30 Public Speaking Tips That Actually Make You Better

February 2, 2024 Liam Sandford

#1 Public speaking is not about you as the speaker, it’s about your audience. You are there to deliver a message to them, make your entire preparation about your audience.

#2 Make your slides for your audience, not for you. If it doesn’t help your audience understand, remove it.

#3 Don’t stand behind a podium. It puts a physical barrier between you and the audience. This will reduce your connection with the audience.

#4 If you can’t deliver your main point in one sentence it is not clear enough. If you aren’t clear on your key message, your audience don’t stand a chance.

#5 Don’t open with an agenda. It bores your audience and ruins your chances of capturing their attention from the start. Instead, open with a bang.

#6 Use the simple structure, open — body — close. You can use this structure for the nano speech. It makes every day conversations relevant public speaking practice.

#7 Finish your presentation with a call to action that helps your audience. If you want somebody to do something for you, do it in the middle of the presentation. Make your close about them.

#8 Your presentation is won and lost in your transitions. Plan how you will transition from one point to the next. Without clearly planned transitions you will ramble as you figure out how to move to the next point.

#9 You are your superpower. Be you. Use your stories and experiences to your advantage. This is what sets you a part from any other speaker on the same topic.

#10 Practice before you need it. Use the nano speech to build a daily speaking habit. This removes the feeling of being ‘rusty’ because you have recent reps to recall. Recent reps is what makes you confident.

#11 You can be confident and nervous at the same time. If your heart is racing, that is preparing you to deliver at your best. Nervousness is a sign you care, not that you are not confident to deliver.

#12 Don’t script your presentation or speech. If you forget one word it will derail the whole thing. Instead use a bullet point approach:

How you will open
The main point
A story to back up your main point
How you will close

#13 Don’t open with a joke (unless you are a comedian). By trying to be funny you are making your life harder. Comedy is not appropriate for every setting. Instead try to be engaging rather than funny.

#14 Most speaking anxiety comes from factors that are not speaking. Will the tech work, will there be parking, will people at the back be able to see, how many in the audience etc. Someone will know the answer. Get your logistical questions answered ahead of time. This will reduce your worry on the day.

#15 Pause just before you deliver your key message. People notice pauses. It captivates the audience attention. By doing this you deliver your main point when you have peak attention from the audience.

#16 Plan your time stamps. Know where you need to be at certain times in your presentation. You don’t want to have 15 minutes worth of material with only 5 minutes to deliver it.

#17 Tell stories from every day moments. Most people live similar lives. They get up, have breakfast, go to work, come home, have dinner, spend time with family go to bed etc. If you tell stories from every day moments, people will resonate with them because they see themselves in the story too.

#18 Only focus on improving one thing at a time. There are 1 million things involved in public speaking. Focusing on improving in too many areas at once will result in no progress at all. Pick one thing, improve it, master it, then move onto the next thing.

#19 Start speaking where you are most comfortable first. You don’t need to throw yourself into the deep end to become a great speaker. Speaking is built on successful reps. Get comfortable first, then confident, then competent.

#20 Do something different. Different is memorable. Memorable is impactful. Don’t be afraid to try something new that will create a moment for the audience. It could be turning off the screen, it could be initiating a 2 minute silence. Wrap your ‘different’ item into your key messages. This will help people your audience remember them.

#21 Don’t record and watch yourself back. You are your harshest critic and will end up criticizing everything you did. It becomes a circle of trying to avoid what happened last time, rather than trying to connect better with your audience.

#22 Don’t do any preparation on the day of your presentation. You should be ready the night before (at the very latest). If you are not ready you will lose sleep and increase your overwhelm just as you are preparing to deliver. Spending time relaxing is important in your final preparation — you should be full of energy at the start of your presentation.

#23 Power pose for 2 minutes as your final preparation. You will feel more confident, and you will improve your body language before you start. This will improve your delivery and your first impression with the audience.

#24 Slow down. Most people rush their presentations to get it finished quicker. As a speaker this makes you look erratic. The audience feel like you have some place better to be and you hurt your reputation and credibility. Slow down, don’t be afraid to use pauses, and spend time with the audience. Let the audience feel you being present.

#25 If you can say it in 5 words don’t use 10. Saying more does not help your audience understand more. It can create confusion. The more you say, the more your audience has to pick up on what the important bits are — it requires more attention. Instead you should make it easy for the audience.

#26 Replace your filler words with pauses. Your ‘ah’, ‘umm’, or ‘like’ can ruin your presentation if you use them in every sentence. Outside of pressure cooker public speaking, practice turning your filler words into pauses. Start noticing when you use a filler word and actively replace with a pause. If you are not using filler words every sentence, don’t be too harsh on yourself — it is okay to use a couple throughout.

#27 Use analogies that people are familiar with to create imagery associated with the key point you are trying to make. This will help to make your message memorable beyond the time you spend speaking.

#28 Too much context is the killer of attention. Keep it moving. Everything you say should either be delivering a main point, helping the audience understand the main point, or taking them to the next important thing you have to say.

#29 When taking questions, give your audience a set amount of time to ask their question. This avoids people going on tangents and taking the opportunity to give their view. You can keep control of the timings by setting a limit. Tell the audience it is to maximize the opportunity for more people to ask questions.

#30 If using PowerPoint stick to one main point per slide, have less than 9 words on a slide, and opt for images over text. This will help you be more engaging and avoid death by PowerPoint.

Which tip resonates with you the most? Let me know in the comments.

More from me