Discover how to inject compelling storytelling and dynamism into your public speaking with this online course led by a TED Talk lecturer and USC professor.

By: Jeremiah O'Brian | Instructor

This eight-week public speaking online course will teach you the nuts and bolts of engaging storytelling. You’ll learn how to craft an experience that opens people's minds and pierces their hearts, and explore the techniques that will let you overcome any fear of public speaking, powerfully tell your story, and make a lasting impact on your audience.

Learning to tell your story in a compelling way will serve you well whether interviewing for a job, internship, or undergraduate or graduate admissions, pitching your business to investors, delivering arguments in court, or any number of other scenarios in person and virtually in Zoom, where you’ll be appealing to an audience of one or many. Learn how to connect with your listeners to make a lasting impact! 

Jeremiah O’Brian is an instructor of theater practice at the University of Southern California’s School of Dramatic Arts, where he teaches various styles and techniques of actor training and public speaking. His diverse background, various graduate degrees, and public speaking coach to TED speakers, allow him to address a wide variety of student needs and backgrounds to give them the tools to achieve their goals today. 

Master Teacher | USC School of Dramatic Arts

Instructor Jeremiah O’Brian’s technique to making a lasting impact is to put the speaker in the role of the hero and take the audience on their journey. Along the way, they're going to pick up valuable information, and experiences, allies and friendships, and mentors and guides. They’ll also encounter obstacles,struggles, and battles that must be overcome.

And that's really what we want to see in our heroes: our mono-myths, whether from movies or theater or straight from our religious traditions. We as audiences want to see our heroes overcome obstacles and compel us to be better in some way. We have an empathetic response to our speaker when they connect to us in this way—as the hero who needs the support of their listeners.

While working with students, O’Brian incorporates the various stages into their own story, identifying who their audience is, what they want, and how to make the biggest impact with their own story as the vehicle to drive the narrative emotionally. Because, at the end of the day, whether you're trying to land a pitch or ace an interview, your audience needs to trust you as a person, and believe in your identity and purpose. 

The best speakers are the ones that stimulate our minds and touch our hearts. Through this course, you’ll be able to extract the most interesting information out of your life experiences to create a narrative that is fascinating, connects to the three levels of ethos, pathos, and logos, and moves an audience of one or many to emotionally connect with you.