Practise class presentations, seminars and first interviews out loud, and know before you walk in exactly how you sound.

Try ExpreaHear the difference

Before and after

“Opening a class presentation.”

The same voice answers twice. Press play and follow along.

Illustrative voices

The first answer

Okay, um, so our topic is, like, climate policy, and, uh, basically we’re going to, um, talk about some stuff, and, yeah, I’ll just, like, go through the slides.

Pace
before 161, words a minute.
Fillers
before 7, marked words.
Hedges
before 1, marked phrases.

Measured on these two clips. Pace is words over the clip’s length; pauses are silences of 0.35 seconds or longer. Fillers are marked, hedges underlined. One synthesised voice reads both takes.

Where it goes wrong

Three things to practise, each with its instrument.

  1. 01 / 03

    Start strong.

    The opening decides whether the room listens.

    • Practise the first thirty seconds until they are automatic
    • Lose the "so, um, basically" opening
    • Open with something worth hearing

    The first 30 seconds

    Move across Sample

    Off the cuff

    Rehearsed

    By 0:12
    Off the cuff
    7 fillers
    Rehearsed
    1 fillers

    Practise the opening until it is automatic.

  2. 02 / 03

    Know your timing.

    Running over loses marks. Rushing loses the room.

    • See your pace and total time on every take
    • Find where you can slow down and where to cut
    • Finish on time, every time

    Time against the slides

    Move up and down Sample

    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    Slide 4
    1:48 of 1:00
    Total
    0:30 over

    Finish on time, every time.

  3. 03 / 03

    Practise beyond the classroom.

    The skill you need for every interview after this one.

    • A path from Level 1 to Level 5
    • Practise seminars, interviews and presentations
    • Live sessions with members from around the world; your first one is included

    A week of practice

    Move across Sample

    Wed
    6 min
    This week
    20 min

    Small sessions add up.

Your place on the Path

Start at Level 2: Structure.

Five levels, one question each. Open any of them to see what it asks of you.

Level 2 · Start here

Structure

Can I be followed?

You give a presentation an examiner can follow without reading your slides.

Being followed. A talk with a shape, so a listener can always tell where you are in it and where it is going.

See the whole Path

Free, about three minutes

Hear yourself the way they will.

A free 3-minute Communication Analysis shows where you stand today.

Start the free analysis

Speech thirds

  • Opening

    0.22

  • Body

    0.55

  • Close

    0.23

Vocabulary diversity

  • Ideal
  • You
  • Average

  • Narrow

  • Varied

Questions

Practise out loud, not in your head. Record a take, read the report, fix one thing, and record again.

Pace, filler words, hedges, pauses, pitch and energy. With your camera on, it also scores your setup, posture, attire and eye contact.

Yes. Record the opening and the answers to the questions you expect, and get a report on each.

There is no student discount. The Communication Analysis is free and membership starts with a free first week.

Yes. The same practice carries straight into interviews.

Something else? Every question we get asked, or write to us.

From the blog

Read before the moment.

The CraftThe First Fifteen Seconds Decide the Next Fifteen MinutesRita OkonkwoWrites on delivery, stage craft and presenceRead more
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