COM 75 — The Science of Being Memorable and Influencing Decisions
Quarter: Summer
Instructor(s): Carmen Simon
Date(s): Aug 4—Aug 6
Class Recording Available: No
Class Meeting Day: Monday and Wednesday
Grade Restriction: NGR only; no credit/letter grade
Class Meeting Time: 6:00—8:30 pm (PT)
Please Note: Class schedule: Monday, August 4, 6:00 - 8:30 pm (PT); Wednesday, August 6, 6:00 - 8:30 pm (PT)
Tuition: $285
Refund Deadline: Jul 28
Unit(s): 0
Status: Open
Quarter: Summer
Day: Monday and Wednesday
Duration: 2 days
Time: 6:00—8:30 pm (PT)
Date(s): Aug 4—Aug 6
Unit(s): 0
Tuition: $285
Refund Deadline: Jul 28
Instructor(s): Carmen Simon
Grade Restriction: NGR only; no credit/letter grade
Recording Available: No
Status: Open
Please Note: Class schedule: Monday, August 4, 6:00 - 8:30 pm (PT); Wednesday, August 6, 6:00 - 8:30 pm (PT)
Effective communication motivates an audience. When you communicate, you typically want your audience to be moved in the moment and to act in the future. But what influences their decisions? The answer is simple, yet complex: memory. People make decisions in your favor based on what they remember. However, research confirms that audiences forget 90 percent of what you share after two days. So how can your audiences act on what you say if they don’t remember most of it? And how do you drive toward specific decisions in the face of cognitive inertia? By leveraging research in neuroscience and decision-making, this course will help answer these questions. Through exercises, lectures, and discussions, you will learn and employ a series of best practices that will make your content (e.g., sales pitch, marketing message, training materials, finance review, or technical data) more memorable and actionable. Specifically, you will learn how to create an optimal “10 percent message” that is rewarding to the brain, easily remembered, and linked to a desired action. You will also learn how to influence memory with precision, use decision drivers that impact long-term memory, and use a five-step, persuasive template to spark action.
Advanced-level proficiency in spoken English is required. The examples and principles you will learn in this course apply to any media you use for your content—such as presentations, thought leadership files, websites, or LinkedIn posts. During class sessions, for ease of understanding the content and completing some assignments, you may need to use PowerPoint.
CARMEN SIMON
Cognitive Neuroscientist
Carmen Simon consults with major corporations on human memory and decision-making processes. Her recent books are Impossible to Ignore and Made You Look. Simon received a PhD in cognitive psychology with a focus on neuroscience from Capella University. Textbooks for this course:
There are no required textbooks; however, some fee-based online readings may be assigned.