How to practise a presentation: a step-by-step plan

Reading your slides again is not practising. A presentation is spoken, so the only rehearsal that counts is one out loud. Here is a plan that takes about three to five runs and makes the difference between "I hope it fits" and "I know it fits".

1. Know your message in one sentence

Before you rehearse, write down the one sentence the audience should remember. Every slide should support it. This makes it much easier to cut when you run over.

2. First run: just get through it

Present the whole talk out loud from start to finish without stopping, even if you stumble. Measure the time per slide. This first run shows you where the talk is too long and which slides you don't know well yet. Open the presentation timer to measure every slide automatically.

3. Fix the structure, not the wording

Look at the slides that took much longer than planned. Shorten, split or move them to the appendix. Don't memorise sentences yet – the structure has to be right first.

4. Practise the beginning, the transitions and the end

The first 30 seconds, the move from one slide to the next and the last sentence are where nerves hit hardest. Practise them separately until you can say them without thinking. Everything in between can stay flexible.

5. Record yourself

Record a full run and listen to it once. You'll hear your pace, your filler words and the places where you lose the thread. It feels awkward, but one recording teaches more than five silent read-throughs. If you want numbers – words per minute, filler words, slides over time – use the AI feedback in SlideTimer.

6. Rehearse under real conditions

• Stand up if you will stand during the talk.
• Use fullscreen and a clicker or the arrow keys.
• Practise in front of a friend, or in a call with your group – SlideTimer lets everyone follow the same live timer.
• For group presentations, rehearse the hand-overs between speakers.

7. Prepare speaker notes or cards

Write keywords, not full sentences. Study Mode lets you add notes to every slide and print them as double-sided flashcards – slide on the front, your notes on the back.

How many times should you rehearse?

For most talks: three to five full runs out loud, plus extra practice for the opening and transitions. Stop when your last two runs land within your time limit and you don't need to read your notes anymore. Over-rehearsing until every word is fixed often makes a talk sound memorised.

The day before

Do one relaxed run, check the technology (file format, adapter, fonts) and go to bed. The work is done.