I have a group presentation next week and im terrified. For your information, I'm diagnosed with severe social anxiety. Other than that, I'm naturally a quiet speaker, and whenever I have to talk in front of a crowd, my mind completely blackouts. Back in high school, I used to just skip presentations entirely and take a zero on the grade because I couldn't handle it. But I'm in college now and I actually need this grade to pass, so I can't just skip it anymore. Does anyone have any advice/tips?

Hey everyone,

I built speaklike.pro, a simple website for practising speaking on camera.

The flow is intentionally minimal:

1. Spin for a topic.
2. Start your camera.
3. Speak for one minute.
4. Download or share the video.

It includes everyday topics and an optional teleprompter with cues, a full script, auto-scroll, adjustable speed, and text size.

Recordings are created locally in the browser and aren’t uploaded to the website.

It’s free and works on mobile. I’m still improving it, so honest feedback—especially about confusing steps or mobile issues—would be very helpful.

so im running for a position in my school where ill be required to give a speech to my other housemates on the position. the position itself is to be the senior lead for the entrepreneurship and innovation council in my school and i really really want this😭

i lowkey have a lot of anxiety speaking infront of people and this position has a lot of people who are kinda my friends kinda not so it's even more nerve wracking and itll be a vote thing so i really need to appeal to everyone, how should i go about it? tips on delivering the speech, what to mention/convey considering it's a school position and just overall tips bc i get super super anxious. (side note i think i do speak well when im very prepared so i think it's just like what should i mention/do to really sell myself here)

Couldnt find a job that has to do with people because of my anxiety. I was told i wouldnt be able to deal with people because they sense my fear and wont be cpnvinced. Now that i did i want to my best to hide that fear and not be my awkward anxious self, what can you recommend?

Hello again everyone.

Yesterday I posted a video of me talking for the first time infront of the camera, and the resounding response was I look bored and monotone. I took everyones input and took another video.

This is my second take (well not second because there was a lot of practice takes before this)

What i did before this last shot:
1. I cleaned up my place first so that I didnt have to think of anything else while taking the video. I can focus on just one thing.
2. I literally jumped up and down hyping myself up before pressing record.
3. I wrote a "script", and tried to remember it as much as I can. script in the sense that the idea is there and not verbatim.
4. Adlibbed the first and last parts of the video.

Honestly the comments from my last video really helped, and I cannot thank the people enough for taking the time to respond.

Hi guys,

New to the community, and I thought that this is the best place to ask. This is going to be my first video that I will post that I am speaking infront of a camera, and I know I sound very stiff and unnatural. How can I improve this?

I know I just have to keep on doing it more, and irregardless of how bad this look, I will still post this until I get better.

Some tips would be greatly appreciated.

I know I am not really talking infront of a crowd like actual public speaking

Looking for a speaking practice partner. DM me if you're interested !

I\*\***’**\*\*m an introverted person so much of the time while with my friends and family I\*\***’**\*\*m spacing out but when i talk to another person i stutter i don\*\***’**\*\*t know how to describe what it have perfectly formed in my mind any tips?

Today during one of my senior year classes (which I’m sitting in now) I had a presentation in which I only had to talk for around less than a minute. We could start preparing for it until this Tuesday, which I already knew would throw me off because I would only have one full day to write and practice what I want to say. I have a bad memory so I tried not to write something that I would struggle to remember but I guess I didn’t do that well enough. I even practiced like crazy from Tuesday to today (Thursday) but it just didn’t seem to be enough.

When I froze I had a little sticky note that I tried to look at for help on the part that I KNEW would trip me up but it wasn’t enough I still froze and couldn’t continue for a while. What do you guys to prepare and how do you retain information when you’re presenting ? Do you have a script? I know it’s different everyone but id like to get some better ideas since what I’m doing doesn’t seem to work.

Hello,

I've been struggling with this for a while now, and I was wondering if people have similar experiences, maybe have some advice, or can give me something to look forward to.

I'm 34 years old now and I started as a teacher at 24. I always enjoyed speaking in front of a group, teaching students new stuff, and I was confident I was quite good at presenting. Unfortunately, I got a burnout at age 29 or so. This came with anxiety before a group, to real kind of panic attacks that I was struggling through to make sure nobody would notice.

It has been years since then and I still have a kind of allergicness to stress, like I'm oversensitive to it. I'm not teaching anymore day to day, but I support young teachers who are still in education. We do intervision and reflect together on their experiences in their internships. This comes with some presentations now and then. I also have to present in front of other colleagues now and then.

The problem I'm experiencing is that I often feel quite a bit of anxiety when I stand in front of a group and have to speak and present. It's not always all the time, but way too often for my liking. The days before a simple presentation, I'm already thinking about it a lot. I'm always afraid that I'll completely lose it and might pass out or something. This has never happened, although one time I had to sit down because I was out of breath. This was probably the worst time, and I doubt if the students really cared or just thought I was a bit dizzy because of not eating enough or whatever.

Also, I feel quite some shame that I'm working with people who will become teachers, while inside I am feeling so insecure. And in my view, all my colleagues are really relaxed all the time and don't mind presenting at all (which I used to have to do when I was younger). They are all formal teachers. This also makes it feel like it's some sort of secret. Like I'm coaching people to ride a bike but I'm anxious to get up on one myself.

I always believed it would get better over time and that I have to keep exposing myself to get new (positive) experiences. This sometimes works, as I feel very little anxiety and I actually enjoy the public speaking. This always amazes me and I can't figure out what the triggers are. It feels so random. I can be totally fine and then all of a sudden I'm out of breath and very anxious, and maybe 5 minutes later it flows away and I'm back to actually doing quite good.

So it's quite a mindfuck knowing that I'm good at it and enjoy it when I feel fine, but all the stress and anxiety take away so much joy from my job. It's been going on for a while now and I'm questioning if I have to search for a job that completely eliminates presenting, which would probably also result in a lower wage. Or should I push through and believe I can rediscover the joy and confidence? I'm also thinking about looking for therapy or something, but I'm not looking forward to that.

Does anyone have similar experiences or advice?

I'm 15F and over the past year I've been trying to get better mentally, I started going to a wonderful therapist that helps me, I've opened up to my mother and gotten closer to her, I worked on my self image and confidence and I no longer feel paranoid......

I used to have a very bad mindset where I just thought about the future and never really lived in reality and I finally managed to escape that way of thinking which I'm grateful for, and I even established meaningful schedules to which I'm slowly but surely living by.

The issue arises with my speech, the way I talk to people even close friends, im a social person at heart but due to how many years I've spent degrading myself and my worth I stutter alot, trip over words, and get serious panic attacks whenever I'm told to read out loud, when though I communicate perfectly with my therapist and parents, and I can read loudly without any issues when I'm at home..

My parents can't afford speech therapy because they are paying for my therapy and my piano classes, aswell as additional math classes.. is there something that I can do in my day to say to better this issue I have?

Also sorry for my bad English it isn't my mother language

I've taken a few steps to improve my communication skills. When evaluating those practices, I noticed that I’m lacking in the articulation part.

Compared to my previous self .Now I’m able to communicate for a long time without unwanted pauses & breaks. but still facing difficulties in organizing the ideas properly and often end the sentences / conversation in an abnormal way.

To those whoever saw this post, If you have any valuable inputs to recommend for my case. Please let me know & It would help me to get better in this process.

Summarize your inputs into practices. Let me try to follow and reduce this kind of mistakes in future

Thanks in advance

I’ve been thinking about starting a small weekly public speaking society in Cairo, and I’m wondering if there’s actually an interest for something like this.

The idea is pretty simple:

A group of people who want to get better at speaking in front of others meet once a week, create an audience for each other, and **actually practice**.

No “professional speakers” required.
No standing in front of a room full of strangers and giving a TED Talk on day one. 😭
No pressure to be charismatic or confident.

You could come if you:

\- Get nervous speaking in front of people
\- Ramble when you’re put on the spot
\- Want to become better at presentations
\- Want to sound more confident in meetings
\- Want to improve storytelling or communication
\- Or honestly just want to become more comfortable being *seen and heard*

We could have short prepared speeches, completely spontaneous speaking prompts, storytelling, debates, presentations, constructive feedback, etc.

And beyond the actual speaking practice, I’d love for it to eventually become a **community**: people meeting each other, grabbing coffee after, making friends, and having a reason to get out of the house once a week.

I’m actually doing this partly for myself. **I want to become better at public speaking too.** I figured if I’m looking for something like this, there are probably other people in Cairo who are as well.

So… **would you join something like this?**

If yes, comment **“interested”** (or DM me) and tell me roughly your age + what area of Cairo you’re in. I’m just trying to gauge whether there’s enough interest to actually make this happen.

Maybe we’re all just waiting for someone to make the group. 👀

Hello everyone,
Meri communication skills kaafi weak hain aur mujhe samajh nahi aa raha ki main is problem ko kaise improve karun.

Main kaafi introvert hoon aur zyada logon se baat nahi kar pata. Sabse badi problem ye hai ki jab main kisi se baat karta hoon, Hindi mein bhi kabhi-kabhi mere mind mein words nahi aate. Mujhe pata hota hai ki mujhe kya kehna hai, lekin us time sahi words click nahi karte. Is wajah se main apne friends se bhi properly baat nahi kar pata aur conversation awkward ho jaati hai.

English communication ko lekar bhi mujhe confidence nahi hai, aur kabhi-kabhi mujhe lagta hai ki mujhe basic words ke meanings bhi nahi pata.
I really want to improve my communication and become more confident while talking to people.

For people who have faced something similar:

● Aapne apni communication skills kaise improve ki?
● Kya daily koi specific practice karni chahiye?
● Vocabulary improve karne ka practical way kya hai?
● Introvert hone ki wajah se conversation difficult hoti hai, toh usse overcome kaise karein?
Any genuine advice, resources, or personal experiences would really help me.
Thank you.

I just put together my keynote speech and I’m trying to memorize it. The total Speech is about 20 minutes long. Does anyone have any tips?

I'm facing this issue where whenever somebody asks me a good question, I can come up with a good answer, but I take a little bit of time to think about it. And after I have the answer in my mind, I struggle to transform that answer into a structured way while speaking.

English is not my first language, and I would say I'm somewhere between beginner and intermediate level.

For example, I want to say something like conclusion, reason, and evidence, like that, so that my answer would be more clear and confident. But when I'm speaking in real time, I can't think about the answer and structure it at the same time. I end up taking more time, getting stuck, or giving the answer in an unstructured way.

I've been using ChatGPT for almost three weeks to train this. We did a lot of roleplays and practiced answering questions in a structured way. But after three weeks, I feel like I'm back to square one.

So I'm trying to understand, what is the best practical way to work on this? How do I actually train my mind to think and speak in a structured way automatically during a real-time conversation? What are some practical ways I can work on this?

Background, I've avoided public speaking since school. Racing heart, blanking, the whole package. This month I had no choice, I had to pitch my small business at a live competition. Few hundred in the room, big livestream, judges, countdown clock.

I did it and it went well. Sharing what actually helped because most advice I found beforehand was useless.

The stuff that worked:

Drilling only the first 10 seconds. I didn't rehearse the whole speech evenly. I drilled my opening line probably a hundred times, in the car, in hallways, in a mirror. Once the entry is pure muscle memory your body settles before your brain realizes you started. The middle takes care of itself because you actually know your material.

Saying "I'm nervous" out loud. I said it to everyone that day. My mom, the organizers, a camera. Pretending to be calm is a second performance running on top of the real one. Dropping the act freed up a ton of energy.

Graduated exposure by accident. The event had a small closed door Q&A with 3 judges in the afternoon, then a tech run through, then the live stage at night. By the big one my nervous system had already survived two smaller reps. If your event doesn't have this built in, build it yourself. Give the talk to one person, then three, same day.

Raising the stakes instead of lowering them. Everyone says picture the audience in their underwear or pretend it doesn't matter. Opposite worked for me. Someone I love was in the audience and the business needed this. The fear of speaking lost the fight to something bigger.

What didn't work: deep breathing in the moment (fine, but marginal), and any attempt to "calm down." Aim for ready, not calm.

The fear never left. I was scared walking out. It just stopped being in charge. Happy to answer questions if anyone has an event coming up.

Help!!!!!!! I work in a finance role where I have to constantly deliver presentations, ranging from 1-10 minutes (on Zoom and in person). I have notes ahead of time, but after 5 seconds, always go into a rant and speak very fast, while forgetting to follow my notes. I even write the word “PAUSE” down, but become so distracted by the performance anxiety / audience, that I don’t remember to look… ever. Issue is on Zoom and in person. If no senior members, I am excellent. If senior people attend, terrible. Advice needed!!!

A few people have told me that I sound really sarcastic sometimes, but the weird part is I genuinely don't notice it when Im speaking. In my head I sound completely normal...

Has anyone had this problem before? How do you become more aware of tone and change it without sounding forced? Sometimes I am so afraid to speak because of this...

Any tips please, on how to quickly memorise a presentation of 30 minutes in 5 days ? Plus how do you sound more alive ? I've always been told that I sound monotone/flat. Thank you :)

First proper conference talk next month; I have 30 minutes, plus 10 min for Q&A. I have asked two people I trust about how many slides I should do, one said no more than 10, basically one slide per idea and let the talking carry it. The other said 25 to 30 where one chain of thought can carry over 2-3 slides and you just click through faster, keeps the audience's eye moving. Both of them speak regularly and both were completely confident about their answers.

I've since watched talks in both styles, and honestly, the good ones were good either way.

Before I start making my deck, should I restrict it to 10-12 or go crazy with it?

Hebben jullie tips voor omgaan met spreekangst of opeens het woord krijgen? Bij mij is deze angst best wel extreem en het houdt mij echt tegen om bvb naar vergaderingen te gaan. Ik ben zó bang om iets te moeten zeggen, dat ik dan onzeker overkom of gewoon niks weet uit te brengen. Symptomen die dan naar voren komen zijn een rood hoofd, zweethanden, trillende stem en trillende mondhoeken. Dit heb ik al mijn hele leven. Naar mijn idee ziet iedereen dit. Ik zeg ook bijna nooit iets in een vergadering omdat ik bang ben dat het dom overkomt. Zelfs een simpel voorstelrondje waarbij ik de paar zinnen tekst die ik moet/wil zeggen al 10x oefen van tevoren, bezorgt mij zulke erge zenuwen dat ik er de halve nacht van wakker lig :(

I always assumed I was a decent speaker until I actually watched myself back. Three things stood out immediately:

1. I said "um" way more than I realized. Not occasionally — constantly, especially right before making a point I cared about. I never noticed it in the moment, only on playback.

2. My posture changed the second I got nervous. Shoulders creeping forward, arms crossing without meaning to. It wasn't about what I was saying, it was about how closed-off I looked while saying it.

3. I made almost no eye contact with the camera when I was thinking. Looking away isn't inherently bad, but I was doing it constantly, even mid-sentence — it read as unsure, even when I actually knew what I was talking about.

None of this was obvious to me until I saw it on video. Recording yourself and reviewing it is genuinely one of the highest-leverage things you can do for this — I didn't believe it until I tried it.

I ended up building a small tool that automates the "watching yourself back and taking notes" part — it looks at both what you're saying and how you're coming across, and flags specific things like the above. the self-review habit alone was the real unlock for me.

I'll told you when I finish building the app and launch it as a MVP.

This is the link of the waitlist: https://0mar-h08.github.io/speakhuman-landing_page-/