Public Speaking Tips: Why Presence Matters More Than Perfection
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Over the years, I’ve given a lot of talks, workshops and interviews – and at some point, I also gave a TED Talk. I prepared especially intensively for that one. And when people ask me today what really makes a difference in public speaking, my answer is surprisingly simple: It’s much less about knowing more. It’s about presence. Because let’s be honest: If you’re speaking on stage about your own area of expertise, your knowledge usually isn’t the problem. You’ve probably worked in your field for years. You know your subject. You talk to clients about it all the time and have likely explained what you do hundreds of times. You don’t suddenly need to become smarter when you step onto a stage. You need to learn how to make the knowledge you already have present.
That’s what these public speaking tips are about: not delivering the perfect speech, but becoming more confident on stage, using your voice intentionally and learning how to keep going even when things don’t go exactly as planned.
1. A confident presence starts with your feet
It sounds almost too simple, but this is one of the most important public speaking tips for me: Pay attention to how you stand.
Keep both feet firmly on the ground. Stand in a stable position. Distribute your weight evenly. Keep an upright posture. And most importantly, avoid constantly shifting your weight from one leg to the other or nervously pacing around the stage.
Your body needs a foundation.
Toastmasters International also recommends a stable stance and intentional rather than nervous movements when it comes to using body language and gestures in public speaking.
Of course, that doesn’t mean you have to stand completely still. You’re allowed to move. You can use your hands, your arms and the space around you. The point is to make your movements feel intentional rather than like a physical outlet for nervous energy.
The same applies to what you wear. If you feel great in high heels, wear them. If flat shoes make you feel more grounded and secure, they might be the better choice.
You don’t have to conform to some imaginary perfect speaker aesthetic.
The goal is to feel physically secure.
Personally, yoga helped me develop a much better awareness of my body and posture. Of course, you don’t need to start doing yoga to become a better speaker.
The important point is this: Your posture isn’t only something your audience sees. It’s something you feel.
Pro Tip: I highly recommend Power Posing. Listen to Amy Cuddy's Ted Talk about this technique.
2. Your voice is your most important instrument
When we’re nervous, something very typical tends to happen: We speak faster. We might become quieter, swallow the ends of words or speak less clearly.
But your voice is one of your most important tools on stage.
I like to think of it in the same way musicians think about their instruments: You can train it.
Of course, working with a speaking coach can help. Back then, however, I didn’t have the opportunity to work with one.
So I sang.
It was really that simple. I chose powerful songs and sang them out loud.
Not because I wanted to become a singer. And definitely not because it had to sound particularly good.
The purpose was to consciously activate my voice and physically experience something I wasn’t necessarily used to:
My voice is allowed to be loud.
My voice is allowed to take up space.
I am allowed to be heard.
It’s also worth getting to know your individual speaking patterns.
Do you speak too quickly? Practise slowing down.
Do you mumble? Focus on articulation.
Do you swallow the ends of words? Exaggerate them while practising.
You don’t need to completely change your voice.
You need to get to know it.
3. Allow yourself to take up space
There’s one idea I find particularly important when talking about public speaking, especially for women:
You are allowed to take up space.
And I don’t just mean that metaphorically.
You are allowed to take up physical space. Stand tall. Move around the stage. Use your hands and arms.
You are allowed to take up space with your voice. Your voice can be present and powerful.
And you are allowed to take up time.
As someone who naturally speaks very quickly, I know the feeling of wanting to get to the point as fast as possible. You don’t want to take up too much of other people’s time. Maybe somewhere in the back of your mind you’re even thinking, “They probably want me to hurry up.”
But why?
People are sitting there because they came to hear your talk. If you have 20 minutes, you’re allowed to use those 20 minutes.
You are allowed to finish a thought.
You are allowed to pause.
You are allowed to let a sentence land.
One of my most important public speaking tips is therefore to pay attention to whether there might be more behind your speaking speed than simple habit.
Maybe it’s nervousness. Maybe you’re naturally a fast speaker. But perhaps there’s also a belief underneath it that you shouldn’t take up too much space.
4. If you speak quickly, practise being slow
Here’s an exercise for fast speakers that can feel almost ridiculous at first:
Speak more slowly than feels natural to you.
If you normally speak very quickly, a perfectly normal pace may already feel painfully slow.
And when you intentionally slow down even further, you might think:
“This is unbearable.”
There’s a good chance your audience doesn’t feel that way at all.
Especially at conferences, people are taking in huge amounts of information. They need time to listen, process ideas and connect them with what they already know.
Give them that time.
And learn to tolerate pauses.
One second of silence often feels much longer to the person standing on stage than it does to the audience.
When you consciously slow down, articulate your words and allow for pauses, you’re not just changing your speaking speed.
You’re changing your presence.
5. Notice your filler words – without becoming obsessed with them
Um. So. Basically. Kind of.
We all have speaking habits.
One simple way to discover yours is to record yourself. It could be a practice presentation, an interview, a podcast or simply a two-minute voice recording.
Then listen not only to what you say, but to how you say it.
Which filler words do you use repeatedly? Where do you suddenly speed up? Where do you mumble? Where could you pause?
But don’t turn this into another exercise in perfectionism.
The occasional “um” isn’t going to ruin your presentation. Humans don’t naturally speak like perfectly edited news anchors.
However, if you notice that the same filler word appears in almost every other sentence and starts distracting from your message, you can consciously work on reducing it.
Developing that level of self-awareness is much more valuable in the long run than memorising ten different communication rules and trying to remember all of them while you’re on stage.
6. Right before your talk: Stop learning
This is probably one of my most important public speaking tips.
If you’ve prepared, you’ve prepared.
You don’t need to stare at your notes five seconds before walking onto the stage and desperately try to squeeze one more sentence into your brain.
At some point, you need to leave your brain alone.
Put on some music. Move your body. Walk around. Breathe. Do something that gets you out of that tense “I’m about to perform” mindset.
Because something often happens when we prepare for an important talk:
“I want to tell people something interesting”
slowly turns into
“I have to perform perfectly for the next 20 minutes.”
Those are two very different mindsets.
Professional preparation matters. Toastmasters International also highlights the importance of preparation, a clear core message and understanding your audience when preparing for a presentation.
But there comes a point when more preparation no longer makes you more prepared.
Prepare well.
Then trust your preparation.
7. Script or freestyle? Both can work
You can write out your entire presentation.
You can work with bullet points.
Or you can combine both approaches.
Find out what makes you feel most comfortable and secure.
There is, however, one thing I find particularly important:
Don’t confuse your script with your actual talk.
If you phrase a sentence differently on stage than you planned, it doesn’t matter.
If you explain an idea differently from the way you rehearsed it at home, it doesn’t matter.
If you forget a particular phrase, it doesn’t matter either.
Nobody in the audience knows your original script.
Only you do.
Which means you’re probably the only person in the room who even notices that you’ve deviated from it.
8. What if your mind goes completely blank?
One of the biggest fears around public speaking is probably that moment when you suddenly think:
“Shit. What was I going to say?”
And then we often do something counterproductive: We desperately try to retrieve that exact missing thought.
The stress increases – and suddenly it isn’t just one sentence that’s gone. Your entire mind feels blank.
My advice?
Let the thought go.
Repeat your previous point. Summarise what you’ve just said. Create a transition. Move on to your next idea.
Your audience doesn’t know what you were going to say.
Imagine a ballet dancer who makes a small mistake during a performance. She knows exactly that something went wrong. But most people in the audience don’t know the original choreography.
Speaking on stage is similar.
You know the mistake happened.
Your audience only knows the presentation you actually give.
One of the most liberating public speaking tips is therefore to stop constantly comparing your real performance with the perfect version that exists only in your head.
Just keep going.
9. What if someone asks a question you can’t answer?
I know this situation very well.
I once did a radio interview where I was asked questions that genuinely made me think:
“I have absolutely no idea what I’m supposed to say to that.”
Situations like these teach you something important: Being confident doesn’t mean having the perfect answer to every possible question within three seconds.
You can say that something falls outside your area of expertise.
You can pick up on one aspect of the question that you can contribute to.
You can ask the person to clarify what they mean.
Or you can explain what you do know about a closely related topic.
The important thing is:
Stay in the conversation.
Not being able to spontaneously retrieve every piece of information in the world doesn’t make you less competent.
10. The first few minutes are often the hardest
Before a workshop or presentation, I can be incredibly nervous.
But by now I also know:
Once I start speaking, I usually settle into it.
The first few minutes are often the hardest. Your body has to adjust to the situation. The adrenaline is there. Everyone is looking at you. You may suddenly become hyper-aware of the sound of your own voice.
And then something happens.
You talk.
You get into your topic.
You realise that you know what you’re talking about.
And suddenly it becomes easier.
So before a 30-minute talk, I try not to tell myself:
“Oh God, I have to stand on this stage for 30 minutes.”
Instead, I tell myself:
“I just have to start.”
The rest will follow.
11. Nervousness is not your enemy
I wouldn’t even try to eliminate nervousness completely.
For me, a certain amount of nervousness is simply part of public speaking.
It gives you energy. It makes you alert. It shows that the moment matters to you.
So the goal doesn’t necessarily have to be:
“I must not be nervous.”
A more helpful mindset can be:
“I can be nervous and still do this.”
If you notice your thoughts speeding up before your talk, it can also help to consciously bring your attention back to your body.
Feel your feet on the ground. Relax your shoulders. Breathe slowly.
Not because you need to magically eliminate every trace of nervousness within 30 seconds.
But because you’re giving yourself a physical signal:
I’m here.
I’m standing.
I’m breathing.
I can begin.
12. And then comes the worst part: Afterwards
I still don’t have the perfect solution for this one.
That feeling immediately after a presentation:
“Oh God. What did I just say?”
The audience tells you:
“That was great!”
And you think:
“Are you sure?”
I still know that feeling, even after years of speaking.
The problem is that we know the version of the presentation that existed in our heads.
We know what we actually wanted to say. We remember the sentence we would have phrased differently. We remember those two seconds when we briefly lost our train of thought.
The audience doesn’t know that version.
They only experienced the talk you actually gave.
Of course, reflecting afterwards can be useful. What worked? What would you change next time? What did you learn?
But there is a big difference between constructive reflection and spending an hour mentally dissecting every sentence you said.
Not every tiny imperfection is a problem that needs to be “fixed” before your next talk.
13. Trust what is already there
This is probably the most important of all my public speaking tips.
If you’ve worked in your field for ten or twenty years, you don’t suddenly need to relearn your own expertise before giving a presentation.
You know it.
You talk about it.
You’ve gained experience.
You’ve solved problems.
You’ve probably explained the exact ideas you’re about to share on stage hundreds of times before.
That knowledge is already there.
You don’t need to control every sentence.
You don’t need to be perfect.
You don’t need to answer every question perfectly.
You don’t need to say exactly what you wrote down beforehand.
And you don’t need to feel completely confident before you begin.
What you need is a stable stance, a voice that is allowed to take up space, trust in your own expertise – and the willingness to keep going when something doesn’t go according to plan.
Because public speaking isn’t the art of never making a mistake.
It’s the art of continuing with confidence when you do.