Written and verbal communication skills are vital to success in business. Whether you operate your own company, work for someone else, plan to seek employment, or want to start your own business in the future, you need to understand your audience and how to effectively reach them.
Business Communications provides an in-depth study of verbal and non-verbal communications. It introduces techniques for choosing the right format, tone, and message for diverse audiences as well as the most appropriate way to deliver the message. It also identifies the barriers that can prevent the message from being received or acted upon in the way you intended and how to handle matters when they do not go as planned.
Just studying the theory behind communications is no substitute for actually communicating. Each week, you will apply the lessons learned in simulated real-life situations and interactive exercises. You will work with your classmates to identify your strengths and weaknesses, and learn how to deliver and accept both compliments and practical assessments of your skills. This will allow you to improve and develop confidence in the relative privacy of the online classroom.
By the end of the course, you will be able to:
- Draft, edit, and proofread written messages in a variety of business document formats.
- Create videos and both perform self-analysis as well as give and receive constructive criticism on your mastery of non-verbal and verbal skills.
- Work in teams and examine the challenges of communicating through different channels, languages, cultures, schedules, and time zones.
- Learn how to make a great first impression.
- Develop techniques for building, monitoring, and protecting your reputation and the reputation of your business.
Syllabus
Lesson 1: Business Communications
- First Impressions
- The Audience
- Communication Channels
- Effective Communication
Lesson 2: Nonverbal Communication
- Nonverbal Cues
- Nonverbal Cues in Written Messages
- Listening
- Working in Teams
Lesson 3: Diversity and Ethics
- Word Choice
- Diversity
- Ethics
Lesson 4: Effective Writing
- Writing in Business Settings
- Writing Clear Messages
- Proofreading
Lesson 5: Communication Choices in Business
- Planning to Communicate
- Appropriateness
- Addressing the Unknown
Lesson 6: Reputation Building
- Personal Reputations
- Business Reputations
- Monitoring Reputations
Lesson 7: Conflict
- Conflict and Criticism
- Conflict
- Negotiations
Lesson 8: Communicating with Clients and Customers
- Customer Service
- Protocols
- Conversations
Lesson 9: Meetings
- Planning to Hold a Meeting
- Meeting Formats
- The Agenda
- Meeting Follow-Up
Lesson 10: Presentations
- Types of Presentations
- Learning Styles
- Creating a Presentation
- Visuals
- Distractions
Lesson 11: Opportunities
- Opportunities through Networking
- Letter Writing
- Resumes
- Proposals
Lesson 12: Interviewing Skills
- Types of Interviews
- Research
- Talking Points
- Honesty
Requirements
Prerequisites and Course-Specific Requirements
Prerequisite Courses, Knowledge, and/or Skills
This course does not have any prerequisites.
Software
- Word processing software, such as Microsoft Word, Google Docs (free), Apple Pages, Apache OpenOffice (free), etc.
- Presentation software, such as Microsoft Powerpoint, Google Slides (free), Apple Keynote, Apache OpenOffice (free), etc.
Student Deals
After enrolling, be sure to check out our Student Deals page for various offers on software, hardware, and more. Please contact support@online.berklee.edu with any questions.
General Course Requirements
Below are the minimum requirements to access the course environment and participate in Live Classes. Please make sure to also check the Prerequisites and Course-Specific Requirements section above, and ensure your computer meets or exceeds the minimum system requirements for all software needed for your course.
Mac Users
PC Users
All Users
- Latest version of Google Chrome
- Zoom meeting software
- Webcam
- Speakers or headphones
- External or internal microphone
- Broadband Internet connection
Instructors
Author
Valerie Lovely is Assistant Professor of Music Business/Management at Berklee College of Music and a practicing transactional music attorney. Her clientele is limited exclusively to musicians, songwriters, publishers, record labels, and others with music law needs. The firm provides various transactional music law services, such as contract drafting, negotiation and explanations, copyrights, trademarks, band business evaluation reports, and other music business and legal services. Attorney Lovely also hosts a free informational website, MusicLawInfo, that provides numerous music law articles of interest to today's musicians.
Valerie has been a guest speaker, panelist, and lecturer at a variety of events sponsored by legal- and music-based organizations (American Bar Association, Massachusetts Bar Association, Berklee College of Music, Blacksun Festival, etc.). She has taught copyright law to attorneys as a member of the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts faculty.
Valerie has also been a musician for most of her life. She plays several instruments, has performed in rock bands, chamber groups, wind ensembles, and studio projects, and has composed music in various styles and for use in a variety of media. Read Less
Instructor
Sarah Anne Stinnett is a Boston-based writer and educator. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University and an ALM in Dramatic Arts and ALB in Humanities from Harvard University. Previously, she attended Berklee College of Music for bass performance, often extending her studies through the ProArts Consortium at Emerson College, Boston Conservatory, and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts.
Sarah Anne’s poetry appears or is forthcoming in Plume, Booth, Palette Poetry, Mom Egg Review, On the Seawall, Chicago Quarterly Review, Tar River Poetry, and elsewhere. Her work received Honorable Mention in Common Ground Review’s 2024 Annual Poetry Contest and won the 2020 Cambridge Sidewalk Poetry Contest, now incised in cement.
With Boston Dance Theater (BDT), Sarah Anne teaches voicework and embodied practices. Coaching and writing credits with BDT include Bodyspeaking supported by New England Foundation for the Arts, SURGE presented by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution & Boston Center for the Arts, and Man of the Hour presented by Global Arts Live at the Institute of Contemporary Arts.
Sarah Anne has supported and taught speech, communication, and social media courses at Harvard Extension and Harvard Summer Schools since 2017; she offers a graduate course on oral interpretation of literary works at Lesley University; and she has instructed liberal arts courses at Berklee Online since 2022. Her core tenets in teaching are as in life: employ unparalleled curiosity, doing is discovering, and a life of learning is impelled by the study of the masters before. Read Less
What's Next?
When taken for credit, Business Communications can be applied towards the completion of these related programs:
Related Certificate Programs
Related Degree Majors
Related Music Career Roles
Employers look for skills learned in this course, when hiring for the following music career roles:
Questions?
Contact our Academic Advisors by phone at 1-866-BERKLEE (U.S.), 1-617-747-2146 (INT'L), or by email at advisors@online.berklee.edu.
