Hold a Strategy Session
4 ways I help organizations:
Everyday Influence™ - It’s not magic. It’s persuasion.
Persuasion isn’t just for salespeople. Train your team to get more yeses: in fundraising, sales, and everyday interactions.
CommX™ Workplace Tech Talk - Fast, Focused, Tactical. Strategic
I introduce tools and workflows your team hasn’t seen, transforming how you teach, serve, and lead!
Team Influence™ – Corporate Training for Impact
I craft teams that talk so people listen, run meetings that inspire, and lead in ways that get real results!
The Dean's Courses – Online. Self-paced. Get a Certificate!
  • Persuasion Engine™ - Go beyond Instant Influence (Course coming October 2025)
Everyday Influence™
It’s not magic. It’s persuasion.
Team Persuasion training that moves missions forward. What Your Team Gains:
  • The Science of a Blink: Master the hidden science to influence in an instant.
  • Trust Mechanics: Leverage trust and loyalty to build influential relationships.
  • Social Influence: Inspire action using the laws of group dynamics and shared identities.
  • Passion Drivers: Tap into emotional drivers that launch commitment and action.
  • Cultivation and Anticipation: Shape and influence future decisions before they even happen.
I hold a few no-pressure consults each week
CommX™
Workplace Tech Talk
CommX isn’t a keynote or a lecture - it’s a tune-up for how you or your team creates and communicates.
We’ll sit down and uncover what slows you down, what your missing, your messaging, training, outreach, or how knowledge flows through your organization. Then we’ll surface tools and workflows that save time, strengthen connection, and make every message count. You’ll walk away with immediate changes that amplify your mission and your impact.
From classrooms to causes to companies: whether you’re teaching, inspiring, or leading, CommX helps you communicate with purpose and deliver results that last.
Create Amazing Content in Minutes
Build a full-year marketing plan, slick and and impactful presentations, professional podcasts, blogs, training videos, onboarding tools, all at a level and speed that used to take entire teams weeks.
Build an Always-Responsive Organization
Transform how you engage with employees, customers, and partners by making knowledge instant and interaction effortless. From answering employee questions instantly, to supporting customers 24/7, to unlocking services most organizations don’t even realize are possible, responsiveness becomes your new competitive edge.
Empower Learning & Training That Scales
Turn your teaching and training into systems that grow with you.
Use smart tools to design interactive lessons, build resource libraries, and deliver content that’s consistent, accessible, and engaging, whether it’s for one classroom or an entire organization.
From onboarding modules to community workshops, CommX helps you create learning that sticks, adapts, and inspires action.
Why it matters now
This isn’t the future of work, it’s the present. The only question is whether your team knows how to use it. The gap between those who adapt and those who don’t is widening by the day. CommX sessions give your team the knowledge and hands-on skills to close that gap to create greater transformational impact, faster and more effectively than ever before.
I hold a few no-pressure consults each week
Team Influence™
I train teams, executives, managers in practical skills that build trust, authority, and alignment in every interaction.
What Your Team Gains
  • Persuasion in Action
    How to get buy-in without arm-twisting. Simple ways to make ideas stick and motivate people to move forward.
  • Command the Room
    Speaking skills that make people listen. From team updates to big presentations, your staff learns to sound clear, confident, and worth following.
  • Meeting Mastery
    No more dragging, unfocused meetings. Learn how to set the tone, guide the room, and actually get decisions made.
  • Collaboration & Alignment
    Everyday habits that cut down on friction, build trust, and keep teams pulling in the same direction.
  • Everyday Leadership
    Practical language and presence for managers and rising leaders — so they can guide people without guesswork or hesitation.
  • Why it matters now
    Culture and alignment aren’t built in quarterly strategy decks, they’re built in the everyday words leaders use. When those words build trust across generations and keep teams aligned, organizations don’t just function, they thrive.
How It Works
Team Influence™ isn’t a lecture or a pile of slides. It’s interactive training built around your real workplace situations. You can book one workshop, mix and match a few topics, or run a series over time. No matter the format, your team leaves with skills they can use the very next day — in conversations, in meetings, and in front of clients.
I hold a few no-pressure consults each week
The Dean's Course
Instant Influence™
The Science of a Blink
Online Persuasion Course with Certification!
Join thousands of learners building lasting influence through research-driven communication.
The Dean's Course
Command the Room™
How to speak, lead and win people over
Online Public Speaking Course with Certification!
Join thousands of learners building lasting influence through research-driven communication.
The Dean's Course
The Influence Economy™
Everyday Skills That Move People
Online Advanced Persuasion Course with Certification!
Join thousands of learners building lasting influence through research-driven communication.
As Seen In/On

30:20

YouTube

Persuasion Skills Nonprofit Teams Can Use Today

Nonprofits don’t just need more messages—they need messages that move people. In this fast-paced episode we welcome persuasion instructor and longtime marketer Dean Batson to show how science-based communication turns attention into action. Batson traces his path from launching a digital agency to teaching persuasion at Arizona State University, where he studies the shortcuts our brains use to decide fast. “We make mental shortcuts all day long,” Dean explains. “If you know which way someone may

26:54

YouTube

AI BFFs - Tech That Feels! | WiseBytesTV #ai #artificialintelligence #AIanthropomorphism

In this episode, Dean and Josh explore the fascinating and weird world of AI anthropomorphism - the attribution of human-like traits, emotions, or intentions to artificial intelligence or robots. They take a deep dive into the science behind our brain's irresistible urge to humanize technology and showcase examples of anthropomorphized AI in movies and real life. They also discuss the potential benefits of AI anthropomorphism, including fostering empathy, improving user experience, and promotin

58:30

YouTube

Thriving in Workplace: Interview with Dr. Katina Sawyer and Dr. Patricia Grabarek #workplace #work

Dean and Josh jump into the human experiences within the workplace, focusing on the concept of empowering employees and creating 'unicorn' companies and employees.

music.youtube.com

The Big Picture People Podcast - Helping Leaders Walk the Talk

Interview with Dean Batson - A lack of leadership buy-in is an issue that often hinders organizational change but is one that Dean Batson, an educator of Persuasion and Communication at Arizona State University, Phoenix College and Southern Oregon University, knows can be overcome.

01:03:14

YouTube

Who Controls Your Child’s Mind? The War Over Public Education

What happens when education becomes a battleground — not just for curriculum, but for culture, identity, and power? In this raw and wide-ranging conversation, Towan sits down with Professor Dean, a seasoned educator who’s sounding the alarm on the state of education in America. They unpack everything from Gen Z’s pushback in the classroom to state takeovers of school funding, the erosion of critical thinking, and why education has become a billion-dollar marketing machine. Is federal oversight

WorkLife

'Polish over potential': How hiring for personality vs. skills is costing employers

According to dean Batson, most recruiter screeners aren’t experts in the roles they’re hiring for, so they lean hard on what they can evaluate — how someone communicates, how confident they seem, whether they ‘feel right,'

Techopedia

AI Outperforms Humans at Persuasion – With Your Personal Data - Techopedia

A new study shows AI beats humans in debates, but only when fed personal data. Explore how this power shift raises major ethical and societal concerns.

Text or Call 602-633-4321
About Dean
I don’t just teach comm and tech…
I show organizations how to use it to lead, persuade, and thrive in a world that’s shifting daily.
I’m a full-time faculty member at Arizona State University and an adjunct at Phoenix College and Southern Oregon University, where I teach Persuasion, Influence, Consumerism, Teams and Collaboration and Communication. Before that, I spent 20 years in corporate marketing, learning firsthand how the right message can move markets, shape culture, and drive decisions.
That mix of academic research and real-world practice shapes everything I do. I’ve built frameworks that make persuasion and influence practical, not theoretical, tools that help teams earn buy-in, leaders build trust across generations, and employees use the latest technology to get ahead instead of falling behind.