Table Topics: Practice Questions and Drills for Off-the-Cuff Speaking
Table Topics practice: how a one-to-two-minute turn is timed, 30 original questions sorted by type, and 4 timed drills for practicing alone or in a club.
Public Speaking & Presentations
Presenting with confidence, telling stories and designing clear slides.
Q&A, impromptu speaking, and speaking up
Impromptu Speaking: Frameworks for Thinking on Your Feet
Impromptu speaking without rambling: 6 frameworks matched to real moments, a short spoken example of each, ways to buy time and a weekly practice drill.
Presentation tools and AI
Canva for Presentations: Strengths, Limits, and When to Use It
Canva for presentations: what it does well, where it falls short (offline, data, PowerPoint export), when to use it, and 7 steps to present without surprises.
Structure and storytelling
Storytelling in Presentations: A Step-by-Step Guide
Storytelling in presentations in 6 steps: build a short work story, place it beside your data, and see what research on stories does and does not show.
How to Open a Presentation: 10 Ways to Start Strong
How to start a presentation: the 3 jobs of the first minute, 10 openings with short examples for meetings, conferences and toasts, and 4 starts to avoid.
Delivery and rehearsal
Body Language for Presenters: What to Do With Your Hands
Gestures gave listeners a moderate boost in understanding in a 2019 meta-analysis of 83 samples. Where to rest your hands, what to show and what to skip.
Filler Words: Why We Say "Um" and How to Cut Back
Filler words are normal: in one study, people made about 6 slips per 100 words, most often fillers like um. What they signal, when they hurt, how to cut back.
Public speaking basics and stage fright
Glossophobia: When Fear of Speaking Becomes a Problem and When to Seek Help
Glossophobia, the fear of public speaking, is not a diagnosis. Fear lasting 6+ months that disrupts life may be social anxiety disorder. Signs and help.
Public Speaking for Beginners: A Realistic Starting Plan
Public speaking for beginners: a 6-step plan and its evidence, from small repeated talks to the myth that people fear speaking more than death.
Slide design and presenting data
Slide Design for Non-Designers: The Basic Principles
Slide design for non-designers: 6 principles from learning research, from cutting decoration to labeling charts directly, and where the evidence is thin.