Based on a video by Communication Coach Alexander Lyon.
Public speaking is the #1 ranked fear for most adults - more than spiders, heights, or dying. The good news: most of what makes a speaker bad is fixable in 6 small habits. Get these right and you'll be ahead of about 80% of people who present at work.
This walkthrough from Communication Coach Alexa is structured as 6 don'ts paired with the do version. Practice them on a 5-minute talk before your next real presentation - read your notes out loud, time yourself, watch the recording. Public speaking is a learnable skill, not a personality trait.
A speaker who weaves around is impossible to follow. Before you stand up, write out a clear introduction, 2-3 main points for the body, and a conclusion.
Add transition statements between each main point ('Now that we've covered X, let's look at Y'). Audiences remember structured talks; they tune out rambling ones. Most professionals over-prepare on content and under-prepare on structure - flip the ratio.
Don't look over heads, at the floor, at the ceiling, or scan the room. Look directly into one person's eyes long enough to finish a thought (a sentence or half-sentence), then move to the next person.
The rule of thumb: 'one thought, one look.' This feels awkward at first - do it anyway. Eye contact is what makes the audience feel spoken-to instead of spoken-at. Without it, you're a recording playing in the room.
Don't jam your notes or slides with everything you want to say - you'll end up locked to the page, sounding stiff and wooden, never looking up.
Whittle the notes down to talking points. A few keywords per main idea, like a grocery list. This forces you to look up, talk like a human, and connect with the audience instead of reciting. The bonus: when you trust yourself to talk to the topic, the talk improves.
Avoid jam-packed slides with complicated text and animations. Each slide should make ONE point clearly.
Rule of thumb: spend 2-3 minutes per slide max - if you're slower, your slides have too much. For a beginner talk, a few slides total is plenty. Slides supplement what you say; they don't replace it. The audience reads faster than you talk, so a wall of text guarantees disengagement.
Don't pace back and forth aimlessly or fidget with your hands, feet, or a pen. Stand still in one spot, share a chunk of your message, then move with purpose to a different spot and share another chunk.
Use your hands to emphasize ideas with deliberate gestures - don't tuck them in pockets or wring them. Confident posture changes how the audience receives you before you say a word.
Tip
Record yourself on your phone for a 3-minute practice talk. Watch it back without sound. Anywhere your hands or feet look distracting is something to fix.
Speak loud enough to reach the back of the room - aim your voice there even if no one's standing back. Emphasize key words with vocal energy.
Pause after a key idea instead of filling the silence with 'um' or 'uh.' A 2-second pause lands a thought. An 'um' undercuts it. Pauses also give you time to find your next sentence without panic. Most beginners are afraid of silence - the audience isn't.
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