PUBLIC SPEAKING

How to sound confident when you speak

AI can draft your answer. It can't say it for you in the interview.

In a 1978 study, students heard or read the same testimony from a witness in one of two styles, and the style with more hedges, hesitations and statements that rose like questions made the witness seem less credible.

You can hear each of those habits on a recording of yourself. Here are five to listen for, each with a drill you can do with your phone's voice recorder.

1. End your sentences down

When your pitch rises on the last word, a statement sounds like a question. That rise is the "questioning intonation" from the 1978 study. Let the last word fall instead, like a period.

Drill: record yourself saying "I've made my decision" three times. Let "decision" rise the first time and fall the next two. Play it back and listen only to the last word. Then record the first two sentences of your next answer or talk the same way.

2. Cut the hedges

Hedges soften a claim before you've made it: I think, maybe, sort of, kind of, I guess, probably. One "I think" before a real opinion is fine. A few in every answer add up to the hedges in the style that made the witness seem less credible in the 1978 study.

Drill: write down an answer you give often, like what you do at work. Circle every hedge. Say it out loud without them and record it. If a sentence feels too strong without its hedge, ask yourself whether it's true. If it is, leave it strong.

3. Pause instead of saying um

In a 1995 study, listeners heard people answer questions, and when an answer came after "um" or "uh", they judged the speaker less likely to know it than when it came after a silent pause.

Drill: when you feel an um coming, close your mouth and pause instead. Breathe in through your nose, then start the sentence. The full drill is in the filler words guide.

4. Slow down and finish each sentence

Finish one sentence before you start the next, and take a breath at the period. On your recording, listen for sentences you chain together with "and" or "so". Those are the places to stop.

If nerves speed you up, how to talk slower has a one-breath rule for it.

5. Keep your volume to the last word

Listen to the end of each sentence on your recording. If the last word is quieter than the rest, practice saying it at the same volume. Take a breath before a long sentence so you don't run out halfway through. If the last word sounds low and creaky, it may be vocal fry: see how to stop vocal fry.

If your voice also shakes when you present, start with how to stop your voice from shaking.

Check yourself in five minutes

Open your phone's voice recorder. Answer one real question out loud for about a minute. "Tell me about yourself" works for most interviews.
Play it back and note which of the five habits you hear most.
Record the same answer again, fixing only that one.
Play both takes back to back.

Do this a few days a week with a new question each time. Stay on one habit until you stop hearing it, then move to the next.

Saying what you believe without hedges is one of five habits in how to be more charismatic.

How to sound confident in an interview

Say your answer in the first sentence and your reason in the second. Then stop talking. Don't trail off with "so, yeah", and don't end on "does that make sense?". End on your point.

When you need a second to think, take it in silence. Practice your answers out loud before the day: there's a 15-minute routine in how to practice for an interview by yourself.

Presentations, meetings and calls

In a presentation

Slow down for your first line. Pause before the point you most want people to remember.

In a meeting

Start with what you need, like "I need two more days for the report." Cut warm-ups like "I just wanted to quickly check if maybe..." because they stack hedges in front of your point.

On a call

Your voice is all they get. Keep your volume up to the last word and end your sentences down.

Practice it in Charisma Lab

Charisma Lab is a speaking coach on your iPhone. In Speak, tap the center and tell the coach what you're practicing for, like a job interview. Say it out loud in short chunks, since a pause of about two seconds ends a take. You hear each take played back. Then the coach tells you what to fix and sends you back in.

Train has 48 techniques, each for one habit. The Declarative gives you a line like "This is the right decision for our team." and checks that your last word is pitched lower than the rest of the line. No Hedging gives you a line like "I think this might be the best approach" and checks that your take drops the hedges. Filler Elimination checks each take for words like "like", "basically" and "you know". Strategic Pause times your pauses.

Setup is free and includes a short live session with the coach. After that, Speak and Train need Pro, which is $14.99 a month in the US. See pricing.

Get the app

FAQ

How can I sound confident when I'm nervous?

Fix what people can hear first. You can end a sentence down and pause in silence while your heart is still racing. Drill each fix out loud until you do it without thinking.

How do I sound confident in an interview?

Lead with your answer, give one reason, then stop. End on a falling note and take silent pauses when you need to think. Practice your answers out loud before the day.

How do I stop my voice going up at the end of sentences?

You may not notice it until you hear a recording. Record a minute of yourself talking and listen only to how your sentences end. Then do the "I've made my decision" drill above until your last words fall. That rise is called upspeak, and how to stop upspeak has five drills for it.

Can an app help you sound more confident?

An app can do the listening for you. It can count your fillers and compare the pitch of your last word with the rest of the line, so you don't have to grade yourself by ear. We compared nine in our guide to the best public speaking apps.

More practice guides

Updated November 4, 2026.