Audience Analysis
Where every speaker has to begin, and the step most people skip entirely.
How to Become More Influential · 6-week course
Executive presence is learned, not innate.
A six-week course with Shannon Polly, leadership coach, classically trained actor and one of the first 150 people worldwide to earn a Master of Applied Positive Psychology. Twenty-five lessons on commanding a room without pretending to be someone else.
6-week course · all levels
How to Become More Influential
$199.99
6 weeks · 25 lessons · 6 hours · certificate · lifetime access
Join now for $199.9948-hour money-back guarantee · Secure checkout · Instant access
6 hours total
25 lessons
Lifetime access
Watch the course trailer
See how the six weeks unfold.
What you'll experience
Six weeks working outward: the audience, your inner state, your voice and body, the structure, the story, and finally your strengths.
Managing the Inner Critic
Confidence, nerves and the voice that sabotages you before you have said anything.
The Five Ps
Pace, pitch, projection, posture and pausing, plus eye contact, gesture and rest positions.
Structure and Content
How to build a talk from strategy to body to introduction, including for a short-on-time audience.
Storytelling
The story spine, the passion pitch, and the vulnerability that makes people listen.
Character Strengths
Presenting from your own strengths rather than imitating someone else's presence.
The myth worth dropping
You either have presence, or you don't?
It is a common myth that executive presence, that essence which helps you command a room, is something you are born with. It is a set of skills, and skills respond to practice.
✓
You have the substance, not the room
The thinking is sound. Getting it heard, and acted on, is where it keeps stalling.
✓
Nerves arrive before you do
You know the material. Something in your body decides otherwise the moment you stand up.
✓
Habits you cannot see
Pace, filler, posture, a rest position that reads as uncertainty. Nobody has ever told you.
✓
Advice says "be more confident"
Which is a description of the destination, not a route to it, and you have heard it enough.
Consciously competent
Speaking slowly might read as slow, or as giving an audience time to process. Speaking quickly might read as sharp, or as losing people. Neither is wrong. What matters is that you are making the choice rather than defaulting into it.
What changes
Influence opens doors that competence alone does not.
Influence lets you lead teams, drive innovation and navigate complexity. It builds trust and respect, makes collaboration possible, and lets you inspire people to act rather than merely agree.
Know what presence actually is
Discover what executive presence means, and how mastering it changes both internal and external qualities.
Align what you say and how you say it
Spoken and unspoken communication pull in different directions until you deliberately align them.
See the habits costing you impact
Gain insight into how your existing presenting habits diminish your influence, and how to change them.
Tell a story people remember
Develop authentic storytelling, including how sharing parts of yourself connects you to an audience.
Positive psychology, taught by an actor.
Shannon holds a MAPP from the University of Pennsylvania and a classical acting degree from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. That combination is unusual, and it is why the course covers both the inner state and the craft of delivery.
Join now for $199.99Presence happens to you.
- Some rooms go well and some do not, and the difference feels like luck
- Nerves are something to survive rather than something to manage
- You prepare what to say and leave how to say it to chance
- Good ideas get less traction than they should
You direct it.
- You analyse the audience before you decide anything else
- You have concrete techniques for nerves, not just the intention to be calm
- Pace, pitch, posture and pausing are choices you make on purpose
- You present from your own strengths, which is what makes it convincing
Your guide
Learn executive presence with Shannon Polly.
Shannon is a leadership coach, speaker, author and founder of Lead Well Work Well, a Washington DC leadership development company. She was one of the first 150 people globally to earn a Master of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, and she holds a degree in classical acting from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
She has delivered keynotes and workshops for Google, GE, VMware, McKinsey, the US Army and the World Bank, and has run leadership programmes in Kenya, Bangladesh, Haiti and Thailand. She is an award-winning playwright and co-editor of the best-selling Character Strengths Matter: How to Live a Full Life, which is the thinking behind week six.
- MAPP, University of Pennsylvania
- Classical acting, LAMDA
- Founder & CEO, Lead Well Work Well
- Georgetown Leadership Coaching Program
- Co-editor, Character Strengths Matter
In organisations
Shannon has delivered keynotes and workshops for Google, GE, VMware, McKinsey, the US Army and the World Bank, and facilitated leadership programmes across four continents.
On the page and the stage
An award-winning playwright and co-editor of Character Strengths Matter, she co-founded Positive Business DC and teaches positive psychology at the Functional Medicine Coaching Academy.
Who it's for
For anyone who has to be listened to.
Leaders and senior managers
Where influence, not authority, is what actually moves a decision through an organisation.
Anyone who presents
Pitches, board updates, conference talks. Six weeks of craft rather than another slide template.
People who dread public speaking
Week two is entirely about nerves and the inner critic, with concrete techniques rather than reassurance.
Quiet, capable specialists
If your ideas get less traction than they deserve, this is the gap and it is closeable.
Founders and fundraisers
Storytelling and vulnerability, covered properly in week five, are the whole job in a pitch.
Complete beginners
No background in psychology or performance needed. Everything is built from the ground up.
Inside the course
Six weeks, twenty-five lessons, one skill set.
The longest course in the Infijoy catalogue for a reason: 25 short lessons with expert videos, daily tasks to apply each idea, six hours of on-demand learning and lifetime access to the videos and notes. A certificate of completion comes with it.
25Short lessons
6Weekly modules
∞Lifetime access
25 short lessons with expert videosTaught by Shannon Polly across six progressive weekly modules.
Daily tasks to apply new knowledgePractice is the point here, and week six says so explicitly.
Start anytime, finish at your paceSelf-paced from the moment you join, with notes alongside every lesson.
Lifetime access and a certificateCome back before the next big presentation, on any device.
The curriculum
Six weeks, from the audience inward and back out.
The sequence is deliberate: audience first, then your inner state, then how you sound and move, then what you actually say, and finally the strengths that make it yours.
Week 1Powerful Presence and Knowing the Audience
What is, and is not, a powerful presence. The good news is that presence can be increased with practice. This week takes the first steps in reducing tension, crafting your intention and cultivating your attention, and begins where all speakers must begin: with audience analysis, and a look at structure and content.
Week 2Internal Presence
Building confidence from the inside. This week covers your objective for a talk, then how to manage the inner critic that sometimes tries to sabotage you. There is a great deal on managing nerves: breathing and visualising, and some more unusual approaches, including eating greasy chips.
Week 3External Presence
The Five Ps: pace, pitch, projection, posture and pausing, plus eye contact, movement, gestures and rest positions. Speak slowly and you might be perceived as not smart, or as giving the audience time to process. Speak quickly and people may see you as smarter, or miss what you said. The aim is to be consciously competent and making that choice.
Week 4Structure and Content
How to prepare for a presentation and how to structure it, starting with strategy, then the body, then the introduction. The week also covers how to structure for an audience that is short on time, which is most audiences.
Week 5Storytelling and Vulnerability
Presence approached from the angle of storytelling: the art and science of it, the story spine, the passion pitch, and vulnerability. Stories are crucial to being a powerful presenter. Your only real job in giving a talk is to have something valuable to say, and to say it authentically in your own way.
Week 6Strengths, Presence and Practice
Presence from the angle of character strengths, referencing the VIA survey from week one. This is common ground in positive psychology, but few programmes focus on using your strengths to present, or on pulling up a lesser strength by using a top one. The week also covers acting as if you have a strength you need, and the unglamorous answer to how you get to Carnegie Hall.
What you get
Everything included today.
- 25 short lessons with Shannon Polly Included
- A daily task with every lesson Included
- Notes and certificate of completion Included
- 48-hour money-back guarantee Included
One payment, lifetime access$199.99
A 48-hour money-back guarantee
If within the first two days you feel this is not the right fit, email support@infijoy.com and we will refund your enrolment fee in full, no questions and no forms.
Choose your access
Take this course, or unlock the whole library.
Buy How to Become More Influential outright, or join Infijoy membership for all 37 expert-led courses.
How to Become More Influential
$199.99one-time payment
- Lifetime access to all six weekly modules
- 25 short lessons with expert videos
- Daily tasks to apply each idea
- Notes to accompany every lesson
- Certificate of completion
48-hour money-back guarantee · Instant access
Infijoy Membership
$24.99/ month, billed annually
- All 37 Infijoy courses and 1,000+ video lessons
- 100+ guided meditations
- Sleep stories, soundscapes and affirmations
- Live webinars, art therapy and community
- Every new course released while you are a member
$299.99 billed yearly · Cancel anytime · 7-day guarantee
Before you join
Everything you may want to know.
Still unsure? Email support@infijoy.com and we will answer.
What is executive presence?
The essence that helps you command a room. It is commonly assumed to be innate, and it is not: it breaks down into internal qualities such as intention, attention and managing your inner critic, and external ones such as pace, pitch, projection, posture and pausing. Week one defines it and the rest of the course builds it.
Is this only for public speaking?
No. Presentations are the clearest test case, but the material applies to any moment where you need to be heard and believed, including one-to-one conversations, meetings, pitches and interviews. The audience analysis in week one works the same for one person as for two hundred.
How much time will I need?
Six hours of on-demand learning in total, across 25 short lessons over six weeks. Each lesson comes with a daily task, and this is a course where doing the tasks matters more than most: week six is explicitly about practice.
I get very nervous presenting. Will this help?
Week two is devoted to it. It covers managing the inner critic and a range of strategies for nerves, including breathing and visualisation alongside some less conventional ones. Shannon's background is in classical acting, which is a discipline built entirely around performing under that pressure.
What will I achieve?
Across the six weeks you will:
- Communicate more effectively and confidently by understanding what executive presence is
- Learn how spoken and unspoken communication differ, and how to align the two
- Gain insight into the presenting habits that are diminishing your impact
- Learn techniques for controlling nervousness and presenting a clearer message
- Develop authentic and influential storytelling, including how vulnerability connects you to an audience
What is the VIA character strengths survey?
A free, widely used positive psychology assessment that identifies your top character strengths. You take it in week one, and week six returns to it to build a presenting style around your actual strengths rather than an imitation of someone else's. Shannon co-edited a best-selling book on the subject.
Can I start anytime?
Yes. Start whenever you are ready and work at your own pace. Lifetime access means you can return to a specific week before a specific occasion, which is how most people use a course this long.
What qualifications does Shannon Polly have?
Shannon holds a Master of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, as one of the first 150 graduates worldwide, and a degree in classical acting from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. She is a graduate of the Georgetown Leadership Coaching Program, founder and CEO of Lead Well Work Well, an award-winning playwright, and co-editor of Character Strengths Matter.
How long do I have access?
Lifetime access to all 25 lessons and the accompanying notes, so you can return whenever you need a refresher.
Is this a substitute for therapy or coaching?
No. This is educational content covering communication skills and positive psychology. It is not therapy or treatment for social anxiety or any other condition, and it is not a substitute for one-to-one coaching or care from a qualified professional.
Begin today
Join now for $199.99
Six weeks from now, the room could go differently.
Join How to Become More Influential and spend six weeks building the presence that turns good thinking into decisions other people act on.
25 short lessons
Certificate of completion
Lifetime access
48-hour money-back guarantee · Secure checkout · Instant access
Featured courseHow to Become More Influential
$199.99