Lesson 17: Rehearsal: How to Practise

Every skill in this course depends on one thing: rehearsal. A talk that has been practised out loud is a different talk from one that has only been read silently. Yet most students rehearse badly — they read their notes in their head, decide it sounds fine, and then struggle on the day. Good rehearsal is a specific activity with its own rules, and it is the highest-return habit in public speaking. This lesson explains how to practise so that the practice actually helps.

Practise Out Loud, Standing Up

The first rule is to practise the way you will perform: out loud, standing up, and at full volume. Reading silently does not train your voice, your breathing, or your timing — and it hides the sentences that are hard to say. When you speak your talk aloud, you will find the awkward phrases, the sentences that run out of breath, and the transitions that do not work. Fix them by rewriting, not by hoping they will come out better on the day. Practise in the place you will speak if you can, or at least in a room where you can stand and move. Time yourself with a clock or phone: most people discover their talk is longer or shorter than they thought, and timing is much easier to fix in rehearsal than in front of an audience.

Break It Down, Then Build It Up

The second rule is to practise in pieces before you practise the whole. Start with the opening: say it until it feels natural, because a confident start settles your nerves for the rest. Then practise each main point on its own, and finally the ending. Only then put the whole talk together and run it from start to finish without stopping. If you stumble in a full run, keep going — that is what you will have to do on the day, and recovering mid-talk is itself a skill worth practising. A useful pattern is three full runs: one to find the problems, one to fix them, and one to confirm the fixes. More than that, and you risk memorising the talk word for word, which makes you sound robotic and leaves you lost if you forget a single line.

Use Feedback and Recording

The third rule is to get outside your own head. Record yourself on a phone and watch it back: you will notice things you cannot feel while speaking, such as how fast you go, how often you say "um", and whether you look at the audience. It can be uncomfortable to watch, but it is the fastest way to improve. Even better, rehearse for one other person — a friend, a family member, a classmate — and ask them two specific questions: "What was my main point?" and "What was the least clear part?" Their answers tell you whether your structure and wording are working. Practise in conditions as close to the real ones as you can: standing, with your notes or slides, and with someone listening. The more the rehearsal resembles the performance, the more the performance will resemble the rehearsal.