For non-native English speakers · Presentation & keynote
Sound sure of yourself
in presentation & keynote.
Open strong, hold the room, land the close. Your grammar is not the problem. What makes English sound confident is which word takes the weight, where the pause goes, and where the voice rises and falls — and nobody teaches that. Below are real lines for this situation with those three things marked. Hear each one said well, record yours, and see how close you came. Free, no account.
gold = the word that takes the weight · ‖ = a pause · ↗ the voice rises · ↘ the voice lands · → stays up, more to come
8 of 100 lines in this path
Lines people actually say.
Marked by the same engine that marks your own script in the app. The gold word is the one to lean on; everything else is lighter than you think.
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hardOpenings
The opening
I want to start with a number.
Ninety seconds.
That's how long you have before an audience decides whether to listen.
So let's not waste them.
Hear this line said well → -
hardHolding the room
Admitting you were wrong
I argued hard against this last year.
I was wrong.
Here is the evidence that changed my mind, and I would rather show it than bury it.
Hear this line said well → -
mediumStructure and signposting
Naming the objection first
Some of you are thinking this is a rebuild in disguise.
It is a fair worry.
Let me show you why it is not.
Hear this line said well → -
mediumDifficult moments
Setting expectations
This will not be finished this year.
I want to say that clearly now rather than manage it quietly later.
Hear this line said well → -
mediumLanding the close
Ending with a question
So I will leave you with the thing I cannot answer.
If we are honest that this is broken, what stops us fixing it on Monday?
Hear this line said well → -
hardHigh-stakes moments
Presenting to the board
You've got the pack, so I won't read it.
I want twenty minutes on the one number that isn't in there.
Hear this line said well → -
hardCraft and delivery
Using silence deliberately
Nine outages.
In one quarter.
I'll let that sit for a moment, because the number is the argument.
Hear this line said well → -
hardCraft and delivery
Speaking without slides
I've turned the screen off.
If I can't hold your attention with the argument, the slides were never going to save me.
Hear this line said well →
What this path covers
The moments inside it.
- The openingGrab attention in 20 seconds
- A key transitionMove between big ideas
- Explaining a chartMake numbers land
- The closing lineThe line they remember
One last thing
Hear it in a voice like yours,
then in yours.
Pick the accent closest to yours and hear one voice say a line flat, then confident — same words, same accent. Then practise any of these lines against it. Your own voice takes a ten-second read and a free account. No card.