Practice Out Loud
How Generative AI Can Sharpen Your Presentation Skills
In my executive coaching practice, a consistent theme I see is the challenge professionals face when preparing to speak about their work—especially when the material originated as a written document. Whether it’s a board deck, a quarterly update, a strategic proposal, an investment summary, or a detailed report, the leap from reading a slide to presenting the idea is significant. And it's often underestimated.
Clients will spend hours refining their content on paper but only minutes, if that, rehearsing how they’ll articulate it. There is often an underlying belief that the oral presentation will simply follow if the client produces the “perfect” document. The result? Presentations that may be technically sound but lacking in presence, clarity, and confidence. This is where generative AI—especially tools like ChatGPT—can be an unexpected and powerful ally.
In this post, I’ll share how professionals can use generative AI to bridge the gap between written and spoken communication, and how this practice fits into a coaching approach that values presence, preparedness, and growth. There are many other ways to create and present compelling presentations; I may address those in other posts, but since the use of generative AI in this context is relatively novel and readily available, I am choosing to lead with this topic first.
The Challenge: From Page to Voice
Imagine this common scenario: you’ve written a comprehensive document—a proposal to expand a product line or a vision statement for your department next year. You’ve poured your insights into it; you’ve checked and double-checked the data for internal consistency and accuracy. But now you’re asked to present that material to a leadership team or external stakeholders.
Suddenly, the fluency you had in writing seems distant. You’re grasping for key points, unsure of what to emphasize, or worse, reading slides verbatim. Your delivery feels flat, and your confidence wavers. Your palms get sweaty, your heart begins to race, and you get that floaty, out-of-body feeling.
The issue usually isn’t content knowledge—it’s content retrieval. And a great way to get better at retrieving information under pressure is through practice. But practicing out loud isn’t always easy. You need structure. You need prompts. You need a smart rehearsal partner. Sometimes I serve this function for clients. I provide a non-judgmental space to practice vocalizing a presentation to an audience that won’t impact one’s reputation in the workplace. Since I spent 35 years actively presenting to executive audiences and training many others to do the same, I have an intuitive sense of when a presentation is working (or not), and what the root cause might be.
But I am not always available on short notice, and using a coach this way can get expensive. This is where generative AI enters the picture.
AI as Your Practice Partner
One of the most effective (and underutilized) applications of generative AI is turning it into a mock interviewer or intelligent quizzer. Here's how this works in practice:
Upload or paste your content—an article, report, slide notes, or any written material you're preparing to present.
Ask the AI to quiz you on it—“Give me 10 questions I should be able to answer if I understand this content well.” Or, “Give me 5 multiple-choice questions, 5 True/False questions, and 5 open-ended questions to help me reinforce my content knowledge of this material.”
Respond out loud—treat it like a live practice session. You’re not typing answers; you’re speaking them. If you are super-motivated, you might try recording your answers so you can hear what they sound like.
Get feedback—depending on how you're using the tool, you can type a summary of your answer and ask, “What did I miss?” or compare your phrasing to how the content was originally written.
This exercise quickly reveals:
What concepts you think you understand but can’t easily explain
Where you’re overly reliant on written language (document as crutch)
How well your main points land when spoken aloud
It can transform the way you prepare—not just by reviewing content, but by simulating the dynamic of a live Q&A or presentation. And it takes the AI no time at all to “learn” your material.
Why This Works: Coaching Principles at Play
From a coaching perspective, this kind of practice taps into three core principles I often emphasize with clients:
Presence over Perfection
You don’t need to memorize your script. You need to be with your material. Practicing responses to AI-generated questions helps you internalize the structure and logic of your ideas without rote memorization. You build presence—the ability to respond, adapt, and engage in the moment. And audiences respond to presence as much as, or more than, technical accuracy. After all, there should be a reason why you don’t just hand a document over to a group and say “read this”.Active Recall > Passive Review
Educational psychology shows that testing yourself (active recall) is far more effective for retention than re-reading (passive review). By having AI quiz you, you reinforce your memory through effortful retrieval. The struggle to remember is an critical part of the learning.Safe Repetition Builds Confidence
Presenting aloud can be vulnerable—especially when the stakes are high. AI gives you a psychologically safe space to rehearse, make mistakes, rephrase, and improve without judgment. You get the repetition you need without needing to schedule with a colleague or coach (as much as I love participating in these practice sessions).
Going Deeper: Ways to Use AI Before a Presentation
Here are a few more advanced applications that professionals and coaches can explore:
Reverse summarization: Ask the AI, “Summarize this report in 3 sentences” and then try to recreate that summary on your own. Check how close you come.
Anticipate objections: Prompt the AI with, “What objections might a skeptical audience raise about this proposal?” Then practice responding to them aloud.
Refine your tone: If you struggle with striking the right voice, paste your draft and ask, “Make this sound more conversational,” or “How could I present this with more energy?” This fine-tuning of voice can raise a decent presentation to a great one.
Role-play stakeholders: AI can simulate a CFO, head of product, or external partner and ask questions from their perspective. It helps you think about framing and audience alignment.
From Tool to Habit
Using generative AI in this way doesn’t just help with one presentation. It cultivates a mindset of prepared agility—the ability to know your material deeply and respond to it dynamically. When used regularly, it becomes a kind of pre-game ritual: part warm-up, part rehearsal, part strategic reflection.
And perhaps most importantly, it reduces the anxiety that often comes with high-stakes speaking. You’re not going in cold. You’ve already practiced fielding the hard questions. You’ve already said it out loud. You’ve tweaked your phrasing when it felt a bit awkward. Your voice—and your thinking and confidence—are warmed up and ready.
A Coach’s Takeaway
In coaching, we often talk about showing up as your whole self. That means aligning your inner clarity with your outer expression. Generative AI can’t replace that inner work—but it can support the outer expression by helping you speak your ideas with more fluency, confidence, and authenticity, and it’s available whenever you need it.
So next time you're prepping to present your work, don't just re-read your slides. Ask your AI to quiz you. Talk back to it. Hear yourself explain what matters most. You’ll not only be better prepared—you’ll be practicing the very skills that distinguish good communicators from great ones.
What about you?
Have you used generative AI to rehearse a talk or prep for a big meeting? How did it help—or what surprised you? If you haven’t, I encourage you to give it a try. Hit reply or leave a comment—I’d love to hear how this is showing up in your professional life. And if you are a GenAI skeptic, I’d love to hear about that, too.
Good reminder to use this for my strategy presentation next week!