Public Speaking Tips & Presentation Skills

Public speaking tips & resources

One of the biggest fears people have is a fear of public speaking. We’ve created a brand new resource with speaking and presentation tips updated daily.

Learn how to fight nervousness, be ready for speeches, find fresh speechmaking ideas, and tune up your PR presentation skills.

Other speaking resources you’ll like include: Presentation Tools & Resources, Speech Writing Ideas & Tips and Winning Video Presentations. Sites with a W are PR Coach “winners.”

Speaking & Presentations Tips Archive

For researchers, students and for writers looking for historical articles, the archive below has our original best speaking and presentation tips posts from 2010 to 2013.

5 Speaking Resolutions to Wow Your Audience in 2012
Five best practices of public speaking that speakers don’t always follow.

7 persuasion techniques that have stood the test of time
Mike Consol’s seven tips are worth reading.

9 Reasons You Should Put Words on Your Slides
Top tips for PR presentations.

10 simple structures for your presentation
10 speech structures to test drive.

10 Steps to Winning Presentations
Rick Amme’s ten steps are an excellent checklist for better presentations.

10+ Presentation Tips to Keep Your Audience From Dozing Off
12 good tactics to get your audience more involved.

11 Top Tips for a Successful Technical Presentation
When the topic turns technical, these tips will tilt you to the top of the pack.

17 Easy Ways to Be a More Persuasive Speaker
Want to be more persuasive?  Here’s how.

17 Tips for Preparing and Delivering a Polished Speech
Basic tips for preparing and delivering a speech.

18 Tips for Killer Presentations
These 18 tips from Scott Young will set you up for success.

20 Steps for Better Conference Speaking
A set of tips to improve from Cameron Moll.

25 Essential Presentation Skills for Public Speaking
Useful list and a helpful read from Andrew Dlugan at Six Minutes.

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Acting Insights into More Powerful Presentations
Injecting emotion can bring presentations to life for your audience.

Advanced Public Speaking Institute
APSI offers a valuable set of resources including articles on speaking, checklists, humor techniques and dozens of excellent speechmaking and presentation tips!  W

Amazing Public Speaking
Tom Antion is recognized as one of the best speaker trainers in the business. His resources will interest PR consultants, trainers, speakers, executives and authors and site membership is great value for serious speakers.  W

American Rhetoric – Top 100 Speeches
This free resource has audio clips of the 100 best speeches of all time, including Martin Luther King (“I have a dream”), JFK’s inaugural address, FDR (Pearl Harbor), Richard Nixon, Malcolm X and Eleanor Roosevelt.

Articles on Public Speaking
Speaker and trainer Dr Gary Genard has a set of useful articles and speaking tips.

Be Brief in Public Speaking
Learn key guidelines to brevity in speaking. Quiz follows.

Bringing Technical Presentations to Life
Here’s how to breathe life into technical talks with just a few simple changes.

Business Presentation Skills Training Tips
Practical tips to improve your business presentations.

Business Resources: Overcoming Your Fear of Public Speaking
30 excellent resources on overcoming fear, relaxation, speaking tips, debate, famous speakers and public speaking resources.  WW

Captivate Audiences with Powerful Presentations
Ideas on humor, movement and vocal techniques from Patricia Fripp.

Closing the Speech: Six Devices
Six tips to consider to close your speech with impact.

Communications Grok
Dave Yewman’s newsletter offers valuable speaking and presentation tips.

Coping With the Fear of Public Speaking
A primer for nervous speakers. And who isn’t?

Craft an Attention-Grabbing Message
Great PR presentation and speaking advice from Kare Anderson in the Harvard Business Review.

Decker Blog: Create Your Communication Experience
Author and communication coach Bert Decker blogs on communication.

Do you have a memorable one-liner? 
A great one-liner can spell success.

Executive Presentation Tips
Six good presentation tips to remember.

Five Ways to Build Public Speaking into Your Marketing Plan
Here’s how to use public speaking for marketing results.

Five Ways to Make Your Body Speak
Here’s how to rid yourself of bad mannerisms.

Going to the People – Ten Public Speaking Tips
10 brief tips to improve your speaking from Al Czarnecki.

Handling Questions With Authority
Question allow the audience to test your knowledge and your commitment to your message according to George Torok.

How Speakers Handle That FEAR Thing…
Six speaker’s tips to help you deal with fear of speaking.

How to Ace the Short, Impromptu Speech
Helpful tips for off-the-cuff speaking.

How to Close a Speech?
Powerfully.

How to Deal With a Hostile Audience
These 10 tips will help you handle hostile groups better.

How to Dress for Public Speaking
Really practical tips from Andrew Dlugan.

How to Give a Bad Presentation – 10 Commandments
The ten commandments of a bad presentation are provided for your learning.

How to Give a Great Speech
Deliver a clear, relevant message, and tell a few great stories to illustrate it says Helen Coster in Forbes.

How to Handle That Dreaded Question & Answer Period
A five-step approach to handling Q&As.

How to Improve Your Slides With the Rule of Thirds
This  superb tutorial from Andrew Dlugan is guaranteed to improve your presentation visuals.   W

How to Introduce a Speaker: 16 Essential Tips for Success
Practical tips to help you introduce a speaker.  W

How to Make Reading a Speech Not Like Reading a Speech
Good advice on how and when to read a speech.

How to Prevent and Recover from Mind Blanks
Prevent mind blanks by using your beliefs about presenting, planning and rehearsal strategies.

How to Relax for Your Talk
Relax. Here’s how.

How to Structure a Presentation
Great presentations have a beginning, a middle and an end. Learn more from Presentation Helper.

How to Write a Top 10 List
Hint: Make it five.

Humor Delivery Tips
Simple, yet challenging.

Improve Your Presentations
The late Bill Gove, Toastmaster extraordinaire, offered Rick Amme these winning tips to help you present like a pro.

Improve Your Public Speaking: Openers and Closers
Tips on the two most important parts of a speech – openers and closers.

It’s Not the Voice, It’s the Message
If you’ve got content and passion, the voice will take care of itself.

Leaderspeak
E-Newsletter on how leaders create, engage and mobilize followers.

Less is More: Cut, Cut, and Cut Words
For speakers and PR writers keep it tight.

Maniactive
Laura Bergelis blogs with energy about presentation skills.

Measuring Effectiveness of Speakers Programs
2007 IPR study suggests ways to measure impact and effectiveness of speaker programs.

Memo to C-Level Speakers
Pete Ryckman’s blog has valuable speaking tips.

Mike Consol
Consol has a superb site loaded with speaking and presentation resources.  W

Nick R Thomas – A Public Speakers Blog
Thomas blogs as he speaks and always offers a tip.

Nine Steps to PowerPoint Magic
Useful tips from Seth Godin.

No More Pre-Speech Jitters
These Inc magazine tips from speakers and speech coaches will reduce those jitters.

Now That We Have Your Complete Attention
Fast Company provides an eight point program designed to keep listeners on the edge of their seats.  W

Organization and Preparation Tips
10 excellent presentation tips from Garr Reynolds. Lots more presentation and design tips and resources. 

Overcoming Public Speaking Anxiety
In an interview, personal coach Lisa Braithwait talks about conquering fear of speaking.

Pauses
Here’s how to make effective use of… pauses…

PowerPoints Don’t Have to Paralyze Your Audience
Seven tips to power up your PowerPoint presentations.

Practical Speaking Tips
Six practical, useful tips from speaking coach George Torok.

Presentation Skills
The seven laws of presentation skills from Impact Factory.

Presentation Skills for Emergent Managers
A complete guide to the basics of better presentations from Gerald Blair.

Presentation Skills: How to Improve
Kevin Eikenberry’s improvement tips include Toastmasters, Dale Carnegie, videotaping, karaoke and more.

Presentation Zen
Garr Reynolds’ blog links presentation skills to music, art, and life.

Pro Humorist
Public speaking tips and funny presentations from Jason Peck’s blog.

Public Speaking: An Online Resource Guide
Wise Old Quotes website has an excellent list of public speaking and presentation apps, other public speaking websites, presentation resources and links on fear of speaking. W

Public Speaking Blogs: The Definitive List
There’s 113 blogs on Andrew Dlugan’s list, neatly categorized by activity. Thanks for this excellent resource Andrew!   W W

Public Speaking Can Be Fun
Jacki Rose’s blog has lots of brief but practical tips.

Putting Humor into Presentations
Carefully done, humor can entertain AND educate.

Rule of Three
One of the fundamentals of presentations, the rule of three keeps things simple, clear and memorable. (That’s three!)

Short and Sweet: Mastering Quick Presentations
Here’s how to compress your speech without losing impact.

Six Minutes
Andrew Dlugan’s public speaking and presentation skills blog is worth subscribing!   W W

Soft Speaker Rx: Top 4 Ways to Let Yourself Be Heard
Susan Berkley suggests four tips to get your speaking voice out effectively.

Speak Fearlessly
Henderson Group blog is all about speaking and presenting more effectively.

Speak Schmeak
Public speaking coach Lisa Braithwaite blogs here.

SpeakerNet News
Free weekly e-news for speakers, authors, trainers and PR people.

Speaking About Presentations
If you’re looking for solid presentation tips and insight, see Olivia Mitchell’s blog.

Speaking Survey: Speaker Dos and Don’ts
Andrew Dlugan reviews a recent survey to share these speaker tips.   W

Speaking About Presenting
Presentation trainer Olivia Mitchell’s excellent blog about presenting.  W

Stage Fright
Learn the four As of stage fright and how to get back control.

Stage Fright Strategies
An excellent set of stage fright fighting strategies.  Say that fast 10 times.

Start Your Presentation with PUNCH
Five proven ways to begin a presentation with impact using “PUNCH.”

Talking on Target: A Lesson on Public Speaking
Rich Becker analyzes Obama’s recent “off-target” speech on the oil spill crisis and how he should have stayed on target.

The 10 Commandments of Suck-Free Speaking
Here are 10 tips to help you speak up with authority.

The Eloquent Woman
Speaker trainer Denise Graveline blogs on women and public speaking.

The Eloquent Woman Index of Famous Women’s Speeches
Great speaking and speechwriting resource.

The Five Minute Presentation
Here’s how to build the 5-minute presentation – short but sweet.

The Power of Story
Bert Decker illustrates the power of storytelling in presentations.

The Power of Storytelling
Great stories, well-told, make for great speeches and presentations.

The Secret to Making Great Videos Isn’t What You Think 
Excellent tips on better lighting for better video.

Top 10 Ways to Make Money Public Speaking
Get on the path to speaker fame with these tips.

Top Ten Delivery Tips
These ten tips from Garr Reynolds will get you focused on the important things.

Top Ten Tips for Incredibly Successful Public Speaking
David Meerman Scott tells you how to make the most of your speaking opportunities.

Tweak Your Slides: Ten Design Principles for Educators (version 3.0)
A superb slide presentation on the art of designing your slides from  Chiara Ojeda.  W

When is the Best Time to Distribute Handouts?
Before or after? You decide.

Why Scientists Are Awful Media Spokespersons
Brad Phillips offers good advice if your topic is technical.  W

Why your audience isn’t participating
Lisa Braithwaite’s speaking tips are worth heeding.

You Are Being Judged
It’s all about connecting with your audience says Lisa Braithwaite.

Photo credit: Andrew Feinberg

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