38 Practice and Rehearse
Qing Mao
Rehearse your presentation to increase your confidence, familiarize yourself with your material, and polish your delivery.
What You’ll Learn:
- Why rehearsal helps
- How to rehearse effectively
What do you do when you prepare for an important job interview?
Why Rehearsal Helps
In his book Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell (2008) states that 10,000 hours of dedicated practice in your particular field is sufficient to make you an expert or master performer. In other words, we build expertise through practice.
Practising your speech will help ensure smooth, fluent, confident delivery.
Rehearse to improve fluency—to reduce/eliminate unnecessary content
When we are nervous, distracted, or at a loss for what comes next, it is easy to lean on filler words such as “um,” “ah,” and “you know.” However, if we start to overuse them, they can diminish our credibility and distract from our message.
Try the following tips to stay away from fillers.
Steve Jobs was a master presenter. According to the book Becoming Steve Jobs, “Steve would rehearse endlessly” (Schlender & Tetzeli, 2016).
| How to Reduce Fillers | |
|---|---|
| Get comfortable with silence (Communication Coach Alex Lyon, 2017) |
Pause to create silence moment to make the audience think. |
| Develop a new habit during practice (Communication Coach Alex Lyon, 2017) |
Practise out loud to hear the fillers and eliminate them |
| Record your rehearsal | Count how many filler words you include to become aware of them |
| Practise in a formal setting | Get feedback from your listeners |
Look at more ideas to reduce fillers here.
Rehearse to use tone and stress to emphasize, and to reduce monotone
As mentioned before, tone of voice and stress on certain words can serve as signposts for your audience. Use them to engage your audience and enhance your message.
Avoid monotone, which can cause your audience to lose interest.
| How to Get Rid of Monotone | ||
|---|---|---|
| Tone of Voice | Our tone of voice shows our concern for the audience. A monotone speaker can come across as boring even if the content is stimulating. | Speak loudly to grab the audience’s attention and drive your message home. Speak softly to engage the audience. Whispering and lowering your voice makes the audience think there is a secret being told. |
| Stress | Stress certain words. When you stress the right words in your presentation, it helps you get your points across with impact. | You can slow down your voice and emphasize the point or sentence you want to get across. Say it slowly to engage the audience. |
| Pace | An appropriate pace can give your speech rhythm and allow the audience to follow attentively. | Speaking too fast or too slowly will cause you to lose your audience. Slow down to engage the audience. Pause to allow your audience to think. |
Look at more ideas how to reduce monotone here.
Rehearse to build rapport—to make an emotional connection with the audience
By appealing to emotion, your speech can strike a sympathetic chord among your listeners.
There are many ways to use emotion in your presentation.
| How to Use Emotional Appeal | ||
|---|---|---|
| Tell a story | Storytelling is a powerful tool that sparks emotion, excitement, and anticipation while connecting to your audience and revealing something about yourself. | In the TED Talk “The Skill of Humor,” Andrew Tarvin starts with a story about his grandmother and himself. By telling a story, he successfully sends his message to the audience. Watch it here. |
| Describe a scene or a character | You can also describe a scene or a character that your audience relates to. Ask them to share their thoughts and experiences. | In the TED Talk “The Power of Zero Tolerance,” Isabelle Mercier mentions a state of mind that can kill creativity, performance, and dreams. The audience can closely relate to this situation: Many people worry about something every day. Watch it here. |
| Use humour, compassion, and empathy | Laughter is contagious. Use humour to entertain your audience by telling a joke or anecdote. Or inspire compassion in your audience by sharing personal experiences. | In the TED Talk “The Life-changing Power of Word,” Kristin Rivas, a hypnotherapist, recounts her journey from crippling mental illness following the death of her sister to healing and liberation. She manages to win compassion from the audience and make them feel her pain and joy. Watch it here. |
| Ask the right questions to make your audience think | Is there a hot topic that your audience wants to hear your opinion on? Raise a question on the topic and ask them to share their opinions. Encourage healthy debate. | In the TED Talk “After Watching This, Your Brain Will Not Be the Same,” Lara Boyd starts her talk with a couple of questions that everyone closely relates to: How do we learn? Why do some of us learn things more easily than others? Watch it here. |
Rehearse
Knowing your presentation thoroughly will help you rehearse to improvise if something doesn’t go according to plan, for example, if you are interrupted or face technological issues.
Rehearse to stay calm and confident
The more familiar you are with your material, the calmer and more confident you will be when delivering your speech.
How to Rehearse Effectively
(Information in this section adapted from “Rehearse Your Presentation,” n.d.)
Rehearse by yourself and with others
Record your rehearsal, so you can make adjustments. Then, rehearse to your friend or colleague and ask them for advice.
Time yourself
Reduce repetition and unnecessary details if necessary to finish speaking within your time limit.
Practise with your slideshow
Rehearse your talk using the visual aids you plan to use in your presentation. Make sure your speech is in line with your slides. Speak at a good pace, not too fast or too slowly. Ensure you don’t have too few or too many slides for the information you want to cover.
Look at more tips for rehearsing a presentation here.
You may also want to use a rehearsal tool to help you rehearse.
Try it!
Watch this TED Talk by Emily Esfahani Smith and give comments on the following aspects of the speech. The first comment is given as an example. Then compare your answers to the model.
Rehearsal is key step to giving a presentation. Rehearse with your visual aids to ensure you are prepared to deliver your speech.
