8 public speaking exercises to improve your presentation skills

Do you think public speaking is an inherent skill that some people are just born with?  It’s not. 

Public speaking and presenting skills can be improved with practice, and by doing exercises at home.  Not sure where to start when it comes to practicing your skills?  I went through all the hard work for you, so here’s a list of the best public speaking exercises to improve your presentation skills.

Why is presenting correctly important?

No matter how good your ideas are, if your presentation skills aren’t up to scratch, then your audience probably won’t be paying much attention to you.   This could make or break your sales pitch, your super important business presentation, or even your finals presentation at college!

How do exercises help?

As the old saying goes:  Practice makes perfect!  And you don’t need a room full of people to practice.  All the exercises below can be done at home.  Some of them can even be done while you’re in the bathroom, so there’s really no excuse not to try them out.

Want free public speaking tips? 

Check out my 9-day public speaking course (did I mention it’s free?)

1 - Explain your presentation to someone

Grab a friend or family member (someone who is not familiarized with your field) and explain the basic idea behind your presentation to them.

This is one of the best public speaking exercises around!  It’s great for helping you explain your ideas in simple terms and as concisely as possible.  That means cutting out the jargon and overly complicated sentences that only serve to make you feel like you know what you’re talking about.

This might seem counter-productive, but a clear, simplified, and to-the-point presentation is much more powerful than an hour of waffling.

2 - Practice timing

Practicing the speed at which you present your ideas is key to a killer presentation and it helps you stay within the timeframe that you’ve been given to present.  There’s nothing worse than finishing with a chunk of time to spare or running out of time without even getting half-way through what you wanted to say. 

Luckily, timing is easy to practice.  Get your presentation notes (or from an old presentation) and set a timer for the exact time you’ve been given to present.  Now just present at the pace you feel comfortable with.  If you end up using more or less time than you should, adjust your pacing and try again.

If you’re under or over your time limit considerably, this might mean you need to add or cut things from your presentation.  There’s no way you can cram a 45-minute presentation into 20 minutes, no matter how fast you talk!

3 - Body language

Presenting to HEC Paris eMBA students

The way you move your body is just as important as what you say during your presentation. 

Confident posture and eye contact are the two most important things to keep in mind here.  Practice your presentation in the mirror, and make sure to look at yourself dead in the eye as you present your main points.  Bring your shoulders back, push your chest out a little, and use your hands to help articulate yourself (do not put your hands in your pockets!).

[Read my complete guide to public speaking body language to learn more.]

4 - Practice clear pronunciation

If you mumble while speaking, you’ll find that this is one of the most important public speaking exercises on this list. 

The best way to improve your diction and clarity of speech is to practice saying tongue twisters.  Saying two or three tongue twisters a day over the period of a couple of weeks is enough to loosen up your tongue and make a mind-body connection with your mouth.

Check out this list of popular tongue twisters and start practicing every day!

5 – Control your breathing

Breathing is often overlooked, but you should consider it a fundamental part of your public speaking skill set.  If you’re out of breath, or if your breathing is panicky and irregular, then your nerves are going to be very evident in the way you speak.

A good exercise to improve the control over your breathing is the following:

·       Breathe in for 4 seconds

·       Hold that breath for 1 second

·       Breathe out for 4 seconds

·       Repeat for 3 minutes.

This exercise will make you more conscious of your breathing, and if you do this a few times every day, you’ll have much greater control over your breath while speaking in public.

Check out this video for some exercises you can do to harness the power of your breath 👇

6 – Write down your main ideas

Memorizing your entire presentation like a robot is not the right way to go, but you do need to understand the main points and ideas thoroughly.

That’s why writing down your presentation’s key themes and sub-topics is one of the most effective public speaking exercises out there.  It’ll help you visualize the format of your presentation, remember what goes where, and it’ll also help you see if there are any important elements missing (or if there’s anything you can take out).

7 – Record yourself speaking

Most people hate the sound of their own voice, but this exercise is useful for smoothing out any lingering problems in your presentation. 

Record just your voice, or better yet record a video of yourself practicing your presentation.  Look out for any aspects of your voice, movement, eye contact, body language, etc. that need improvement, and adjust as needed!

8 – Practice your Q&A

Unless you have access to a time machine, then you won’t know exactly what people are going to ask you after your presentation or public speaking event.  But you can still prepare!

How?  By brainstorming questions beforehand.  Write down a list of as many possible questions as you can, from obvious ones to the ones that are going to be hard for you to answer. 

If there’s a question you’re really hoping nobody asks, then make sure you have at least a brief answer thought up in anticipation.

This doesn’t mean that your answers should all be completely planned out, but if there are questions that’ll really catch you off guard, it’s best to at least think about them in the days running up to your public speaking event or presentation.

 What works for you?

I’ve been presenting, making speeches, and addressing large crowds since high-school, so these are the best public speaking exercises for me.  But I’m interested to hear what you think!

Let me know in the comments below  👇 what exercises have helped you improve your public speaking skills, or if there’s anything you think I’ve missed out.

Remember, you can never practice enough.  So take these exercises and use them as much as you want until you feel completely comfortable presenting your ideas to an audience.

As I mentioned at the beginning of the article, I have a free video course with 9 days of public speaking tips. 

Make sure to check it out!