Rehearsing your speech is not a solitary activity. Getting feedback from others about your speech and delivery provides vital information you can use to complete the last part of your speech preparation—Step 5: Revise. You’ll use feedback to make any necessary changes to the presentation, as well as to improve your public-speaking skills over the long term.

Imagine practicing your speech in front of a screen of avatars simulating an audience. While you’re presenting, the avatars shift in their seat to indicate boredom or nod enthusiastically to show agreement with a point you’re making. This may sound futuristic, but researchers at the University of California have created Cicero, an interactive virtual audience system that helps speakers rehearse and receive feedback on presentations (Belman, 2014).

Cicero is programmed to recognize the common characteristics of good and poor speech delivery. The avatars, just like a real audience, smile and sit forward when a speaker’s delivery is engaging—when the speaker has a strong voice, purposeful gesturing, and sustained eye contact. When a speaker talks too softly or fails to maintain eye contact, the avatars will start to yawn and slouch. Now instead of rehearsing alone, speakers can practice in front of a simulated audience and get immediate feedback to improve their skills.

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Even though it’s unlikely you have access to sophisticated technology like Cicero to practice your speech, you can enlist family, friends, or fellow classmates to help you rehearse and to provide feedback on your speech. Students who practice in front of a small audience are more likely to receive higher evaluations on their actual speech performance than those who practice alone or in front of a mirror (Smith & Frymier, 2006). By practicing in front of others, you can get feedback about your speech structure, content, and delivery. Using this information to make necessary changes to your speech outline and delivery is an important part of Step 5: Revise. But not all feedback is helpful. Feedback that is overly general (“That was great!”) or broadly critical (“You can do better”) lacks details about what’s working and what communication behaviors need to change. Knowing how to give others useful feedback and how to base your own revisions on the feedback others give you completes your speech preparation.