LEAD 16
Effective Oral Persuasion Winter 2025

Clear and persuasive public speaking, whether before a small group or a much larger audience, is essential to implement effective leadership and career development. This course is designed to enhance a student’s ability to develop a position on an issue and to advance and defend that position orally. During each class, students will make presentations ranging from 2-15 minutes and receive immediate feedback from the Instructors as well as class members. The class uses various exercises such Tell us Something, Teach us Something, Sell us Something, or Convince us of Something to learn and practice making oral presentations. The Course includes a segment of resume review and practice interviews for professional programs, internships, or full-time jobs. Outside professionals will be invited to conduct some of the practice interviews. The capstone event has each student select an issue of their choice and to advance and defend that position orally. Students are required to provide resource materials that they used to formulate their position prior to their final presentation. The course will normally meet for three sessions per week (M, T and Th) from 1:00 until 3:45 pm. Instructors: David Olson ’71 and Stephen Brown ’71 are experienced trial lawyers handling many types of civil cases in state and federal courts before judges and juries. Robert Schwed ’71 is a corporate lawyer who specialized in private equity placements, venture capital transactions, and business between investor groups drawn from domestic and international clients. The Instructors have offered this Course jointly for 3 consecutive years. While no paper is required, Students will prepare and make one or more oral presentations during each session of the course ranging from 2-15 minutes each. The students will also listen to and critique each other’s presentations throughout the course. Frequent and thoughtful class participation is expected from each student.