Public speaking resources for teachers, students...

Information and materials for classroom and individual use to build public speaking competence and confidence

Welcome. There's a large, and growing, collection of easily understood practical information about all aspects of public speaking here for you to discover and use. For example:

how to choose good speech topics,
how to outline and write a speech and,
how to deliver one effectively.

Alongside the many how tos, you'll also find fun activities (some with printables) to help build public speaking skills and confidence.

Most of the material is free, adaptable, and suitable for middle school and upwards. Please take what you need either for yourself, or for your public speaking/communications class or group. That's exactly what it's here for. ☺

Start finding the public speaking resources you want now

Have a look around. Begin with any of these three pages.

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100s of speech topic suggestions for all types
of speeches.

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Example speeches of many sorts - birthday, eulogy, farewell, & more.

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Find a fun and effective activity to teach public speaking skills.

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Who is behind write-out-loud.com?

Me. Susan Dugdale. I taught high school level English and drama for many years.

Nowadays I help run a dynamic community public speaking group, a monthly open mic poetry night and work on this site for you.

What they're saying

"This is a fantastic and very comprehensive site. It's a joy to read. I too am a teacher, and I thank you for sharing your knowledge."

Deanne - Northern Australia

"I am a tutor specializing in English as a Second Language to MBA students, law students, undergraduates and high school students. Kudos on building such a powerful resource for those struggling to build effective public speaking skills."

Ruth - USA

Speech types, vocal variety & diction exercises. Find out more.

Do you know what the differences are between these speech types: speaking to inform, to entertain, to persuade and a social occasion speech?

What about vocal variety? Do you know how to use your voice to best suit both what you're talking about and your audience?

And are listeners able to readily understand what you're saying or are you regularly asked to repeat yourself?

Woman holding speech notes standing in front of a microphone on a podium. Text overlay: speech types with examples

Did you know there are 4 main types of speeches? And that a good speaker is proficient in all of them? For more...

Woman speaking into an old-fashioned speaking trumpet. Text overlay: vocal variety

Vocal variety in our voices makes us interesting to listen to. Without it we can be boringly monotone. Ensure that's not you. ☺

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Woman with long dark hair and open mouth. Text overlay: diction exercises

Diction or articulation exercises guarantee our words are cleanly and crisply delivered. Be mumble free!

"I just wanted to say I LOVE your site! I often work with clients in job search or networking, and they are not very good a presenting themselves. Your tips and exercises for developing better speech patterns are excellent, and I'll be using them to help others. Thanks for your awesome content!"

Lea - USA

Public speaking fear, effective delivery & online coaching

Here's three more useful pages.

Public speaking fear is often the number one item on a person's 'to-be-avoided-at-all-costs' list. Yet it can be dealt to. It truly doesn't have to something to be terrified about.

Effective delivery is a catch-all term. It's the mode you choose to use to give your speech, (extemporaneous, manuscript, memorized or impromptu), as well as body language, eye contact, use of vocal variety, visual aids, personal presentation, and more.

One-to-one online coaching is an opportunity to work intensively on whatever aspects of public speaking you wish to. Sometimes all it takes is 2 or 3 sessions to make a breakthrough.

Man standing confidently while speaking into microphone, in front of an audience. Text overlay: Beathing fear

Please don't let fear of public speaking hold you back. Learn about easily implemented and effective ways to overcome it.

Woman standing confidently in front of a podium, in front of an audience, speaking. Text overlay: Effective delivery

Speech delivery is not WHAT you say but HOW you say it. Find out more about its elements and how to optimize them.

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Young girl, smiling, wearing a white tee shirt saying, 'You can do anything.' Text overlay: Online coaching

Do you have a major presentation coming up? One-to-one personal coaching will set you up to deliver it well.

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"I just wanted to say thank you for such a brilliant and easy to access website with phenomenal content. Thank you for being a teacher in the truest sense of the word."

Karen - Canada

Speech activities, how to write a speech, and speech topics

These three pages are well-patronized by teachers who use them as either resources for themselves or for their students.

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Choose public speaking games & activities to build skills and confidence the stress-free fun way.

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Get a comprehensive step-by-step guide, with examples, for writing a speech from start to finish.

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Find speech topic ideas for demonstration, persuasive, informative, and many other types of speeches.

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"I'm revising a college course on skills transferable to business. Your site is fabulous! Thank you for all the wonderful rich content and topic organization. You made my chore a pleasure."

Irene - Canada

As seen in...

It's always a delight to see educators from all over the world are using material from write-out-loud.com. It's even more of one to see their number growing!