Five rehearsal techniques that will transform your next talk

In The King’s Speech (2010), the future George VI faces a tough assignment: deliver Britain’s first wartime radio address in a live studio–despite a lifelong stammer.

If you’re a new or anxious speaker, rehearsal is your best friend.

When I say rehearsal, I mean standing up, speaking out loud as if the audience was in front of you (as demonstrated in the video).

If you’re like most people, rehearsal can feel awkward or forced, but if you’re serious about getting good, you need to get over that. 

Being awkward in practice increases your chances of being calm in performance.

Here are five rehearsal techniques that will transform your next talk:

Memorise a few ‘life-lines’

Arm yourself with lines you can deploy if you stumble or lose your place. Here are a few I use often:

• “Let me say that again.”

• “The point is—”

• “Put simply—”

During rehearsal, practise inserting one of these phrases after a stumble. They will help you regain control and avoid using filler words (“um,” “ah,” “sorry”).

Set time goals to prevent rushing

Most people speak too fast when they’re nervous. To combat this, do the following: 

1. Time yourself reading your talk out loud slowly. Take note of the time it takes to read each section. Your goal is to set an optimal pace for your talk (and yes…it’s slower than you think). You should come away from this exercise with a time goal for each section. For example:

• Intro 0:45

• Point one 3:00

• Point two 3:30

• Close 0:35
  

(If in doubt, film yourself and watch the footage to sense-check your time goals). 

2. When you come to rehearse, aim to hit the time goal for each section. It’s this level of intentionality that will embed an internal clock within you, so that when it comes to the actual presentation, you’ll know what the optimal pace feels like.

   
   

Note: I still encourage clients to set their pace 10-20% slower during the actual presentation because our internal gauge becomes less reliable when nerves kick in.

Rehearse your opening until it’s automatic

The opening of a talk or presentation is when nerves are at their highest and bad habits appear: fillers, fidgety hands, swaying, nervous laughing etc. 

Here’s the fix: rehearse the first 20–30 seconds until it’s automatic: words, breaths, first gestures. 

Memorising your opening helps you start strongly which sets you up for success for the rest of the presentation. 

Side note: Memorisation in this context is good. Aside from your opening few lines (and potentially your closing few lines) it’s best not to memorise a script. Otherwise you can come across as mechanical in your delivery and you can run into trouble if you lose your place. Instead, use notes with keywords or sentence starters, not full sentences. 

Annotate your speaker notes

On your condensed printed notes, write:

• “/” for breaths

• “//” for full pauses

• Underline stress words or phrases

• Etc.

By rehearsing with annotated notes, you’ll avoid a common mistake of allowing nerves to dictate how the presentation is delivered.  

Rehearse ideas in isolation and out of order

If you only ever practise from the beginning of your talk, your opening is going to get really good (as it should), but your later sections may seem weak by comparison.

Target weak sections first, then shuffle the order. You’ll improve faster and you won’t rely on one fixed sequence. (I can’t count how many times I have been grateful I have known my material well enough to jump around when needed). 

It’s through watching this brilliant scene from The King’s Speech, that you realise King George VI didn’t overcome his stammer ‘on air,’ he beat it in rehearsal. 

So, ahead of your next talk, ensure you:

• Memorise a few “life-lines” to help you recover from a stumble

• Set time limits/goals to prevent rushing or going over time

• Rehearse your opening until it’s automatic

• Annotate your speaker notes with delivery cues.

• Rehearse ideas in isolation and out of order