You might think a public speaking coach recommending AI-powered speech apps is inviting her own replacement.
Yet here I am, making peace with technology and recognizing where it belongs. There is a place for both live coaching and AI-assisted practice. The opportunity lies in what happens between coaching sessions and focusing on polishing the delivery of a talk you have already created. Here’s why:
AI apps can accelerate the progress made during live coaching sessions and become effective practice partners.
As an executive communication coach, I receive pitches from AI-powered speaking apps promising to help people become better presenters, and for a while I saw them as competition. Some do position themselves as alternatives to working with a coach. Today, I accept the inevitable yet see a more productive role for them: practice aids between coaching sessions with me.
What you do between sessions matters. Insight alone does not change a speaking habit. You need repetition, reflection, and opportunities to apply what you have learned. Technology can make that practice easier and more consistent.
One clarification: the AI-assisted practice I’m describing here focuses on delivery: how you sound and present material you have already developed. My work as a live coach begins much earlier.
With my TEDx clients, for example, I help build a talk from scratch: identify the central idea, clarify why it matters, develop the story, shape the structure, and refine the language. Then we bring the words to life through rehearsal. That journey from concept to stage-ready requires creative collaboration, thoughtful questions and decisions that go far beyond speech metrics.
A useful practice partner
Imagine that we have identified a tendency to rush through your opening. You understand the problem. During our session, we work on slowing down, emphasizing key words, and allowing your audience time to absorb your message.
Then you go home. An AI tool can help you rehearse that opening several times, review your pace and compare recordings. You return to our next session with practice behind you and observations we can discuss. That is a valuable use of technology.
Tools such as Microsoft Speaker Coach and Orai offer feedback on delivery habits, including pace and filler words. Yoodli provides presentation practice and AI follow-up questions. These features give speakers more ways to rehearse between appointments. For pronunciation and vocal practice Vocal Image includes articulation and intonation exercises. Choose a tool according to the skill you want to develop, rather than expecting one app to address everything.
Practice must reach beyond the screen.
A football player can study footage and rehearse plays in a simulation. Eventually, that player must take the field, read the defense and respond to teammates and opponents.
A dancer needs rehearsal and the experience of moving with other dancers, responding to their timing, energy, and presence. Technique becomes part of a shared performance.
An actor needs scene partners and practice listening and reacting to what they do. The meaning of a line can change because of a look, a pause, or an unexpected response.
Speakers face similar demands. AI simulations offer useful preparation but cannot take the place of practicing with real people.
More than one definition of progress.
An app can generate metrics and track improvement on some dimensions of performance. But it cannot define the ultimate audience connection. Perhaps the polished phrase in your script sounds nothing like you and you hesitate because you do not fully believe the statement you are making. These are the types of things I explore with my clients.
We consider the message, the audience, and the circumstances. We decide where a pause would help, which story belongs and what can be removed. And we practice responding under pressure while preserving your personality.
Give your practice a purpose.
Between coaching sessions, select one focus: your opening, transitions, pronunciation, or answers to tough questions. Record yourself (with or without an app). Review the playback alongside the app’s feedback. Notice what changes and what still feels difficult.
Bring those discoveries to a live coaching session and turn them into choices that serve your audience. Use technology to support that work. And practice with people to deepen it.
Here are four AI-powered presentation and speech tools I recommend to enhance your live coaching experience:
1- Yoodli
Where I would recommend it: Rehearsing a presentation and preparing for Q&A
What it offers: A presentation practice mode with feedback and AI follow-up questions. It also supports simulated conversations and screen sharing for presentation materials. (Yoodli Help Center)
2- Microsoft Speaker Coach
Where I would recommend it: Practicing a talk already built in PowerPoint
What it offers: Feedback on pace, pitch, filler words, wordiness and reading directly from slides, followed by a rehearsal report. Features vary by platform. (Microsoft Support)
3- Orai
Where I would recommend it: Short, repeated practice to notice delivery habits
What it offers: Feedback on filler words, pace, clarity, and energy, with practice scenarios and progress tracking. (AI Speech Coaching)
4- Vocal Image
Where I would recommend it: Practicing vocal variety and articulation
What it offers: Voice feedback, articulation drills, intonation exercises with visual pitch curves, and guided breathing exercises. (vocalimage.app)
