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Brain Rules Public Speaking: Maintain Audience Attention (Udemy.com)

How to show your audience that in order to get the information they’ve come to hear, they have to listen to you!

Created by: Jason Teteak

Last updated January 2025

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What you will learn

  • Top questions you can use RIGHT AWAY that get AND keep attention: Plus commonly misused type of questions (and how to properly execute it to perfection)
  • How to get your audience to do what you want (whenever you ask them to do it) & techniques to show enthusiasm about a topic, EVEN if you don’t want to be there
  • An “Active Questions” technique you can use to COMPEL people to respond to your questions that works almost EVERY time
  • Use the “agree and see if you’re right” technique to address every learning style…
  • The top 2 reasons why some audience members aren’t following along with you, and how to make sure they start
  • Why information is not instruction, and how to make sure you aren’t just an information resource
  • The #1 questioning technique that every presenter must know to keep audiences engaged and understanding, and exactly how to execute it

How it compares

Against the other 392 rated Udemy courses in Communication Skills on CourseDuck:

  • Rating4.5 out of 5higher than 42% of them
  • Reviews743#194 of 393 by number of reviews
  • Length1 hourshorter than 81% of them
  • Last updatedJanuary 2025earlier than 59% of them

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Course Description

You have to show your audience that in order to get the information they’ve come to hear, they have to listen to you.

This advice seems deceptively obvious...

... I tell it to people who’ve come to me for presentation advice and they nod in agreement, as if to say, “Got it.”

But they haven’t. How do I know?

Because the following example is somewhat typical:

Sitting in the audience while observing a client during her presentation, I noticed although people were pretending to look at the presenter, most of the time they were using their open laptops to go shopping and check email. Afterward, I asked if she realized they weren’t listening.

“But they were,” she protested. “They were looking at me.”

“People can seem to be looking at you but not be listening. I mastered that skill in high school,” I said. “Let me ask you something: Do you enjoy being a presenter?”

“I love it,” she said.

“Are you bored while you present?” I asked.

“Not at all. It’s stimulating because I’m active all the time.”

“Which do you prefer? Presenting or listening.”

“Presenting,” she said. “I hate sitting passively while someone drones on—” As the shock of recognition passed across her face, she cut herself off, “Do you think that’s how my audience feels?”

Yes.

I suggested a challenge...

Find a way to keep the listeners in the audience as stimulated and engaged as you are as a presenter.

In his book Brain Rules, John Medina cites research that suggests after about ten minutes of listening to a particular topic, people’s minds wander.

No presentation can be a success if you can’t get and keep your audience’s attention, but you may have searched in vain for a method.

Here are three keys to the solution that we cover in this course:

Module 1: Ask the Right Questions

One of the best ways to keep your audience engaged is to ask the right types of questions.

To understand why, you first have to understand something about the human brain.

It is made up of two parts that operate independently...

...each controls a different mode of thinking.

Excellent communicators know how to ask questions that work both sides of the brain...

...this spurs the neurons to fire constantly, which keeps people attentive.

When a speaker is boring, the only neurons in the room that are firing are the speaker’s.

We'll show you how to use questioning techniques to stimulate both sides.

Module 2: Address Every Learning Style

If your audience is learning, you have their attention.

Seems simple enough...

The problem is that to present your content so you get the attention of everyone in the audience, you have to make sure you address each of the four learning styles.

  1. Step Learners

  2. Talk Learners

  3. Research Learners

  4. Create Learners

We'll show you how to do that with a technique that not only targets all four styles, but can be used at ANY POINT in your next presentation to get RAPT ATTENTION...

...it's VERY cool!

Module 3: Give Targeted Directionals

Yet another way to keep the attention of your audience is with a targeted directional...

...this is a short and sweet method that pays big dividends.

Whenever you want to get your audience’s attention, request that they do one of the following, depending, of course, on what items...

...handouts, monitors, slides, and so on—you are working with.

The actual words you use are somewhat important...

But...

The tone of voice you use is a make or break.

You want to sound confident, but not overbearing, so they’ll take action.

Brain Rules Course Reviews:

“Jason’s advice is practical, straightforward, and incredibly helpful for anyone looking to greatly improve his or her presentation skills.”

Ryan Anderson -- Director of Instructional Design and Development

“Combining years of personal experience as well as knowledge in psychology and sociology, Jason delivered clear advice and practical exercises that turned me into a better oral communicator.”

Kyle Reger -- Software Developer

“It’s a challenge to change your mind and adopt new methods of teaching overnight, but this class helped me immediately improve my classes and my confidence as a trainer. Understanding how to ask questions effectively helps create a very lively atmosphere that makes class more interesting and fun for both the trainees and the trainers. Your class provided me with the easy-to-use formulas that I needed to make that happen. Understanding learning styles also made a huge impact on the way I teach. By prepping class to satisfy all learning styles, I saw an immediate gain in the satisfaction of the class and the trainees’ understanding of the material. It was challenging at some points to make that happen, but after integrating the concepts into some of my lesson plans it made me realize how powerful addressing learning styles really is.”

Mark Phelan - Corporate Trainer

Like I said, this course pays big dividends...

...and we'll show you how to do it properly to get them the same results.

See you on the inside!

About Your Instructor

International Public Speaking Coach, TEDx Speaker and Best Selling author Jason Teteak has taught more than one million people how to flawlessly command attention and connect with audiences in their unique style.

He’s won praise and a wide following for his original methods, his engaging style, and his knack for transferring communications skills via practical, simple, universal and immediately actionable techniques.

Or as he puts it “No theoretical fluff”.

Jason gained recognition at EPIC Systems in the medical software industry, where he was known as “trainer of trainers of trainers.”

He has developed more than fifty presentation and communication training programs ranging in length from one hour to three days that serve as the basis for The Rule the Room Method.

In 2014-2020 he was named #1 Best Selling coach on Public Speaking for his on-demand video teaching tools that quickly took off for over 1,000,000 online students around the world.

Teteak has flipped the model and changed the approach to great Public Speaking for even the most seasoned veterans.

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Instructor Details

Jason Teteak

Best Selling Author, YouTuber, TEDx Speaker, International Public Speaking, Financial and Executive Coach, Trainer of Trainers and Founder of Rule the Room, Jason Teteak has taught more than one million people personal development, public speaking, presentation skills, financial training, train the trainer, and communication skills.

He’s won praise and a wide following for his original methods, his engaging style, and his knack for transferring communications skills via practical, simple, universal and immediately actionable techniques.

Or as he puts it “No theoretical fluff”.

Jason gained recognition at EPIC Systems in the medical software industry, where he was known as “trainer of trainers of trainers.”

He has developed more than fifty personal development, public speaking, presentation, financial training, train-the-trainer and communication training programs ranging in length from one hour to three days that serve as the basis for The Rule the Room Method – which simply means he makes difficult things easy to understand and implement.

In the last five years, he has been named the #1 Best Selling coach on Public Speaking, Personal Development and Training for his on-demand video teaching tools that quickly took off for over 1 million online students in over 100 countries around the world.

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Reviews

4.5

743 ratings on Udemy

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By Lori Anné on 6/27/2026

The workbook in combination with the theory is an amazing way to learn, it’s indeed capturing the attention, you need to take notes thus you practice while listening and learning. Great way of teaching, thanks!

By Anonymized User on 12/10/2025

The training helped me understand the importance of varying tone, pacing, and body language to maintain attention. I can better manage transitions and avoid monotone delivery, improving overall engagement. More practical exercises or live presentation practice would help reinforce the techniques. I gained useful insights into how the human brain processes information, which helps in designing more effective presentations.

By Jaysen Williams on 8/18/2025

The presenter has a lot to say about the topic and tries to cram everything into a one hour session by speaking fast. The good and the bad is, the training is not long (1 hr), but with all the information given, it feels longer and rushed at the same time.

By Rosemarie Dahms on 11/16/2024

I love this instructor. From the minute he starts talking, I'm listening word by word. He keeps your focus, he makes it fun, and he knows his stuff. He's a great teacher. This isn't the first class I have taken with him. Believe me, you will learn with Jason, and it's not boring at all.

By Anonymized User on 12/6/2023

When presenting weekly communications to my team, I have already lost everyone within the first 5 minutes no matter how spectacular the presentation slide is or within 5 minutes upon completion of a 20 minute presentation, I am being asked questions that were already answered.

By Nenad Mijic on 6/27/2023

Yes it is a good course to understand how to keep the audience awake while you are presenting and maybe as an audience member to ask the presenter questions to get value out of the work they have compiled for others to view

By Bobbie Johnson on 3/21/2023

Very good pointers and things to consider in my next presentation. I think I'll change my monthly training to begin with what the audience is going to get out of the training and ask those engaging questions.

By Anonymized User on 3/14/2023

There are some excellent bits of information here. I especially appreciated the lecture "Addressing Every Learning Style." This is a great tool for understanding how people learn and communicate in different ways and leveraging that to your advantage (and their benefit!) during presentations.

By Nancy Curtis on 1/31/2023

Helpful examples that can be applied to present life needs. Easy to follow the presenter along with the resource documentations and the presenter is also adding more information to resource.

By McCann Budapest on 7/12/2018

Although I found the course interesting, I feel like it's useful for teachers when they want to handle specific information for their students. I wanted to learn from this how to present creative ideas to clients, but for this it's not applicable.

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Overall Score : 90 / 100