r/SpeakBetter

​

I’m a college student and recently I suggested a classroom learning idea to my professor.

The idea was that students could study a topic beforehand, and then some class time could be used for discussion, participation and short student presentations. My main goal was to improve communication, public speaking and practical learning, rather than focusing only on marks.

I’m one of the top students in my class, and I genuinely feel that college should help us develop these skills too.

What happened

At the end of class, my professor was taking attendance. Two sections were combined, so quite a few students were around.

I suddenly said, “Ma’am, I need to talk to you for a minute.” She asked me to continue, but I said I wanted to talk privately.

I went outside and tried twice to find a private moment, but it didn't happen. I was extremely nervous, my heart was racing, and I was seriously considering just dropping the idea.

Then I thought, “I've already approached her twice. I have to say it now.”

So I explained the whole idea in front of the few students who were still around.

She listened, although I don't think she understood the exact model I had imagined. I also told her that many students hesitate to speak and that this could help with presentations and communication.

She said we could perhaps do something like this in the last 5–10 minutes of class, so she basically accepted the concept, although not exactly in the form I had imagined.

Now I'm worried about the reaction

Three guys who were around me afterwards heard the conversation, and the information has already spread.

I know that once the activity actually starts, everyone will probably figure out that I suggested it.

My concern is that some students—especially those who aren't interested in this kind of participation or skill development—might blame me:

“Why did you have to suggest this?”

I obviously can't go around explaining my reasoning to 70 people individually.

One of my classmates actually told me, “You're the class topper, you think differently from most of us,” and after I explained my reasoning, he agreed that communication and presentation skills will be useful later.

But I still can't stop worrying about the negative reaction.

So I want an honest opinion:

Did I do the right thing by speaking up despite the awkward situation and the possibility of being blamed?

Would you have said something in that situation, or waited for a better opportunity?

And now that I've already done it, how should I deal with it if some classmates actually blame me?

I’m especially interested in opinions from people who have been in similar college/classroom situations.

Hi good people,

I am an ambitious technology professional looking to increase my impact and network and also perform a quantum leap in my personal development journey (what's more quantum than going from introvert and shy to speaking in conferences).

I have done speeches via Zoom a lot of times (I have a contract with a university) and people praise me for the engagement I can bring to the speeches. Apart from some brown bags between friends, family or teammates at work I have never spoken in a physical public setting with strangers.

So what is more normal than joining a Toastmaster club? First meeting, they bring me up for an impromptu speech and they ask me to talk about myself. I am pretty good at explaining things about my profession or areas I am passionate about. But speaking about myself? Meh...

Impromptu speeches are challenging themselves, let alone how my difficulty speaking about myself. So I blacked-out and even though I persisted for the whole minute and didnt bail, it was the worst speech I could give. I rewind it in my mind and it was a compilation of absolute nonsense, to the degree I believe I am an inside joke for the "old gang" of the club.

I now feel like, even doing an icebreaker presentation in Toastmasters, is a giant task and I have not even opened my learning path. Let alone speaking in the conferences I am targeting. Speaking on camera though? Not a problem baby, I just delivered one today.

Any help, tips, hints, baby-talking or sincere yelling etc is appreciated. :)

P.S: I have recently started speaking to my phone camera and watching myself. I am NOT freaking out, looks pretty normal. I dont know if it says something or if it is irrelevant

Hey guys,

I noticed that I started fumbling words and not articulating properly while speaking to someone like I will be using unrelated words and using word irrespective of their tenses...

I don't know why it happens but I been very confident and fluent for last 2 weeks all of the sudden I will lose the flow and this is not the first time it happened to me so many times...

If there is a problem or any advice for it please help

Heyy there!!! Im 18 y old posting because I want to improve my communication skills and don't know how so I want friends who would help me learn communication skills because I m so exhausted like whenever I make friends online or talk to anybody irl I mostly dk what to say.

I’m 25, in New York. For a long time the gap between what I wanted to say and what I actually said was the biggest thing shaping my life, and I never told anyone, because saying “I’m lonely” out loud felt worse than being lonely.
I’m trying to understand that gap properly — not the advice-thread version, the real version. And I’ve realized I only know my own.
So here’s the whole question:
What’s a moment you still think about where you wanted to say or do something with someone — and didn’t?
Recent or ten years ago. Tiny or huge. The party you left early, the coworker you never spoke to, the friend you didn’t text back, the person on the train. I want the specific one. The one that replays.
And if you’re up for it: what did you tell yourself right after? That part I’m most curious about, because I think the story we tell ourselves in the next ten seconds is the whole thing.
One line is completely fine. Throwaways are fine. Don’t clean it up — I’d rather have the messy version than the articulate one.
Straight with you: I’m building something in this space. There’s no link, nothing to sign up for, and I’m not going to slide into your DMs with a pitch. I’m at the stage where I’d rather understand the moment than build another feature nobody asked for.
If you’d rather talk than type, I’ll take ten minutes on a call or a voice note whenever you want. Just say so.
I’ll reply to every single comment.

I’m a marketer and nervous about public speaking. I’ve got a short presentation coming up and would love some professional help. Budget is about $50/50 min. I’ve only seen PrePly but wanted to see what else is out there.

Thank you!

I’m 30. Been stuttering since my mid teens.

It has always been there, I’ve had phases that were terrible and others where I barely stuttered. For some odd reason when I went to college in a new city yeaaars ago I BARELY STUTTERED. I use to even volunteer to go first in class presentations. I just had this confidence, I would actively start conversations and had no fear of stuttering.

I think.. heavy on the “I think” why my stuttering greatly decreased was the fact that I would converse soo much. Had many friends in many classes, group assignments, friends to hang out with outside of school. I was just in environments where I was talking a lot and I guess my confidence in speaking grew because I was speaking fluently successfully.

Now

I can go weeks sometimes where the only times I talk are when I’m ordering food or calling family or just random stuff but I don’t actually TALK that much these days.

I think that’s what makes it worse. When I don’t train my brain or mouth or whatever causes stuttering by actually talking, it gets worse. Whereas when I’m talking more, my fluency improves.

Idk if this is a rant or advice seeking. Maybe it’s both

The main reason I’m writing this is because I recently got a job and wooaaah I’ve been stuttering too much. Almost every other sentence. It could even be a 2 word sentence haha.

When people say just slow down and and say it slow. I mean how slow can you say 2 words? And still stutter.

Anyways I was having lunch with a few of my coworkers and was stuttering in every sentence at least once. I didn’t really care though because they already know I stutter haha.

THEN I saw this really attractive coworker who I haven’t met yet walking over to come join us for lunch, so before she even got close. I told the boys I’m out and said bye.

The only ONLY reason I left at that exact moment was because I didn’t want to talk and stutter in front of her.
Please don’t tell me it’s fine and all that. I know it is. I know she probably wouldn’t have cared, we’re all adults. I quite literally just didn’t want to go through that experience.

This has been the story of my life far too many times. I want to speak to people, communicate, connect and bond. But I don’t. I keep my mouth shut or remove myself from the scenario because I know a pleasant conversation just won’t be pleasant if my stuttering every other sentence. It’s held me back from making and strengthening connections. Some people might just think I’m a nonchalant asshole haha

Anyways..

From the bits of research I’ve done I’ve heard that these work:
- Read aloud for 15 minutes everyday
- Try tongue twisters in different speeds everyday
- Record yourself and listen to yourself.

Do these actually work ?

I feel I get misunderstood often (all of my life). Some people have called me arrogant, some called me rude, someone said I need to learn to be diplomatic. However, on the plus side, I've also been called articulate, give good advice, intelligent, wise.

I am an honest person and I say what I mean and mean what I say. However, I think something goes wrong in the process of translating my thoughts into words.

Having these mixed reactions in my life, I feel now that I need to learn to improve my way of communicating with people. Through writing answers on Reddit, I am beginning to realise the way I structure things needs to to change. The thing I say last could be the 1st or 2nd thing, for example - rearrangements like that.

All I know is I just want to be better understood and what I can control is making myself more clearer. So how do I go about learning this?

i have a horrible problem with stumbling on my words and stuff ie ill be talking and i say something like so yester day i tried to open a par of jickles or ill be ordering food and i am reading the menue and i accidently order something i didnt even want.

Idea: record yourself talking for a minute, AI gives feedback on clarity, filler words, structure, confidence — like a fitness tracker for how you speak.

Would you actually use this daily, or is it another habit app you’d drop in a week? Already using something similar?

Honest takes welcome, even harsh ones.

Like, today during my presentation, I was confident so much, but just minutes before, i just forgot everything I had prepared,

Them , i fumbled so bad 😭, like ,i got so hyper, nervous, stuttering so much , broke the link and made my whole presentation a mess,

I am not Able to take that out of my head today, 😭,

I'm , feeling ashamed,

Asked one of my friends that , how was it , said okayish, other one says u were so hyper (nervous) , idk mahn , how do I forget it

I am not a native english speaker.

I fumble a lot in English.

I am practicing STAR for my interviews.

But I noticed this even when I deal with simpler questions.

ChatGPT advised me to practice Think > Deliver Sentence > THink > Deliver sentence method.

And once started - complete the sentence.

NEVER THINK OF IMPROVING SENTENCE.

This makes a lot of sense to me.

In my life I do try to improve everything, before finishing.

Now is this the right thing to do - Is there any frameworks that I should follow for this?

Are there anyone else fighting this issue.

My BF told me “your stories is Boring because it’s tall and you speaks slowly “

I think I have problem how can I fixed that

Hi, I'm in university and I cannot get over the fear of interviews. I just did a group interview today for a volunteering position, and I was left dejected by the end of it because I found it so hard to speak without stuttering or losing my train of thought. I felt humiliated because the other people in the group interview were very eloquent with the way they spoke and it just seemed like they had a lot more to say without getting nervous like me.

I want to improve so I don't get left behind my peers, and for once pass the interview stage. Any advice?

My articulation sucks.

Though I have done high impact projects, articulating this has been an issue.

Usually my answers end up in 3-4 minutes continuous talking without structure.

When we follow STAR method - whats the ideal duration of response? 1 minute or 2 minutes?

When I keep the answers detailed - its going above 3 minutes.

Should I cut down the details for the initial response and wait for follow ups?