--- title: How to Improve Your Public Speaking description: Give your audience a clear call to action canonical: https://time.com/3733884/improve-public-speaking/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-05T21:55:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T04:56:59.265Z article:section: Ideas og:title: How to Improve Your Public Speaking Skills og:description: Give your audience a clear call to action og:url: https://time.com/3733884/improve-public-speaking/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte0b62dd47caf6819/69878250a988ca63b06acccb/93812322-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=358&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 358 og:image:height: 201 og:image:alt: woman-public-speaking og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How to Improve Your Public Speaking Skills twitter:description: Give your audience a clear call to action twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte0b62dd47caf6819/69878250a988ca63b06acccb/93812322-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=358&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How to Improve Your Public Speaking Skills > Sponsored content. 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Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. by [Quora](https://time.com/author/quora/) ## Quora Mar 5, 2015 9:55 PM UTC  Getty Images by [Quora](https://time.com/author/quora/) ## Quora Mar 5, 2015 9:55 PM UTC [_Answer_](http://www.quora.com/What-are-some-tips-and-hacks-for-public-speaking/answer/Mira-Zaslove)_by_ [_Mira Zaslove_](http://www.quora.com/Mira-Zaslove) _on_ [_Quora_](http://www.quora.com/)_._ The biggest tip to improve your public speaking? Think less about yourself, and more about your audience. Specifically, focus on 3 main things: **1\. Who are you speaking to?** Research ahead of time as much as you can, as to who your audience is. Tailor your presentation to them. Cut out anything that doesn’t directly pertain to them. Be ruthless. People have short attention spans. Stick only to what is necessary, and focus again, not on yourself, but rather what will be most useful for the audience. **2\. Why are you giving the speech?** Why have people showed up? Why do they care? Give the audience what they came for. People have showed up for a reason. Keep that in mind. Tell the audience clearly why you are there, and why you are excited to speak to them. Speak to what is relevant to them, and tell them why you believe it is relevant. **3\. Wrap it up quickly. What now?** Don’t ramble on. After you’ve told the audience what they need to know, give them a clear call to action. End the presentation with summarizing what you said, why you said it, and what they should do next. Don’t assume that your audience is automatically going to know what to do with what you told them. And don’t just hope that they will remember to do it later. If you are selling something, end with specifically asking them to buy. If you want them to sign up for something, have the sign up sheet ready. Be prepared to get what you want. Make the call to action easy, immediate, and seamless. _This question originally appeared on_ [_Quora: What are some tips and hacks for public speaking?_](http://www.quora.com/What-are-some-tips-and-hacks-for-public-speaking) _More from Quora:_ * [How do I become better at group discussions?](http://www.quora.com/How-do-I-become-better-at-group-discussions) * [What are the most difficult and useful things people have to learn in their 20s?](http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-most-difficult-and-useful-things-people-have-to-learn-in-their-20s) * [How do I get mentally mature?](http://www.quora.com/How-do-I-get-mentally-mature-And-develop-mature-thinking) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3733884/improve-public-speaking/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3733884/improve-public-speaking/"},"headline":"How to Improve Your Public Speaking Skills","datePublished":"2015-03-05T21:55:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:56:59.265Z","description":"Give your audience a clear call to action","url":"https://time.com/3733884/improve-public-speaking/","keywords":["Education","Psychology"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte0b62dd47caf6819/69878250a988ca63b06acccb/93812322-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Quora","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/quora/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte0b62dd47caf6819/69878250a988ca63b06acccb/93812322-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"woman-public-speaking","caption":"woman-public-speaking","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/education/","name":"Education"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3733884/improve-public-speaking/","name":"How to Improve Your Public Speaking Skills"}}]}] ```