Practice your speech, and then….get feedback!

Good for you for practicing your presentation before you have to give it.  This is certainly mandatory in order to enhance your confidence.

It is equally important to know if you are improving.

To find out, ask trusted colleagues or friends to sit in as you rehearse.  Let them know you are interested in getting their feedback.

But, here is an important point.  You need to guide them on how to give feedback.

For example, if you are working on eliminating filler words (ah, um, like, so, and), say that.  “Susan and Joe, as I am speaking, can you count the number of filler words I have?”

This is much more valuable than asking them, “How did I do?”  Most people won’t know what to say other than, “that was great.”

However, if you guide your friends, you will get a much better idea if you have improved.