Many beginning speakers may write great speeches, but then have trouble with delivery because they don’t know how to practice effectively. Try these ideas as you prepare to deliver your speech.

1. Tape record your speech, play it back, and listen for awkward phrasing, weak transitions, and disfluencies, such as “you know”, “like”, “whatever,” “uh”, etc. Depending on the errors you hear, revise the speech, practice eliminating the disfluencies, or write a note in the margins of your speaker’s notes that will remind you to correct the error.
2. Ask a practice audience, preferably not your friends. You need solid criticism. It's difficult for them to listen and give you useful feedback. They're your friends, and they like you too much (I hope!) to be brutally honest.
3. Ask a practice audience to paraphrase the message in just a couple of sentences. If they can’t do this accurately, you need to clarify your message.
4. Know the introduction well.
5. If possible, practice at least once in the room in which you will deliver the speech. If you are using visual aids, be sure to practice using the visuals.
6. Don’t practice by looking in a mirror. It’s distracting and it encourages the development of an artificial speaking style because it doesn’t replicate the genuine speech situation.
7. Get videotaped so you can see what was strong and what needs improvement. Most speakers don’t have a realistic vision of where they are strong and where they need to improve, and most speakers are too critical of themselves.
8. DON’T memorize your speech! It will sound false and artificial, and your audience will rapidly lose interest in what is being said. Memorizing your speech is just as bad as READING your speech. Don't do it.