Influential Communicator

Course structure for Influential Business Communicator Online Certificate

Want to become a communicator with influence at work? The Influential Business Communicator program introduces you to skills you can use to successfully convey ideas for solving challenges in your workplace. The program takes place over eight weeks and consists of two 90-minute synchronous sessions each week, for a total of 16 sessions. You’ll complete asynchronous material each week that supplements the coursework. At the end of the course, you’ll have the opportunity to deliver a capstone presentation to your cohort demonstrating the skills you’ve learned.

Upcoming dates

Spring 2025 dates TBD

Hear from our faculty

Learn more about the course directly from our professor in this brief welcome video.

Weekly sessions

Topics covered:

Identifying highly credible communicators and their success patterns
Understanding your communication style
Experience inventories for credible communicators
Understanding audience types and different communication opportunities
Problem-solving through communication: introducing the capstone
Managing warmth and competence

Asynchronous material for Week 1: experience inventory, capstone idea generation, warmth and competency communication flexing exercise

Topics covered:

Methods of powerful delivery
Cadence of effective communication
Warming up the delivery style
Communication fallacies and hindrances on preparation
Simply outlining
On-demand delivery

Asynchronous material for Week 2: simple outline and case scenarios, delivery and warm-up materials, React! exercise, capstone journal

Topics covered:

Identifying the needs of the global communicator
Cultural dimensions
Hybrid communication in a flexible world
Accuracy in writing effective business emails and managing AI
Managing effective meeting communication

Asynchronous material for Week 3: chapter from Erin Meyer’s The Culture Map, case scenarios for managing organizational communication

Topics covered:

Applied practice: capstone discussion intro for the week
Effective use of research and data for solutions
Direct communication through Mintos (SCQA What, Why, How)
Problem-solving through Mintos
Sell the thing at the exchange!
Applied practice: capstone discussion outro for the week

Asynchronous material for Week 4: case scenarios, capstone outline

Topics covered:

Organizational inventory: our visual culture
Gray areas of slide design
Impactful visual design for better decks
“Let it slide”? Using visual executive summaries
Managing Q&A for better confidence
Delivering bad news and having tough discussions
Applied practice: capstone slide design

Asynchronous material for Week 5: video examples, capstone slide exercise, visual executive summary template

Topics covered:

Influential language for audience connection
Personification for impact
Storytelling in the global organization: It’s real!
Advanced storymaking
10 Great Stories Every Leader Should Tell
Framing your capstone

Asynchronous material for Week 6: video examples and analysis, 10 Great Stories Every Leader Should Tell, framing guide

Topics Covered:

Virtual presenting tools
Giving and receiving feedback; conducting self-evaluation
Testing the frame
Meeting one-on-one with peers for practice and feedback
Final coaching delivery

Asynchronous Material for Week 7: framing guide, evaluation materials, virtual presenting guide, coaching delivery exercise

Topics covered:

Capstone delivery
Building a communication action plan (CAP) through specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals

Asynchronous material for Week 8: final self-evaluation; communication action plan (CAP)

Showcase your new skills as an effective and influential business communicator

In addition to earning a professional certificate upon completion of this program, you will also earn a digital badge to showcase your skills on platforms like LinkedIn. These credentials show your network the concrete and in-demand skills you earned from taking this Kelley program.

Meet the instructor

Trent Deckard

Trent Deckard is a lecturer at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business and is a recipient of the Trustees’ Teaching Award and the Mumford Excellence in Extraordinary Teaching Award. He teaches business communication classes to undergraduate students and participants of the Kelley Executive Education Programs and MS in Information Systems. In the spring, Trent also teaches a class on leadership lessons taken from the comic book industry.

Beyond his work at the Kelley School, Trent is also a doctoral student at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College and was selected to be a member of the 182-year-old institution's inaugural cohort of the PhD in global leadership program with a focus on organizational change and behavior. His research interests are global business and leadership storytelling as well as imposter syndrome within organizations. After working in his family’s small business, he received his BS degree in political science and criminology from Ball State University and his MA degree in applied communication from IU. A former communication lecturer on the IU Indianapolis campus, Trent also worked as a district director for a member of Congress, led an agency at the State of Indiana, served as chief of staff for a legislative caucus in the Indiana House of Representatives, and currently serves as an at-large member and president pro-tempore of his community’s county council. His private sector experience includes time in leadership with the Kroger Corporation and his families’ franchise for Pepperidge Farms.

Questions? We're here to help.

Email us at keep@iu.edu with any questions you may have, and a member of our team will be happy to assist you.

Course structure for Influential Business Communicator Online Certificate

Upcoming dates

Hear from our faculty

Weekly sessions

Week 1: Credibility & Audience Analysis for the Confident Communicator

Week 2: Delivery & Outlining for the Influential Communicator

Week 3: Global Communication & Flexibility in the New Hybrid Workplace

Week 4: Direct Communication & Influential Solutions

Week 5: Visual Tools of the Influential Communicator & Managing Difficult Conversations

Week 6: Impactful Language & Storytelling in Direct and Influential Communication

Week 7: Applying Direct & Influential Communication

Week 8: Delivering a Capstone

Showcase your new skills as an effective and influential business communicator

Meet the instructor

Trent Deckard

Bio

Questions? We're here to help.

Social media

Additional resources