Top 5 Public Speaking Tips for Students: Excelling in Presentations and Team Reports

As a student, you may find yourself tasked with giving presentations or engaging in public speaking for internships or jobs. Effective communication is key to success, making it important to hone your skills in this area.

It's natural to feel nervous about public speaking, but there's no need to be afraid. With a few helpful tips, you can ensure that you deliver your university presentations or speeches with confidence and excellence.

Master the 3Ps of public speaking

The 3Ps of public speaking - prepare, practice, and perform - can help you successfully deliver your presentation or speech. Preparation involves tailoring your content to your audience. Practice can be done with someone you trust to provide constructive feedback or by recording and reviewing yourself. This allows you to improve eye contact, fluency of speech, tone of voice, and hand gestures. Finally, when it's time to perform, trust in your preparation and hard work, and enjoy the experience whether you're speaking in a classroom or on a larger stage.

Join a club at university

Enrolling in a club or society that interests you is not only a fantastic way to get involved with your university and meet new people, but it can also be great for developing your public speaking skills (and your English speaking skills, too!). 

You could become a part of the leadership team by taking on the role of president, vice president, treasurer or marketing director. This will increase your engagement with different kinds of people (such as your peers and university staff), making you a more fluent and confident communicator. As part of the leadership team, you may also be required to perform public speaking engagements from time to time, which allows you to continue developing your skills.

Join a public speaking group or course

If you’re wondering how to train in public speaking, there are plenty more opportunities outside your studies to improve your skills. Organisations like Rostrum and Toastmasters International run workshops on public speaking and leadership skills, and also let you interact with lots of different people – this builds your confidence as well as your network, and teaches you how to improve speaking in front of an audience.

You can also find smaller businesses offering training on public speaking for students, as well as plenty of groups and networking events on Meetup. Your education provider might also have some kind of public speaking or presentation training – ask the international student support unit to find out.

Be vocal and express your thoughts

During lectures, seminars and tutorials, you’re encouraged to express your thoughts and ideas – whether it’s with your peers or your lecturer or tutor. Speaking in class can help boost your confidence, while also contributing to your participation grades and making you stand out to your teachers. 

Being vocal about your ideas and discussing them with your classmates is another great way to get comfortable with public speaking. In any kind of workplace environment, you’ll be required to interact with other people in a professional manner. So, being able to do so while you’re still studying will put you ahead when you enter the workplace.

Try active listening

Presentations aren’t solely dependent on speaking about your thoughts and ideas; one of the most crucial parts is fielding questions. This is where you should carefully listen to the question and address it with an appropriate answer to show that you’ve properly heard what the person is asking. You can improve your active listening skills by getting your friends or family to ask you questions after your practice presentation. Then, you can try to answer as clearly as possible and even get them to give you feedback on your response.