Savvy: Learning How to Communicate with Purpose

Our seminar is designed for students interested in improving their communication skills. Right now, you probably don't spend much time thinking about the way you communicate, nor are you likely, in the academic setting, to get much feedback on the messages you send. Yet the quality of your communication will have a large impact on your overall effectiveness in building relationships and getting things done, both in the university setting and later in your career. Each of the sessions in our seminar will help you appreciate the nature and complexity of communication and provide guidelines for both improving your communication style and recognizing the unique styles of others.In each class session, we'll consider a number of well-studied forms of interpersonal communication. And, we'll rely heavily on experiential learning to bring the concepts to life. For example, to better understand the dynamics of unstructured, spontaneous communication, we will participate in an improvisational theatre workshop, taught by one of the artists-in-residence at the Groundlings Theater in Los Angeles. To better understand persuasive communication tactics, we'll participate in role-play exercises, competitive games, and negotiation simulations. For each tactic, we'll talk about why it works, when it works best, and what its limitations might be. We'll discuss how you can put these approaches to work in order to support your goals.After taking this course, you will be better able to: (1) identify strategies for crafting effective communication in the form of everyday conversation, written work, and public presentations, (2) develop techniques for building strong, long-term relationships with your peers, and (3) become more persuasive in advancing an agenda, acquiring resources, or gaining support from others. These skills will be invaluable to you as you grow and develop here at Stanford and beyond.