12 Things Successful Speakers NEVER Do

Have you ever listened to someone speak and been completely captivated? Maybe you thought, “Wow. What an incredible speaker. I wish I could speak like that.”

I used to think that too. I was terrified of speaking, and I would watch great speakers and think, “Wouldn’t that be lovely? I wish I could speak like that. But I’m not as good as they are. They’re just naturally good at it.”

Until one day I realized something.

They weren’t born with it. They worked on it.

And that’s what I want you to take away from this video: great communicators become great by practicing, learning and improving.

I love watching different speakers, studying their styles, the stories they tell, and the way they use their voice, body and message to connect with an audience.

So today, I want to share 12 things I’ve observed successful speakers never do.

Because you don’t have to stay stuck thinking, “That’s just for some people.” You can become an incredible communicator too.

So, let’s get into it.

1. They Don't Think They've Arrived

Successful speakers are always sharpening their skills. They get feedback, work with coaches, listen to recordings of themselves and ask, “How can I make this land even better?”

Think about Martin Luther King Jr. His famous “I Have a Dream” theme wasn’t something he suddenly invented on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. He had used variations of the idea in earlier speeches and continued refining his message.

That’s what great speakers do. They refine.

I’ve worked with excellent speakers who still tell me, “I know there are things I can improve.” And I love that mindset because they don’t settle for being good when they know they can become exceptional.

And remember, being confident is not the same thing as being an effective speaker. You can be confident and still have a message that doesn’t land.

Successful speakers care about more than how they feel when they speak. They care about whether their audience receives the message they intended to communicate.

2. They Don't Make It About Themselves

Successful speakers focus on their audience. They ask: What does my audience need from me? Why should they care? What are they dealing with? And what do I want them to do with this information?

Because your audience is constantly asking one question:

“What’s in it for me?”

Think about Simon Sinek. His famous “Start With Why” message works because he connects his ideas to something his audience cares about: why they do what they do.

Effective speakers don’t stand on stage thinking, “Here’s everything I want to tell you.” They think, “What does my audience need to hear?”

Imagine a founder who spends ten minutes explaining his company’s history. People start checking their phones.

Now imagine he opens with, “Your team is tired of slow reports. Here’s how to fix that by Friday.”

Same company. Same expertise. Completely different opening.

You can have the best content in the world, but if your audience can’t connect it to their own lives, they’ll check out.

And that same principle applies to networking. My book, Extrovert Me!?! An Introvert’s Guide to Confident Networking, is about helping people move beyond performing and actually connect with the person in front of them. The link is in the description.

3. They Don't Wing It

Successful speakers plan and prepare. Winston Churchill is remembered as one of the most powerful voices in history, but that powerful delivery was built through drafting, rewriting and rehearsing. It sounded like fire. It was built with work. You may have fantastic ideas in your head, but until you say them out loud, you don’t really know how they’re going to come across. Imagine someone giving a wedding toast with absolutely no practice. Halfway through, she loses her place, starts rambling and eventually ends with, “Um… anyway. Congratulations.” Now imagine she practices it out loud three times beforehand. Completely different toast. When you rehearse, you might realize, “That’s not exactly what I meant,” or, “That point doesn’t make sense in this order.”

That’s when you refine.

Preparation doesn’t make you sound robotic. Good preparation gives you the freedom to sound natural because you know where you’re going.

4. They Don't Ignore the Time

Successful speakers respect the clock. If you’ve been given ten minutes, you have ten minutes. You don’t try to cram twenty minutes of content into ten minutes and then end by saying, “I’m sorry, I’m rushing. I don’t have time.”

Think about Steve Jobs. His presentations were highly focused. He didn’t try to tell the audience everything about a product. He chose the most important ideas and built the presentation around them. That’s an important lesson for speakers: More content does not automatically mean more value. Imagine a presenter who has ten minutes and brings forty slides. The host holds up the time card at slide twelve, and the audience never even hears the actual ask.

Your audience doesn’t need every piece of information you know. They need the right information, delivered clearly, within the time you’ve been given.

So ask yourself: What is the most important thing my audience needs to know? What can I cut? What can I simplify? What absolutely has to stay?

Respecting the clock isn’t just about finishing on time. It’s about respecting your audience enough to give them what matters most.

5. They Don't Have Weak Openings

Your opening matters because your audience is deciding very quickly: Should I listen? Is this relevant to me? What’s in it for me? Think about Sir Ken Robinson’s famous TED Talk. He opens with humor, and within seconds, the room is with him. He doesn’t waste time warming up.

Compare these two openings: “Hi, everyone. I’m so excited to be here.” Or: “Let me tell you about the moment I completely froze in front of a room full of people.”

Which one makes you want to keep listening? Think about an airplane taking off. It needs momentum to get off the ground. Your opening does the same thing for your speech.

A strong opening gives you momentum, settles your nerves and gives your audience a reason to keep listening. So don’t waste your first few moments explaining who you are.

Give them a reason to care.

6. They Don't Bore Their Audience

Successful speakers work on how they say something, not just what they say. They pay attention to their voice, facial expressions, gestures, stories and energy.

One of the most powerful ways to make information interesting is through storytelling. Brené Brown is a master at this. She takes research and wraps it inside stories and personal experiences. You remember the research because you remember the story.

Imagine two trainers teaching the same safety rule. One reads the policy. The other tells the story of the day a forklift missed a coworker by one foot. Which one are you going to remember? When you attach a story to information, that information becomes easier to understand and remember.

So don’t just ask, “What do I want to say?” Ask: “How can I make this interesting enough that people want to keep listening?”

7. They Don't Read Their Notes or Their Slides

Here’s a hard truth:

If your audience is reading, they probably aren’t listening to you.

Think about Brené Brown’s presentations. Her slides aren’t there to give you every word she’s saying. They support the story and reinforce the point.

Imagine a manager who puts her entire report on the screen and then reads it out loud. Someone in the third row finishes the slide before she finishes the sentence.

He stops listening.And your audience can read faster than you can talk. So now you’re competing with your own presentation. Keep your slides simple. One main idea. A few words. Perhaps an image. Use your slides to support your message, not carry the entire presentation. And your notes should be a safety net, not a crutch. Glance at them if you need them, but don’t live in them. If you’ve prepared properly, you can speak to your audience instead of speaking to your notes.

8. They Don't Data-Dump

I call this TMI: Too. Much. Information.

Too many facts, statistics and complicated ideas at once can cause people to shut down. Sometimes we do this because we want to prove that we know what we’re talking about.

But your audience doesn’t need to know everything you know. They need to understand what matters. Think about Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Lincoln delivered the speech in about two minutes, while the featured speaker that day spoke for roughly two hours.

Which one do we still remember? That’s powerful.

Sometimes we assume that a longer presentation must be a better presentation. It isn’t. Your audience may actually remember more when you give them less to process. I’ve experienced this myself. I’ve been genuinely interested in what someone was saying, but they started giving me so much information that I found my mind wandering. I had to work to get myself back into the conversation.

Imagine a sales representative who shares fourteen statistics. The prospect says, “Send me the deck.” That can be the polite no.

Another representative shares one powerful number and one client story. The prospect says, “Can we talk Thursday?” Your audience isn’t judging you based on how much you know. They’re going to remember you based on what they understand and remember. So give them what they need. And one of the best ways to make information stick is to tell a story. Instead of throwing a statistic at your audience, tell them who that statistic affected. What was happening? What was at stake? What changed?

A number may be forgotten by lunchtime. A story with that number inside it may be the thing they repeat at dinner.

Don’t make your audience work harder than they need to. Give them the information that matters most. Make it clear. Make it relevant. And make it memorable.

9. They Don't Become Stiff or Boring

Successful speakers let their personality come through.

Think about Ronald Reagan during the 1984 presidential debate. He was 73 years old, and his age was being questioned. Instead of becoming defensive, he responded with humor, saying he wouldn't make his opponent’s youth and inexperience an issue.

The room laughed. Even his opponent laughed. The question that could have hurt him became one of the most memorable moments of the debate. That’s the power of allowing yourself to be human.

Smile. Use your hands. Vary your voice. Go louder. Go softer. Slow down. Speed up when appropriate.

Your audience didn’t come to watch a robot read facts.

They came to hear a human being.

And humor can help build connection, especially when you can laugh at yourself without making your audience the target.

10. They Don't Pace, Sway, Hide or Fidget

Your nerves can leak out through your body. You pace. You sway. You hide behind the podium. You play with your pen, your ring or your clicker.

I once worked with a client who watched her own playback and heard a sound she had never noticed.

Click. Click. Click.

Her pen.

The audience had heard it the entire time.

Your audience is watching what your body is saying while they’re listening to your words.

Think about Tony Robbins. He covers the entire stage, but his movement has purpose. He walks when he’s making a point, then plants when the moment matters.

The point isn’t to wave your hands around constantly. It’s to move with purpose.

Walk when you’re making a point. Then plant your feet. Use your hands to show size, direction, a list or a decision. And when you aren’t using them, let them rest naturally.

Your body should reinforce your message, not distract from it.

11. They Don't Embarrass or Force Their Audience

Successful speakers don’t punish their audience for losing energy.

Maybe someone is looking at their phone. Maybe someone is yawning. Maybe the room isn’t responding the way you expected.

You may feel the urge to call them out.

Don’t.

Imagine a speaker spots a man yawning and snaps, “Are we keeping you up?”

The room goes cold.

Later, she learns he came straight from a night shift just to be there.

You don’t know what’s happening in someone else’s life. And you don’t even know why someone is looking at their phone. They could be taking notes, sharing something you said or dealing with something completely unrelated to you.

So don’t assume.

Abraham Lincoln understood the danger of reacting in the heat of the moment. After the Battle of Gettysburg, he was furious with General George Meade for allowing Robert E. Lee’s army to escape.

Lincoln wrote an angry letter expressing his frustration.

But he never sent it.

He wrote it, got it out of his system and kept it to himself.

As a speaker, you need that same discipline.

If the energy in the room drops, lead the room. Ask a question. Tell a story. Change your pace. Pause. Move.

Don’t scold the room.

Re-engage it.

And tell me in the comments: which of these has hit you the hardest so far? Comment BRAVE and the number.

12. They Don't Fade Out at the End

This is where so many speakers lose their power.

They build the presentation. They deliver their content. They get to the end and suddenly say, “Well, that’s it.” Or, “Any questions?”

No.

Imagine a speaker finishes a powerful talk with, “So… yeah. That’s it. Any questions?”

Silence.

Now imagine another speaker says, “Before you leave, write down one thing you will do on Monday.”

Pens move.

You’ve spent all this time earning your audience’s attention. Don’t throw away the final moment.

Successful speakers close with intention.

Think about Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. He didn’t fade out. He built toward his most powerful message and repeated the phrase people would remember: “I have a dream.”

That’s what a great conclusion does. It gives your audience something to carry with them after you stop speaking.

And that’s where your call to action comes in.

A call to action contains an action word: Think. Sign. Join. Book. Try.

Your audience may understand what you’re saying, but they may still be wondering: “Okay, now what?”

A call to action is simply a clear invitation. It shouldn’t feel pushy. It should make the next step clear.

So don’t leave your audience guessing.

Tell them what you want them to do next.

The Bottom Line

So there you have it: 12 things successful speakers never do.

They don’t think they’ve arrived. They don’t make it all about themselves. They don’t wing it. They don’t ignore the clock. They don’t have weak openings. They don’t bore their audience. They don’t read their notes or slides. They don’t data-dump. They don’t become stiff or boring. They don’t pace, sway, hide or fidget. They don’t embarrass their audience. And they don’t fade out at the end.

Incredible speaking isn’t about being born with a special talent. It’s about making intentional choices, practicing the right skills and being willing to improve.

So if there’s one thing I want you to remember, it’s this:

You don’t have to be born a great speaker. You can become one.

If this video helped you, share it with one person who has a presentation, speech or important conversation coming up. You might be the reason they walk into that room with their head up and their message ready.

And if you want help becoming a more confident, compelling speaker, you’ll find information about my coaching and programs in the description.

Now go out there and GO Public.