PUBLIC SPEAKING

Toastmasters alternatives: 5 other ways to practice public speaking

AI can write your talk now. Standing up and giving it is still your job.

Toastmasters is the usual advice for getting better at that, and for plenty of people it works. If the meeting night, the dues or a room full of strangers puts you off, you have other options. Here are five, sorted by what you want a club to give you, plus a routine you can do alone in 10 minutes.

What a Toastmasters club gives you

A club gives you a real audience, a timer and an evaluator. At a meeting, a few members give prepared speeches of five to seven minutes, and each one gets a short evaluation. Then the Topicsmaster calls people up to answer a question on the spot in one to two minutes. That round is called Table Topics.

Membership costs US$72 every six months, plus a one-time US$25 new member fee and any dues your club adds.

For most of the meeting, you're listening to other people speak. That helps, but your own speaking time is a few minutes on a good night.

Why people look for something else

The meeting night doesn't fit their week.
They want more speaking time than one meeting gives them.
They want feedback from someone who coaches for a living.
They're too nervous to stand up in front of strangers yet.

Each of those has a better fit below.

1. Another club, or a Meetup group

Clubs differ a lot. Toastmasters lets you visit as a guest for free, and you don't have to speak. Visit two or three clubs before you decide the whole format is wrong for you. Some clubs meet online, which helps if the meeting night was the problem.

Outside Toastmasters, search Meetup for public speaking groups near you. In the UK, the Association of Speakers Clubs runs its own clubs along similar lines.

2. An improv class

Improv trains the skill Table Topics tests: saying something clear before you've had time to plan it. A beginner class at a local improv theater puts you on your feet with a small group, and nobody expects you to be good yet.

It does less for a prepared talk, so pair it with practice on the speech itself.

3. A speaking coach or a course

A coach watches you speak and tells you what to change, one on one. That's the most direct feedback you can buy. Book a few sessions around something real, like a job interview or a big presentation.

If you'd rather learn with a group and a set curriculum, companies like Dale Carnegie run public speaking courses.

4. Practice alone, with a recording

This is what a weekly meeting can't give you: as many takes as you want, whenever you have 10 minutes. All you need is your phone's voice recorder.

A recording is a strict evaluator because you can replay it. You'll hear the fillers and rushed sentences you missed while you were talking. If your first recording makes you wince, keep going. That voice is the one your audience hears. There's more in how to record yourself practicing a speech.

5. A practice app

Apps do the listening for you. They count your fillers and time your pace, so you aren't grading yourself by ear. We compared nine of them, with prices, in our guide to the best public speaking apps. Charisma Lab is ours, and there's more on it below.

A 10-minute routine for the days you'd be at a meeting

Do this three or four days a week. It works in place of a club, or between meetings if you keep yours.

Pick one thing to fix this week, like fillers, pace or how your sentences end. Only one.
Record a two-minute take of a real talk you have coming up. If you don't have one, answer a Table Topics question instead.
Play it back once and listen only for your one thing.
Record the same two minutes again with the fix.
Find the worst sentence and say it right three times in a row, out loud.

Don't skip the last step. Repeat that sentence before you do another full run.

Practice Table Topics at home

Write 20 questions on index cards, like "What's a skill you learned too late?" or "Where would you go back to?" Shuffle them. Draw one, count to five and talk for a minute while your phone records.

Give each answer a shape: your point, one reason or story, then your point again. When you play it back, check that you ended on your point instead of trailing off.

For 40 ready-made questions and five answer structures to try, see how to answer on the spot.

Practice it in Charisma Lab

Charisma Lab is for the practice you do alone. In Speak, tap the center and tell the coach what you're working on, like your next club speech or a talk at work. 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, like a filler habit or a pause you skipped, and sends you back in.

Train has 48 techniques, each for one habit. Filler Elimination checks each take for words like "like", "basically" and "you know". Commanding Pace shows your words per minute after every take. 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

Is there a free alternative to Toastmasters?

Practicing alone with your phone's recorder is free, and so is the routine above. You can also visit Toastmasters clubs as a guest at no charge. Charisma Lab's setup is free, and then Pro costs $14.99 a month in the US.

How much does Toastmasters cost?

Toastmasters International charges US$72 every six months and a one-time US$25 new member fee. Your club can add its own dues on top. If you join partway through a period, your first payment is prorated.

Is Toastmasters worth it?

If you want a live audience and can make the meetings, yes. If what you need is more practice, do the routine above on the days between meetings.

Can you get better at public speaking without an audience?

Yes, for everything you can hear on a recording: fillers, pace, pauses and how your sentences end. Nerves in front of a room are different. For those, you need a room now and then.

Should I try improv or Toastmasters?

Improv trains you to think on your feet. Toastmasters trains prepared speeches, with a short impromptu round at each meeting. If being put on the spot scares you most, try improv. If a prepared talk does, start with a club or the routine above.

More practice guides

Updated November 1, 2026.