What are the best public speaking tips for beginners?

Decide the one thing you want people to remember, memorize your first 30 seconds, and rehearse the whole talk out loud three times. Keep it short, put your main point first, and practice in low-stakes rooms, such as a one-minute update at a team meeting, before bigger ones.

How do I stop being nervous before a presentation?

You probably won't stop entirely, and you don't need to. Rehearse the opening until it's automatic, breathe out longer than you breathe in while you wait, and tell yourself you're excited rather than trying to calm down. In a 2014 study, people who reframed nerves as excitement performed better than people who tried to relax.

What is a fear reframing exercise for public speaking?

Reframing means giving the same feeling a more useful name. Before you speak, notice the racing heart and say out loud, "I am excited." Harvard researcher Alison Wood Brooks found that this kind of short self-talk helped people feel more excited and perform better than trying to calm down.

What is the treatment for public speaking anxiety?

For everyday nerves, preparation and practice help most. When fear of speaking is strong enough that you avoid meetings or turn down work, talk to a doctor or mental health professional. The National Institute of Mental Health says social anxiety, which can show up only in performance situations like giving a speech, is typically treated with psychotherapy, medication or both.

How do you present well on a video call?

Raise your camera to eye level, light your face from the front, and put your notes right under the lens so you look at the audience while reading them. Test your screen share before the call and keep a PDF copy ready in case sharing fails.

Can our team take a public speaking workshop together?

Yes. Speak Up! is a 60-minute virtual public speaking workshop with a live host, covering how to structure a message, reduce nerves and deliver it in person or on video. It runs on Zoom by default, or Teams, Google Meet or Webex on request. Book about 2 weeks ahead.

Communication
Career skills

Public speaking tips for work: 24 ways to speak with less fear

Practical tips for work talks, each with how to do it. For all-hands updates, toasts, panels and presentations on video calls.

KraftyLab TeamUpdated Oct 20269 min read

A woman gives a short talk to coworkers seated around a meeting table in a bright room.

The public speaking tips that help most are simple: decide the one thing you want people to remember, rehearse out loud at least three times, and treat your nerves as energy instead of a warning sign. Below are 24 tips for speaking at work, each in one line with how to do it, then the right shape for the talks people give most often.

24 public speaking tips for work

Numbered down the page in five groups. Start with whichever group matches the part that worries you most.

Before you speak

Most of a good talk happens before you stand up.

Write your one sentence first. Before you open slides, finish this line: "When I'm done, I want them to..." Cut anything that doesn't serve it.
Ask who will be in the room. Find out from the organizer what the audience already knows and what they'll do with your talk afterwards.
Script your first 30 seconds word for word. Nerves peak at the start, so memorize the opening and speak from short notes after that.
Rehearse out loud, standing up. Reading slides in your head isn't practice. Say the whole thing aloud three times; the wording settles by the third run.
Aim to finish early. Talks run long on the day. For a 10-minute slot, rehearse to 9 minutes and cut until you hit it.

Shape the talk

A clear shape does half the work of sounding confident.

Put the answer up front. Say your recommendation or main news in the first minute, so anyone who drifts off still leaves with it.
Use three parts, not seven. Problem, what we found, what we need from you. Three parts are easy to follow and easy to repeat later.
Tell one story with a person in it. "Last Tuesday our support lead took 40 calls about one bug" lands harder than "customers are frustrated".
Turn big numbers into pictures. Compare a figure to something the room already knows: "that's one extra working day, every week".
Close after the questions, not before. Take questions, then end with one line that repeats what you need from them, so the talk doesn't fade out on the last question.

Calm your nerves

Fear reframing exercises for beginners: nobody gets rid of nerves completely, so the goal is to use them.

Say "I am excited" out loud. A racing heart feels the same whether you call it fear or excitement, so give it the useful name a few minutes before you start.
Breathe out longer than you breathe in. In for a count of four, out for a count of six, five or six times while you wait to be called up.
Rehearse the scary part, not the easy part. Practice your opening and the toughest question you expect until both feel a little boring.
Pick three friendly faces. Find one person on the left, one in the middle and one on the right, and talk to each of them in turn.
Treat a blank as a pause. If you lose your place, look at your notes, breathe, and restate your last point. The room hears it as emphasis.
Climb a small ladder. Ask one question in an all-hands, then give a one-minute update, then volunteer for a five-minute slot.

The first tip has research behind it. In a 2014 study by Alison Wood Brooks of Harvard Business School, people about to sing, speak in public or take a math test performed better when they reappraised their anxiety as excitement, for example by saying “I am excited” out loud, than when they tried to calm down.

When nerves are more than nerves. The National Institute of Mental Health notes that for some people, anxiety shows up only in performance situations such as giving a speech, and that social anxiety is typically treated with psychotherapy, medication or both. If fear of speaking makes you skip meetings or turn down work, talk to a doctor or mental health professional.

In the room

Small physical habits change how sure you look.

Plant your feet, then speak. Walk to your spot, stand still, look up at the room, and only then say your first line.
Slow down for the line that matters. Drop your pace on the sentence you most want people to repeat, and let a beat of quiet follow it.
Talk to people, not the screen. Glance at the slide to cue yourself, then turn back to the room before you say anything.
Keep notes on cards. A few index cards with keywords are easier to hold and glance at than a phone or a full script.

On a video call

Presenting on Zoom or Teams has its own rules.

Raise the camera to eye level. Stand the laptop on a few books so you look at people, not down at them.
Light your face from the front. Face a window or put a lamp behind your screen. A bright window behind you turns you into a silhouette.
Look at the lens for your key lines. Put your notes just under the camera so glancing at them still reads as eye contact.
Test the screen share before you join. Open the deck, close other tabs, silence notifications, and keep a PDF you can send if sharing fails.

How to shape the talks you give most

Most work speaking is one of these five. The lengths are our suggested targets.

All-hands update (3 to 5 minutes)
Shape: What happened, why it matters, what's next.
Watch for: One number, one name, one ask. More than that blurs.
Team meeting update (1 to 2 minutes)
Shape: Done, next, blocked.
Watch for: If something is blocked, say it first.
Toast at a farewell, retirement or win (1 to 2 minutes)
Shape: Who they are to us, one story, raise a glass.
Watch for: Skip inside jokes that only three people get.
Panel discussion (About 1 minute per answer)
Shape: Answer, one example, hand it back.
Watch for: Bring three short stories you can fit to many questions.
Pitch to leadership or a client (10 to 20 minutes)
Shape: Recommendation, reasons, the decision you need.
Watch for: Put the decision you need on the first slide.

Opening a meeting or event instead? Our opening remarks guide has scripts you can adapt.

Practice as a team

Speaking gets easier with reps, and the easiest reps happen in a low-stakes room with people you know.

The cheapest practice is a five-minute round of impromptu speaking at the start of a team meeting: draw a question, talk for a minute, pass it on. Our Table Topics questions come with a free timer for exactly that, and these presentation games turn slides into a game.

For a full hour with a coach, two hosted sessions fit. In Speak Up! Public Speaking Workshop, a live host covers how to structure a message, reduce nerves and deliver it with confidence, in person or on video. If your team freezes when a question comes out of nowhere, virtual improv builds the same muscle through play: saying “yes, and”, telling short stories and answering the unexpected.

Both sessions, with today’s price. Each runs about 60 minutes on Zoom by default, or Teams, Google Meet or Webex on request. Book about 2 weeks ahead, or get a free quote.

More talks and workshops your team can book for a lunch hour are on our virtual lunch and learn page.