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Improve your presenting skills with additional platforms and new features for PowerPoint speaker coach

Updated on September 9, 2021: Presenter coach has been renamed to speaker coach in PowerPoint and Microsoft Teams. For more information, please see the Tech Community blog

PowerPoint speaker coach now available on all platforms

We love hearing feedback from our customers, and we’re excited to announce that PowerPoint speaker coach is now available on all platforms. PowerPoint speaker coach was first introduced in PowerPoint for the web, and both students and professionals have been utilizing this feature to become more confident presenters. Now, you can use this beloved feature on all platforms—on the web, Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android—when and where you need it, on the go, or at home.

Speaker coach leverages AI to help anyone—professionals, students, and even those who just want to practice a speech for a wedding or graduation. Especially in this hybrid work and learning environment, presentation skills are more important than ever, with more meetings and presentations than ever before. Speaker coach provides users with feedback on their pace, use of monotone pitch, use of filler words, poor grammar, lack of originality, use of sensitive phrases, and more while they rehearse their presentations. At the end of each rehearsal, speaker coach users receive a Summary Report highlighting the key pieces of feedback to help them become even better, more confident presenters.

Try PowerPoint speaker coach with this template.

Three new critiques in speaker coach on PowerPoint for the web

In addition to expanding the availability of speaker coach, we are also expanding the kinds of feedback this feature provides. Today, we are announcing three new critiques to speaker coach and bringing them to preview in PowerPoint for the web. These include feedback on body language, use of repetitive language, and pronunciation. These critiques are all described in detail below:

1. Body language

Great presentations are about more than just how you speak. When you are speaking to an audience—whether virtual or in-person—how you present yourself can have as much impact as the words you say. For this reason, we are introducing a new capability that leverages your video camera to give you feedback on your body language. When you are presenting virtually, it is important to ensure that your audience has a clear view of your face, that you maintain your glance towards your audience, and ensure you have left appropriate distance between you and your camera to deliver an engaging presentation. This feature will launch with feedback in the summary report around how well your audience will be able to see you (Clear view), if you are too far or too close to the camera (Distance), and ensuring you are facing the camera (Eye contact).

Body Language feedback with Presenter Coach on PowerPoint for Web

2. Repetitive language

When you speak, you may use words and phrases repetitively without being aware of them. You may not notice it, but your audience may catch on and find it distracting. Speaker coach can help you identify these words and phrases to avoid overusing them and keep your audience more engaged throughout your presentation. In addition to listing out those words and phrases, we will also give you a list of synonyms so you can switch it up for your next presentation.

Identifying Repetitive language with Presenter Coach on PowerPoint for Web

3. Pronunciation

Speaker coach can advise you about the correct pronunciation of words you speak throughout your rehearsal. When speaker coach perceives that you may have mispronounced a word, it will display the word(s) and provide an experience that helps you practice pronouncing the word correctly. You’ll be able to listen to a recorded pronunciation guide of the word as many times as you’d like. We know that accents vary, and we have taken that into consideration when designing this feature. We have optimized this feedback for the “General American English” language as a starting point and will be giving you the option to disable this feedback in case you don’t agree with the suggestions or find them useful. We are doing our best to make sure this experience is helpful for you and will continue to improve the feature with your feedback.

Advice on correct pronunciation with Presenter Coach on PowerPoint for Web

We hope you are as excited as we are about these three new critiques. All three are available for you to try today on PowerPoint for the web in preview.

Speaker coach is always under your control and does not save any video or audio data from your rehearsal. Your privacy is paramount to us, and we want to ensure you can trust speaker coach to improve your presentation skills while respecting your privacy.

We strive to ensure speaker coach provides actionable and clear feedback to help you become an even better presenter and focus on the areas that matter most to you. As always, we greatly appreciate and rely on your feedback to continue improving these features. Please give them a try and let us know what you think, and what you’d like to see next.

See our support pages for more information on rehearsing with speaker coach as well as suggestions for speaker coach!