Are you looking for the best public speaking classes online? Then you’ve come to the right place! Below, we’ve listed the best public speaking courses online. We’ve included both free and paid courses suitable for all abilities to give you a variety of options.
But first, let’s answer an important question – what is public speaking? And why is it important that you ace it every time you have to do it?
Public speaking means speaking to an audience. Traditionally, public speaking meant speaking to a live audience. However, nowadays it includes any form of speaking formally and informally to an audience, including pre-recorded speech or speech delivered over technology!
Being able to effectively public speak will have many career progression and advancement benefits. Excellent public speaking demonstrates leadership, poise, confidence and professionalism. If you can get your point across to a group of people in an inspiring manner, people will listen to you and want to offer you an opportunity.
To learn how to have the confidence to speak in public, you don’t need to attend University. What you need is the desire to learn how to public speak and a bit of time and commitment to complete online courses that cover everything you need to know to speak in public. Suitable for those of all levels, I have spent the time researching the best online public speaking courses out there. If you’re looking to progress your public speaking skills so that you can progress throughout your career more, then there will definitely be one for you.
1. The Complete Presentation and Public Speaking/Speech Course (Udemy)
- Level: All levels
- Completion time: 16h 1m
- Cost: $79.99
- Certification: No
- Number of people who have completed the course: 179,383
- Course rating: 4.5/5 (out of 13,151 ratings)
In this best selling Udemy course, you will learn how to create incredible presentations. You will be taught what to include in your speech, including how to start, end and structure it. On top of this, you will also learn how to improve your confidence and smoothly answer ANY questions thrown at you. As a bonus, you’ll also look at how to analyze your speech once you’ve completed it and you’ll have access to a huge number of additional bonuses.
After completing this course, you should know everything you need to feel confidence about giving a great speech on all stages!
2. Into to Public Speaking – Give a 5-Minute Talk Without Dying (Skillshare)
- Level: Beginner
- Completion time: 47m
- Cost: 14 day free trial
- Certification: No
- Number of people who have completed the course: 5,760
- Course rating: N/A
Taught by Nick Armstrong, an entrepreneur who gets a kick out teaching others and wants to help you learn, this course will teach you how to give even a 5-minute talk without dying!
In just 47 minutes, you will learn how to stop being afraid and how to pick a topic to talk about. After, you will cover how to gather some stage presence and how you can practice your talk the most effective way.
To help solidify all this knowledge, you will also complete a class project. In this project, you will pick a topic and talk about it. You can then watch this back yourself and analyze yourself based on what you’ve learnt. Or, you can upload it on YouTube for everyone to see (including Nick!).
3. 2021 Complete Public Speaking Masterclass For Every Occasion (Udemy)
- Level: Beginner to intermediate
- Completion time: 31h 10m
- Cost: $99.99
- Certification: No
- Number of people who have completed the course: 88, 651
- Course rating: 4.6/5 (out of 6,893 ratings)
All you need to complete this course is the willingness to want to speak out loud and push yourself outside of your comfort zone.
In this Udemy course, you will learn how to look comfortable, confident and relaxed in any situation that requires you to speak. Not only this, but you will also learn how to speak in a memorable way so that everyone feels influenced. Essentially, after this course you’ll have the skills to speak to any audience, of any size… and in any situation!
4. Public Speaking: A Crash Course on Elocution and Confident Speech (Skillshare)
- Level: Beginner
- Completion time: 26m
- Cost: 14 day free trial
- Certification: No
- Number of people who have completed the course: 2,608
- Course rating: N/A
In such a short space of time, you will learn all the skills you need to be able to project to a large audience, read with clarity and confidence, enunciate words with proper emphasis and keep your audience engaged!
To help you really solidify your knowledge, you will also get to create your own speech on ANYTHING you want and post it in the class project section for live feedback… all this for free and for just 26 minutes of your time? Seems like a deal too good to miss to me!
5. Managing Your Anxiety While Presenting (LinkedIn Learning)
- Level: All levels
- Completion time: Approx 27m
- Cost: 1-month free trial
- Certification: Yes
- Number of people who have completed the course: 200,161
- Course rating: N/A
Taught by Matt Abrahams, a business lecturer at Stanford Graduate School, this course will teach you how to speak up without freaking out!
Matt acknowledges that whether it’s pitching, presenting, delivering a toast or contributing to a meeting, most people experience anxiety about public speaking… and he wants to stop this by helping people learn some anxiety management techniques. Once you have learn these techniques, you should then feel more comfortable and confident speaking in front of others!
6. Public Speaking (edX)
- Level: Beginner
- Completion time: Approx 3 weeks with 3-6h per week
- Cost: Free (optional upgrade)
- Certification: Yes (if you pay to upgrade)
- Number of people who have completed the course: 24,248
- Course rating: N/A
In this free course, you will learn how to build your confidence as a speaker by learning how to use simple tools and skills to prepare you for delivering memorable presentations.
Over 3 weeks, you will cover how to apply the basic elements of the speech communication process, as well as methods for controlling any anxiety surrounding the process. On top of this, you will also learn how to craft a clear and impactful speech, how to critique other communicators using the principles learnt in this course, and how to identify main and supporting ideas.
7. Dynamic Public Speaking Specialization (Coursera)
- Level: Beginner
- Completion time: Approx 5 months with 3h per week
- Cost: Enroll for Free
- Certification: Yes
- Number of people who have completed the course: 52,466
- Course rating: 4.8/5 (out of 992 ratings)
In this course, you will master the techniques needed to become an excellent public speaker. You will gather the instruction, experience and practice you need to feel confident giving speeches. You’ll also be taught how to develop delivery techniques for voice, movement and gesture. As well as this, you’ll also look at preparing effective speeches for various purposes and mastering speechwriting techniques for storytelling, argument, style, topic framing and discussing evidence.
Once you’ve learnt all this, you’ll complete an applied learning project that is designed to give you constructive and helpful feedback. After, you should be able to design and deliver clear and compelling presentations.
8. The Complete Guide to Conquering the Fear of Public Speaking (Udemy)
- Level: Beginner
- Completion time: 4h 21m
- Cost: $84.99
- Certification: No
- Number of people who have completed the course: 995
- Course rating: 4.6/5 (out of 181 ratings)
At the lengthier end of the courses on this list, this one will teach you a clever trick that lets you ground yourself physically, emotionally and mentally so that you are sharp and alert with your audience.
You will cover the simple, yet very effective, 8-step method to turn your negative fear into positive thought and confidence. After, you will also look at steps to creating super-cool slideshows, 10 ways to relax yourself, how to handle nerves and fear throughout a presentation, the rules of speaker attraction and much more! So, if you have a fear of public speaking and want to get better at it, this course is undoubtably for you!
9. Introduction to Public Speaking (edX)
- Level: Beginner
- Completion time: Approx 10 weeks with 3-5h per week
- Cost: Free
- Certification: No
- Number of people who have completed the course: N/A
- Course rating: N/A
Running as an experimental course, this course is completely free and it’ll help you to become a more effective and confident public speaker. You will cover the process of writing, practicing and performing a clear and engaging speech.
You will do this by taking a look at who you hold as a model speaker and deciding what makes them so effective… and how you can make your own speech sound like that. Finally, you will also critically examine your own speeches and the speeches of others so that you can gather the confidence in your own speaking skills.
Conclusion
So, there you have it… the 8 best online public speaking tutorials.
There is an abundance of online classes available to help you get your public speaking up to scratch. Some are for advanced public speakers, whereas others are for newbies who want to progress in further their career and get spotted.
However, they are all the crème de la crème of courses. So, it doesn’t matter too much which one you pick. You just need to ensure that whichever class you pick is suitable to your skill level, budget and time frame.
