Impactful Presentations

Craft human-centered presentations that connect, resonate, and inspire
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Why do presentations often fail to have the impact we desire? One reason is that information alone will never move people. In this course, you’ll go beyond presenting just the facts and figures to craft compelling presentations that will motivate others, inspire action, and enable buy-in. By surfacing what matters to your audience, you’ll learn to create presentations that are both meaningful and memorable. Gain the confidence and skills it takes to shift the way people think, feel, and behave.

Note: While this course is not focused on the visual design of presentations, it does cover a few quick tips to get you started.

Course Outcomes
  • Deliver presentations that spark a shift in beliefs, behaviors, and mindsets.
  • Sequence and convey your information in a way that will create a meaningful journey for your audience.
  • Open hearts and minds by developing a trusted relationship with your audience.
  • Apply techniques to help people pay attention and remember the information you share.
  • Practice with unique presentation methods in order to create an engaging experience for your audience.
Part of Certificate Programs
Communicating for Impact Certificate Collaborative Leadership Certificate
Course Themes
Presenting Storytelling Audience Engagement
Format Online Cohort Course
Start Date
Quantity
Duration 5 Weeks
Time 4 Hours/Week
Price
$599
$599
Download Syllabus Download Syllabus
Download Syllabus

Go Deeper with Certificate Programs

Impactful Presentations is part of two certificate programs:

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What You'll Learn

Week 1: Introduction - Move Your Audience

Understand how information and emotion work together to create presentations that have the power to spark change and inspire new mindsets and behaviors.
2 Video Lessons
  • Messages That Spark Change—It’s not what you say, but how you say it
  • Mentor Moment—Try something new
1 Assignment

  • Choose Your Presentation—Choose the 10-15 minute presentation you’ll be workshopping throughout the course. Use an existing presentation or choose from one of our sample presentation prompts. Identify your audience, your starting assumptions for what you must do or include in this presentation, and the skills you most want to grow.

  • Note: For course assignments, you’ll need access to either Google Slides or Microsoft PowerPoint. There will be multiple opportunities to get feedback on your drafts along the way, though you are not required to give your presentation live to the class.

Week 2: Plan the Journey

Create a compelling arc through the information by combining your goals with audience needs.
4 Video Lessons
  • What’s the Point?—Identify the goal of your presentation
  • It’s Not About You—Empathize with your audience
  • Shape Your Story—Build emotional appeal and interest
  • Mentor Moment—Start with emotion
1 Assignment

  • Crafting Story Arcs—Identify the beats, or key moments, of your presentation. Build four potential sequences to determine the strongest organization of your content. Use your learnings from this exercise to iterate your Big Idea and the shift you want the audience to make.

Week 3: Become the Guide

Develop a trusted connection with your audience that opens their hearts and minds to your message.
3 Video Lessons
  • Create a Connection—Bridge the divide between you and the audience
  • Establish Your Credibility—Inspire trust and belief
  • Keep It Human—Present as your authentic self
1 Assignment

  • Design for Connection, Credibility, and Authenticity—Select different methods for building a connection, establishing credibility, and presenting authentically, and brainstorm how you might bring them to life. Think through the details of implementing these methods by experimenting.

Week 4: Make it Memorable

Design your presentation to align with the way the brain focuses on and remembers information.
4 Video Lessons
  • Best Intentions; Bad Presentations—Avoid common presentation mistakes
  • Make Patterns—Encourage understanding and retention
  • Break Patterns—Shake things up to capture their attention
  • Mentor Moment—Find the medium that fits your message
2 Assignments

  • Create Pattern Breaks—Brainstorm ways to break patterns using physical space, the senses, and audience interactivity. Build experiments to further explore your ideas.

  • Build a Storyboard—Use the feedback and insights from the first three assignments to create a storyboard for your presentation. Identify opportunities to engage, or re-engage, the audience, and consider the holistic journey through your content. Start a visual mood board to guide design decisions.

Week 5: Conclusion - Look Ahead

The end of the presentation is the beginning. Learn how to end presentations in a way that gives the ideas within them room to grow and evolve.
3 Video Lessons
  • Bringing It All Together—A Presentation Case Study
  • Mentor Moment—Encouragement to explore
  • The End Is The Beginning—Evolve your story and yourself
1 Assignment

  • Presentation Finale—Design a meaningful ending and evolve the structure and flow of your presentation using insights from the feedback you’ve received. Craft a full second draft, diving more deeply into visual decisions and scripting key moments. Reflect on your experience over these five weeks to understand the skills and techniques you’ve gained and areas to continue growing.

Meet Your Instructors

Ann Kim

Former Director of Health & Well-Being at IDEO

Ann is a design researcher with roots in anthropology and journalism. Prior to IDEO, she made documentaries for public television. Filmmaking taught her how to visually tell stories as well as how to find, edit, and shape them. At IDEO, she does the same thing, taking the raw materials—interviews, data, observations—and crafting them into stories that inspire.

More About Ann
More From Ann Kim
The Aspen Challenge
Loneliness & Connection
Fast Company
How Citizen-Centered Design Is Changing The Ways The Government Serves The People
Stat News
A makeover for oral PrEP: designing real-world HIV prevention for women
Quartz
The World In 50 Years

Ann Kim

Former Director of Health & Well-Being at IDEO

Ann is a design researcher with roots in anthropology and journalism. Her portfolio spans the design of HIV prevention products, digital tools to help kids build emotional strength, and the re-design of the US digital immigration experience. Prior to IDEO, she worked for over a decade as a filmmaker and journalist; her latest documentary, “Lovesick,” is about matchmaking for HIV+ singles in India. Filmmaking taught her how to visually tell stories as well as how to find, edit, and shape them. At IDEO, she does the same thing, taking the raw materials—interviews, data, observations—and crafting them into stories that inspire.

From 2016 to 2017, she served as the Chief Design Officer for U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. Ann holds a joint degree in Anthropology and the Study of Religion from Harvard College. She’s a board member of Noora Health and the Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship, and a past fellow of the Sundance Institute. Ann is an avid traveler, with the Okavango Delta and Tibet among her favorite spots, and an obsessive photographer.

Alex Gallafent

Senior Design Director at IDEO

Alex is a designer, theater artist, and journalist. Throughout his career, Alex has been figuring out the things audiences need and how best to bring them to life. He’s presented stories on theater stages in London and New York, in broadcast journalism for the BBC, and across the world with IDEO.

More About Alex
More From Alex Gallafent
BBC/Public Radio International
Radio Journalism

Alex Gallafent

Senior Design Director at IDEO

Alex is a designer, theater artist, and journalist. Throughout his career, Alex has been figuring out the things audiences need and how best to bring them to life. He’s presented stories on theater stages in London and New York, in broadcast journalism for the BBC, and across the world with IDEO.

Alex currently leads the New York wing of IDEO’s Design for Food studio. He’s worked with major clients in hospitality, media, government, financial services, and beyond. He’s also taught design thinking, storytelling, and research at New York University, The School of Visual Arts, and The New School. A former correspondent for US public radio and the BBC World Service, he’s a past Fellow at the International Reporting Project at Johns Hopkins. Alex studied philosophy at Oxford University and trained in classical acting at LAMDA. He’s performed Shakespeare in Tokyo and written music for plays in London’s West End. In New York, Alex performs improv, plays drums for the city's only improvised rock'n'roll storytelling band, and hosts as many dinner parties as possible.

Collaborate with a Global Community

Work with Expert Coaches

Our teaching team has extensive applied industry knowledge. They'll help deepen your understanding and application of the course content by facilitating written discussions, live video moments, and assignment feedback.

Expand Your Network

Join virtual live discussion groups for deeper conversation, reflection, and connection led by teaching team members and available multiple times a week across time zones.

Receive Feedback

Gain tips, techniques, and a downloadable feedback guide; and share and receive feedback on assignments from peers.

Learn more about the IDEO U Learning Experience

What Others Are Saying

Gerardo Hernandez
Gerardo Senior Manager Big 4 Consultancy Firm
Meredith Jurek
Meredith Marketing Consultant Storycore
Simone Wilson
Simone Vice President Market Strategy and Understanding Ipsos
Michael Jaff
Dr. Michael Jaff Chief Medical Officer & VP Boston Scientific
Impactful Presentations
Cohort Course

“I've been delivering presentations my whole career, this course is game-changing for everything I knew. This course made me realize there are more creative ways to deliver a message.”

Gerardo Mexico City, Mexico
Impactful Presentations
Cohort Course

“I had an aha moment when I realized that you need to focus on the shift you want your audience to make versus the content you want to say.”

Meredith Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
Impactful Presentations
Cohort Course

“Wonderful course on key elements that anyone should use to have a more memorable presentation prepared!”

Simone Toronto, Canada
Impactful Presentations
Cohort Course

“Having spent my career presenting to varied audiences, there is no doubt that most presentations are too data-heavy and the audience is lost early on. There is no one better than IDEO colleagues Ann and Alex to provide novel and impactful skills to those who present for a living….or for anyone who just wants to get better at presentation. Not only will you learn great new skills, but you will have fun doing so!”

Dr. Michael Jaff Boston, MA

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Enroll As a Team

The practice and application of design thinking, innovation, and creativity is highly collaborative and team based—which is why we believe that learning is better together. Take a course as a team and develop new skills and mindsets, have deeper discussion during course kickoff and debrief sessions, and build a shared understanding.

How to Enroll as a Team