Public speaking tips

18 public speaking tips and the moment each one saves you

Each of these public speaking tips names the situation where it pays off most, so you can jump to the one you need tonight. The first five are the work before anyone listens; the rest happen in the room.

1. Preparation · Practice out loud

   Say it out loud first, and let Confidently keep score

   Saves you in every talkTakes 5 minutes a day

   Rehearsal means saying the words in real time, at full volume, the way you will on the day. Reading notes silently trains your memory; only speaking trains your mouth, your breath and your timing. The open textbook Stand Up, Speak Out tells students to practise standing up, out loud, more than once.

   The catch: you can't count your own ums while you talk, and you can't see your face. That is the job a practice app does well. Do short runs, fix one habit, run it again.

   Practise any tip out loud in a minute

   The Confidently app turns a tip into a drill: a random prompt, sixty seconds on the clock, and you answer out loud. Afterwards it shows:

   • whether you sped up, and how your face looked
   • every um, counted
   • where you trailed off, plus a confidence score

   Longer talk coming up? Record the whole thing, up to thirty minutes, or load a video you already have. Recordings stay private; there is no feed.

   Start practising free Free on iPhone and Android

   Download on theApp Store Get it onGoogle Play

2. Try it on real listeners in an AmberWillo group

   Saves you in a first speech, stage frightTakes one session a week

   Stage fright is the rush of fear before or during a talk, and it only fades when you face listeners again and again. A phone can't make your heart race; a few strangers watching can. That is why the second step is people, not more solo reps.

   AmberWillo is built for that step: a handful of people (fifteen at most) on a video call from home, nobody there to judge, and after each round a confidence score, coaching notes and a milestone. It is free to start. Of the 1,851 people who came to it, 39% said their mind goes blank in work presentations, so you won't be the only one. A local speaking club, an evening class or an online course does the same job in person.

   First sessionSpeak for one minute on an easy topic. Your only goal is to finish.

   Fourth sessionGive your real opening to the group and ask one question: where did they stop following?

3. Work out who is in the room

   Saves you in meetings, classTakes 10 minutes

   Audience analysis is finding out who will listen, what they already know and what they need from you. Stand Up, Speak Out calls it centrally important: the talk is about them, not you. It also tells you how much detail to keep and which examples will land.

   Who is in the room, by situation

   Situation	Who really listens	What they need from you
   Class presentation	The teacher with the rubric	Every graded point, said clearly
   Work meeting	The person who decides	The decision you want and its cost
   Wedding toast	Mixed ages, mixed families	One warm story everyone gets
   Job interview	Someone with a list of needs	Proof you meet them, in short answers

4. Write the one sentence you want repeated afterwards

   Saves you in meetings, interviewsTakes 10 minutes

   A core message is the single sentence a listener should be able to repeat in the corridor. Know your material well enough to say it without notes, then build the rest around it and repeat it at the end. If you can't write it, the talk isn't ready yet.

   What?

   "Our sign-ups fell by a third after the price change."

   So what?

   "At this rate we miss the quarter."

   Now what?

   "Test the old price in one region for two weeks."

5. Preparation · Use minimal notes

   Shrink your notes to cue words

   Saves you in toasts, classTakes 15 minutes

   Cue words are the two or three words that trigger a whole paragraph you already know. A full script pulls your eyes down; a word-for-word memory can drop out under stress. Learn only your first and last lines by heart and talk the middle from an outline.

   Script"When I first met Dana, we were both lost on the way to orientation, and she pretended to know the way for forty minutes."

   Cue cardlost · orientation · 40 min

6. Structure and content · Limit main points

   Keep it to three points with an example each

   Saves you in presentationsTakes 20 minutes

   Working memory is the small mental space a listener uses to hold what you just said, and research by Cowan (2001) puts it at about four chunks at a time. Three main points leave room for the example under each one. Use an introduction, a body and a conclusion, and signpost each move ("Second...") so nobody gets lost.

   1. 0:00Hook and your one sentence
   2. 0:30Point one, with an example
   3. 1:45Point two, with an example
   4. 3:00Point three, with an example
   5. 4:15Recap and the ask

7. Structure and content · Start strong

   Open with a question, a number or a short story

   Saves you in every talkTakes the first 30 seconds

   An attention-getter is the opening line that makes people look up. Skip "Today I'm going to talk about..." and skip a long thank-you. Pick the opener that fits the room:

   Opening lines by situation

   Situation	Opener type	Example
   Class	A surprising number	"Last year our club raised $412. This year, $3,900."
   Team meeting	The problem, straight	"We lost two clients this month for the same reason."
   Toast	A tiny scene	"The first time I met Sam, he was locked out of his own car."
   Pitch	A rhetorical question	"What would you do with one extra hour a day?"

   Only use a number you can source. Humor works when it grows out of your story; a joke from the internet as your first line is a risk.

8. Tell one story with a person in it

   Saves you in toasts, pitchesTakes 60 to 90 seconds

   Storytelling means putting your point inside something that happened to someone. People forget slides and remember the anecdote about the customer who called at midnight. One story per talk is enough; it also shows the real you, and being authentic builds credibility faster than polish.

   1. MomentWhere and when, in one line.
   2. ProblemWhat went wrong for the person.
   3. TurnWhat changed.
   4. PointTie it back to your one sentence.

9. Build slides you could present without

   Saves you in class, workTakes less time than you think

   Visual aids are slides, objects or charts that make a point clearer than words alone. They support you; they are not the talk. If the projector dies, you should still be able to give it.

   • One idea per slide, with a headline that states it.
   • Charts with one highlighted number, not ten.
   • Never read a slide aloud. Say what it means.
   • Black the screen (press B in most slide software) when you want eyes on you.

10. Structure and content · End with impact

    Plan the last 20 seconds before the first

    Saves you in pitches, meetingsTakes 20 seconds

    A closing is the recap plus one clear call to action: what you want people to think or do next. Write it before you write the opening, because it tells you where the talk is going. Don't end on "So, yeah, that's it" or on the Q&A; give your final line after the questions.

    Meeting

    "So: test the old price in one region. Can I get a yes by Friday?"

    Toast

    "Please raise your glasses: to Sam and Alex."

    Class

    "Three causes, one fix: start with the cheapest one."

11. Delivery and presence · Use your voice

    Speak to the back row

    Saves you in big rooms, toastsTakes the whole talk

    Projection is speaking loud enough that the person farthest away hears every word without effort. Aim your voice at the back wall, not at the front row. Breathe from the belly so the sound has support.

    • No microphone: slightly louder than feels polite.
    • Microphone: keep it the same distance from your mouth when you turn your head.
    • Video call: normal volume; check your mic level before you start.

12. Delivery and presence · Control your pace

    Slow down and let a pause replace the um

    Saves you in every talkTakes one second per pause

    Filler words are the um, uh, like and so that fill a gap while your brain finds the next thought. Nerves make most people speed up, and speed makes fillers worse. A one-second pause does the same job in silence, and it sounds confident to the room, even when it feels long to you.

    "We tested three prices. / The cheapest one won. / / But not for the reason you'd think."

    One slash, a short pause; two slashes, a full breath before the key line.

13. Lean on the words that matter

    Saves you in long talksTakes a 5-minute drill

    Vocal variety is changing pitch, volume and speed so your voice follows the meaning; a monotone tells the room nothing is important. Try this drill out loud. Stress a different word each time and the sentence changes meaning:

    • "I didn't say she took the money." (someone else did)
    • "I didn't say she took the money." (someone else took it)
    • "I didn't say she took the money." (she took something else)

14. Delivery and presence · Make eye contact

    Give each thought to one face

    Saves you in interviews, callsTakes the whole talk

    Eye contact is looking at one listener long enough to finish a thought, about 3 to 5 seconds, then moving to someone else. It turns a speech into a string of short conversations.

    • Big room: pick friendly faces in each part of the room.
    • Panel interview: answer the person who asked, then glance at the others.
    • Video call: look at the lens, not the faces on screen.
    • Toast: the couple for the story, the guests for the raised glass.

15. Delivery and presence · Stand with purpose

    Plant your feet and move when the point changes

    Saves you in stage, classTakes the whole talk

    Body language is what your posture, gestures and facial expression say before your words do. Stand with feet about hip-width apart and shoulders back. Smile when the content allows it; a warm face relaxes the room.

    Rocking or pacing

    Stay put, then walk a few steps when you start a new point.

    Hands in pockets

    Open hands at waist height on the key words.

    Arms crossed

    Hold a pen or clicker loosely in one hand.

16. Bring the room in and expect the hard question

    Saves you in meetings, classTakes the last 5 to 10 minutes

    To engage the audience, give people something to do: answer a show-of-hands question, guess a number, or try a line with you. Watch for feedback while you talk (puzzled faces, phones out) and adapt. Q&A is the question-and-answer part, and it goes better when you prepare for it.

    Before

    List the five questions you'd least like to get and answer each in two sentences.

    During

    Repeat or paraphrase the question so everyone heard it, then answer to the whole room.

    Don't know?

    "I don't know yet. I'll check and send it to you today."

17. Managing nerves · Use box breathing

    Run a 60-second routine before you stand up

    Saves you in the wait before you speakTakes 60 seconds

    Adrenaline is the stress hormone behind the shaking hands, dry mouth and racing heart before a talk. It is normal and it doesn't have to go away; a fixed routine gives it a job. Arrive early, check the room and the tech, then run this:

    1. 0:00Box breathing: in for 4, hold for 4, out for 4, hold for 4. Twice.
    2. 0:30A sip of water. Skip the extra coffee: caffeine adds to the shaking.
    3. 0:40Say "I am excited" out loud or in your head (Brooks, 2014), or talk to yourself by name (Kross et al., 2014).
    4. 0:50Picture yourself landing the first line (a five-second visualization), then hum once to warm up your voice.
    5. 1:00Walk up, breathe in, and speak your first words on the exhale.

18. Have a recovery line ready for when you go blank

    Saves you in any slipTakes 3 seconds

    Going blank is a short drop-out in word retrieval when stress spikes. A recovery line is a set phrase you say while your memory catches up. The audience is on your side, and the spotlight effect works in your favor: in a study by Gilovich and colleagues (2000), students in an embarrassing T-shirt guessed about half the room noticed it; fewer than a quarter did.

    Recovery lines

    What happened	Say this
    Mind went blank	"Let me come back to that." Then go to your next cue word.
    Wrong number said	"Correction: it's twelve, not twenty." No apology.
    Lost your place	"So far: ..." and recap your last point in one line.
    Tech failed	"Let me just tell you what that slide shows."

Popular public speaking tips that backfire

Some advice gets passed around because it's catchy, not because it works. These are the ones to drop.

"Picture them in their underwear"

No study backs it, and it splits your attention at the moment you need it most. Look at a friendly face instead.

"Strike a power pose first"

A larger follow-up (Ranehill et al., 2015) found no change in stress or confidence hormones from power posing. Standing tall still helps how you come across; it just isn't chemistry.

"Words are only 7% of the message"

The 7-38-55 figure comes from Mehrabian's lab tests on single words about feelings. It was never meant for talks, and your words carry your content.

"Look just over their heads"

People can tell. Real eye contact with one person at a time is easier than it sounds.

"Memorize every word"

One missed word and the whole chain can drop. Learn the first and last lines; talk the middle from cue words.

"Just don't be nervous"

You can't switch nerves off. Calling them excitement works better than fighting them.

Frameworks people ask about

A public speaking framework is a memory aid: a short list you can recall under pressure. Each is commonly taught, not a scientific rule. To turn them into weekly drills, practise one framework a week out loud and ask someone for feedback.

The 5 C's

Clear, concise, confident, credible and compelling. Clear means your audience knows what you're saying and why it matters.

As taught by Saskatchewan Polytechnic

The 3-2-1 rule

The three things you most want people to remember, each backed by two concrete examples. It keeps you from rambling when you're put on the spot.

A widely shared on-the-spot structure

The 7 P's

Pronunciation, pace, pause, punch, power, passion and posture: a delivery checklist for your voice and body language.

As taught by Archbishop Beck Catholic College

The golden rule

Know your audience. Who is listening shapes your topic, your examples and your words, so audience analysis comes before anything else.

As taught by Stand Up, Speak Out (open textbook)

What public speaking is

Public speaking (oratory) is speaking to a live audience to inform, persuade or entertain them, the three general purposes speech textbooks name. Talks often add slides, images or short videos. The method of delivery of a speech decides how much you lean on notes, and there are four.

Extemporaneous

A planned, rehearsed speech delivered in a conversational way from brief notes. It is the style used in the great majority of public speaking situations.

Impromptu

A short message with no advance preparation, like being asked to "say a few words". One way to train it is the free one-minute prompt in Confidently, which hands you a random topic to answer out loud.

Manuscript

Reading a written speech word for word. Useful when the exact wording matters, but hard to keep eye contact.

Memorized

Reciting a written speech from memory. Exact, but a single memory gap can stop you cold.

Public speaking at work, online and on the big stage

Most speaking happens at work: in meetings, on calls and in front of a team. If fear is what stops you, this page on glossophobia explains the causes and treatment.

Leadership

Leaders speak to align a team and earn trust. AmberWillo's guide for leaders comes down to clarity (plain words, no extra detail) and presence: stand tall, make eye contact and use purposeful gestures.

Career

Speaking well pays off: in a study cited by the open textbook Stand Up, Speak Out, college graduates named oral communication the most useful skill they took into the business world.

Online talks

On a video call, eye contact, body language and movement all work differently, as AmberWillo's guide to virtual speaking explains. Look at the lens and keep your gestures inside the frame.

Famous speakers

Watch great speakers and study the classics out loud: Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address (November 19, 1863), John F. Kennedy's inaugural address (January 20, 1961) and Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" (1963). AmberWillo's famous-speeches guide breaks down what makes each one work.

Common mistakes

If these habits keep coming back after practice, a 12-skill plan on how to improve public speaking gives you a structure to fix them one at a time.

• Reading from a script or slides. It breaks the connection with your audience.
• Opening with "Today I'm going to talk about..." Start with a story, statistic or quote instead.
• Running over time. Time yourself in rehearsal and cut until you finish a minute early.
• Practising only in your head. Stand up and say it out loud.
• Apologizing for small slips. Most people never noticed them.
• Hedges, tag questions and up-talk. "Kind of", "isn't it?" and rising endings make you sound unsure.
• Too many slides. Use audiovisual aids sparingly, to clarify.
• Ending on the Q&A. Take questions, then give your closing line.

A pocket card to print

The public speaking tips above, shrunk to one pocket card. Print this page and only the card comes out.