Course Public Speaking: Creating a talk worth listening to

The course N/T 609/01 Public Speaking: Creating a talk worth listening to is offered by the Graduate School of Natural Sciences/GSNS and Graduate School of Technical Sciences/GSTS, Aarhus University, fall 2025.

Course parameters: No. of contact hours/hours in total incl. preparation, assignment(s) or the like: 18/12

Objectives of the course: This course is designed to give participants a crash course in presentation skills. In the 4 workshops, we will cover ways to grab and keep your audience’s attention, structure content to clearly and effectively convey your message, and confidently deliver your talk. We will initiate the course with a discussion on how to develop a talk with the audience and purpose in mind, focusing on how to approach either a scientific or nonscientific talk- the similarities and differences. In the content section, we will discuss how to hook your audience, build interest and end with a clear message. For the visual aid section, we will explore creative ways of supporting visual aids that do not compete with the speaker. And finally, we will focus on the person, discussing speech and body language. Students will be asked to write and deliver a talk twice, once in a draft form with feedback and a final form adjusted to the feedback. Skills learned here will be applicable to both scientific and nonscientific talks.

• Understand the basic approaches to writing and structuring a talk
• Outline and develop a talk for a specific audience
• Receive feedback and integrate into a new draft

Learning outcomes and competences:
At the end of the course, the student should be able to:

• Develop a talk worth listening to, by content and visual aid
• Approach public speaking with their own personality, but with a set of tools to help guide them towards a talk worth listening to
• Have more confidence in public speaking

Compulsory programme:
4 x 3hr workshops, 2 presentation days (rehearsal and final), and 1 assignment (prepare a talk)

Course contents:
Lectures will be styled as workshops to give hands-on training in building and delivery of a presentation. Day 5 will be a rehearsal with feedback and Day 6 will be presenting the final version of the talk.

Prerequisites:
Ideally, students will have research or a topic they are to deliver in oral form.

Name of lecturer:
Ashley Pearcy Buitenwerf

Type of course/teaching methods:
4 x 3hr workshops, 2 presentation days (rehearsal and final)

Course homepage:
Will be managed through correspondence with the lecturer

Course assessment:
Participation in exercises, execution of feedback, final presentation.

Provider:
Graduate School of Natural Sciences/GSNS and Graduate School of Technical Sciences/GSTS

No show fee:
Course participants on our transferable skills courses, who do not show up at the course or cancel their course participation after the course cancellation deadline (without providing a doctor’s note), may have to pay a no-show fee, unless someone from the waiting list is able to take part in the course instead.

The no-show fee is DKK 1,200 (the price of one ECTS). The no-show fee has been introduced due to many late cancellations, thus preventing people from the waiting lists to have a seat at the courses.

Registration:

• Participation in the course is without cost for PhD students from Aarhus University

Due to an Agreement between Danish Universities that came into force as of 1 January 2011, participants from other universities than Aarhus University will have to pay DKK 1,200 per ECTS. In principle this also applies to external parties, but exemption can be granted under specific circumstances.

Please be aware that your registration for the course not necessarily equals your admission for the course. You will receive an e-mail after the registration deadline regarding whether you are admitted for the course or if you are registered on the waiting list. Please note that seats are allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.

Course dates:

• 25 August 2025 09:00 - 12:00
• 26 August 2025 09:00 - 12:00
• 27 August 2025 09:00 - 12:00
• 01 September 2025 09:00 - 12:00
• 02 September 2025 09:00 - 12:00
• 03 September 2025 09:00 - 12:00