Coursera Public Speaking Course - LW Study Group?

post by sixes_and_sevens · 2013-06-13T17:15:06.246Z · LW · GW · Legacy · 10 comments

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ETA: ModusPonies has set up a Google Group for everyone doing this.  It looks like it's officially a Thing.

I originally asked this on the London Less Wrong mailing list, but then realised the internet doesn't just have a ten mile radius.

There's been some interest in public speaking on LW lately, and it cropped up a couple of times at the London practical meetup as an area people would like to work on.  I volunteered to collate some exercises and resources on the subject.

Since then, I've noticed a Coursera course on public speaking which is starting in a little under two weeks.  I've signed up for it, and would like to encourage other LessWrongers to sign up for it alongside me.  My reasons for this are as follows:

- The course involves the option of recording your progress and sharing it with other participants.  As several of us have discovered on the Less Wrong Study Hall, seeing the faces of people you chat to on the internet is fun, sociable and motivational.

- We can read posts and articles on the subject all day long, but having an externally-imposed syllabus will provide the structure and motivation to actually act on it.

- There is an aspect of rhetoric and persuasion to the course, (cf. 'dark arts'), and having epistemically hygienic fellows will help keep participants on the straight-and-narrow.

- Turning a large number of aspiring rationalists into erudite and persuasive speakers can't be a bad thing.

So who else is in?

(Also, before anyone mentions it, yes, I am very, very aware of the existence of Toastmasters.  They seem to be the default suggestion whenever public speaking comes up.  For anyone who isn't aware of them, they are an international organisation of clubs practising communication and public speaking.  Google them if you're interested.  I'm not, for social- and time-commitment reasons.)

 

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