses has some really great courses, this is not one of them and shows the pitfalls of basing course on TED talks. Would not recommend and I'm being generous giving it two stars.

Date published: 2022-12-11

Rated 4 out of 5 by PJG2 from I was so excited... I was happy to get the three "How to Speak so that people want to listen". However, my three DVD's didn't work. I tried working with my friends and they didn't work either. I'm hoping that someone can get my new DVD's -- thank you.

Date published: 2022-09-02

Rated 5 out of 5 by stork from As with all Great Courses, this one is excellent. Mr. Treasure is a highly skilled professional.

Date published: 2022-08-28

Rated 5 out of 5 by Wes S from Helfpful Takeways As I took this course, I felt I had heard much before, but I think that's not unusual for people like me who enjoy seminars and classes. Right after completing this course, my wife and I happened to be taking a cruise. On Sunday morning, we went to church in a theater of the ship to learn that a minister was not onboard to administer a non-denominational service. The ship's crew member who made the announcement said we could stay to worship silently on our own or someone in attendance could act as minister. After a long minute, no one had volunteered, so I decided to try my newly polished speaking skills without any preparation. I think the only person more surprised than my wife when I stood up was me. When you take this course, you learn that preparation is key. I didn't even have a Bible with me, so what was I thinking? Fortunately, I do write a blog, and I had been thinking about a new post about the ordeal of testing for Covid-19 within 48-hours of boarding. After a song or two and a prayer as laid out in the program, I decided to speak about that preparation for the cruise, to which I knew everyone in attendance could relate, and I have to say that thinking about my breath and having a wide focus as Julian Treasure recommends did the trick for keeping me calm, in the moment and on topic. For the second lesson, I spoke about the formation of the Church of England, which I had blogged about a couple of years back and happened to have re-read recently. It's a topic I spent quite a bit of time researching, so I actually found myself easily going through the story until eventually I looked at my wife whose body language said that it was time two wind this thing up so everyone could get back to their cruise. For both lessons, a final religious moral to the story that could be tacked on the end occurred to me, probably because I had a calm mind while speaking in public as assisted by having recently concluding this class. While I don't imagine myself to be the 21st Century Cotton Mather or Martin Luther King, I managed to conduct a church service without anyone falling asleep, and many people thanked me afterwards, so mission accomplished. I felt quite good about it for the rest of the trip, and in fact people continued to come up and say complimentary things about the service. On a different topic, I have added exercises recommended in this course to my morning routine, and they have been a happy addition as well as better preparation for a day in which some opportunities to communicate will likely arise a few times.

Date published: 2022-07-12

Rated 3 out of 5 by Dageek from Slick, corporate training video I originally selected this series of lectures not realizing that it was aimed more at public speaking, or alternatively, speaking in corporate or business settings. I am going to attribute part of my negativity towards this course as it came across as slick, corporate training video. After spending decades of my working life in large corporations, not something I cared to revisit. The title was just a sufficiently subtle teaser that it had me thinking it applied to more to personal situations. It might, but it certainly is not the focus of the course. I did not feel like there was a lot of new content here, but an aggregation of a lot of pop culture “wisdom” in the slick package. But having said that there is enough content here that you can learn or reinforce your prior learning of communication skills. There were some good, basic tips on public speaking. There were a few other things that I did not like. There seemed to be a bit of advertising woven into the presentation as recommendations. Who cares what brand of throat lozenges he uses. The other was more than once he recommended methods to lubricate your larynx. Well basic anatomy has this portion of the human body in the trachea. If you are getting tea and honey down there, you are in a heap of trouble. I am sure he was speaking, I hope, somewhat metaphorically. They would soothe the throat somewhat, but the inaccuracy bothered me. What bothered me most was the talking head presentation of the lecturer against a white background. They framed him very tightly, either from the neck up or from the chest up. To me this is utterly distracting. I found myself focused on his teeth, skin texture differences, shirt collar, his glasses… anything except what he was saying. It was so distracting that I had to look away during these portions of the segment. Fortunately, they were only at the beginning and ending of each one. I hesitate to give this a strong recommendation. I did not find it worth my time, and there were way too many distracting/negative things.

Date published: 2022-07-02

Rated 5 out of 5 by MaddieMetz from Godsend :) The detailed content helped me quell my anxiety. PROS: very detailed, useful exercises, also teaches breathing techniques. CONS: the first two lectures do not cover much about speaking, but rather listening. So I understand why some people left negative reviews. The gems most people are searching for are only found maybe 1/2 way through. But it's worth the wait :)

Date published: 2022-06-23

Overview

Learn the intricacies of public speaking with sound and communication expert Julian Treasure as he brings his exclusive training directly to you. His nine-part series, How to Speak So That People Want to Listen, has all the tools you need to become a powerful, effective communicator, and includes everyday exercises that can have a major impact on the way you speak, and the way you listen.

About

Julian Treasure

Whether you are speaking to a packed auditorium or to a friend, a relative, or a coworker, you'll learn how to speak so that people want to listen to you, and how to listen so that you’re somebody people want to speak to.

ALMA MATER

University of Cambridge

INSTITUTION

The Sound Agency

Julian Treasure is a sought-after and top-rated international speaker on sound and the skills of speaking and listening. Collectively, his five TED talks and nine TEDx talks have been viewed more than 120 million times. His talk How to Speak So That People Want to Listen is the seventh-most-viewed TED talk of all time. He has been honored with both the International Listening Association’s Special Recognition Award and Toastmasters International’s Golden Gavel. His book How to Be Heard, narrated by Julian, won the 2019 Audie Award for best audiobook in the Business/Personal Development category and the 2018 Voice Arts Award for Best Voiceover in the Business or Education category. He has been widely featured as a sound and communication expert in the world’s media, including in TIME magazine, in The Economist, in The Times, and on many international TV and radio stations and podcasts.

By This Expert

How to Speak So That People Want to Listen

Trailer

01: The Pain and the Prize

Sound is incredibly important when it comes to speaking and listening. (After all, that’s what your voice is: just sound.) After a brief introduction to the series and a look at the vital importance of speaking and listening, spend some time exploring the power of sound. The world is a quite a noisy place, and you’ll consider the four effects of sound on all human beings, including changing our physiology and our behavior.

41 min

02: Listening and Speaking

Why do you have to consider listening in a series that’s really about speaking? Because the two are intimately connected. Learn why speaking and listening matter so much in our lives, and how they can even shape our happiness and wellbeing. One of the many transformational realizations you’ll discover is the helpful practice of “speaking into a listening,” which can make your speaking infinitely more powerful—immediately.

36 min

03: How You Speak and Listen

It’s time to take speaking and listening from the unconscious level to the conscious one, where they can be honed. Focus here on the mechanics of your voice: how it works, how we hear it, and how we listen to it (hearing and listening being two different things). Along the way, you’ll explore in detail your listening filters, which shape your appreciation and perception of reality, and the way your senses affect one another.

48 min

04: The Dark Side

Venture into the darker side of speaking and listening: namely, all the things that get in the way of effective communication. Ponder the four leeches (habits we have that suck the power from our communication), the seven deadly sins (an expansion of Julian Treasure’s popular TED Talk), six agents of miscommunication (which you can actually use as tools), and danger words to eliminate from your speaking.

64 min

05: How to Listen Consciously

Listening is crucial to speaking, because the way you listen affects the way everyone listens to you. Take a closer look at your relationship with silence, then learn effective listening exercises (such as “the mixer” and “savoring”) that can help you listen more consciously. End with insights into common listening issues that arise in an organizational context—and whether the problem is you, or your organization.

50 min

06: How to Create Great Content

Content, as the saying goes, is king. A brilliant speaker delivering nonsense is not worth any listener’s time. But that’s not a problem you’ll have with help from this episode, which offers tools and techniques that aid you for the rest of your life. Learn how to master the four powerful foundations of listening, how to develop a succinct personal introduction, and how to make your content relevant—the infamous “So what?”

60 min

07: Your Vocal Toolbox and How to Use It

Let’s crack open that vocal toolbox of yours! This episode on delivery (or how you say what you want to say) covers breathing practices, voice registers (including three you’ll want to avoid as much as possible), pitch (pro tip: we pay more attention to lower voices) and pace (which should be varied to fit with your listener’s listening). Also make fascinating connections between your delivery and your facial expressions and posture.

38 min

08: Fit to Speak

Spend this episode in the company of Jane Majendie, a fitness and wellbeing expert who steps in to show you how to speak in your full power, physically. You’ll cover vital tips for nutrition, hydration, breathing, and posture. Plus, this episode is chock-full of easy exercises you can perform—both on a daily basis and right before an upcoming speaking engagement—to get the best out of your voice and presence.

27 min

09: Public Speaking

Few things are more terrifying than getting up in front of an audience to speak. But fear not—help is at hand. In this last episode, Julian Treasure offers a range of tips and tricks from what he’s learned over the years about public speaking: the crucible of speaking so that people want to listen. Strengthen your ability to practice, prepare, and deliver wonderful public talks, whether to 10 people or 10,000.

54 min