Public speaking course finder
Coursera and edX lessons, practice and feedback make up a typical public speaking course; free online courses cover structure, delivery and nerve control, while paid and live ones add a coach and a real audience.
- free or paid
- online self-paced
- live/in-person
- certificate
Last reviewed
| Course | Provider | Format | Length | Free? | Certificate | Practice with feedback? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PS 100 · TOP PICKConfidently | AI practice app | Self-paced, on your phone | 30 seconds a rep, then daily games | Free 30-second test | No | Yes: instant voice and face scores, filler-word count |
| PS 101Introduction to Public Speaking | University of Washington, on Coursera | Self-paced | 5 modules, about 10 hours | Free trial; then paid | Yes | Yes: recorded speeches, peer review |
| PS 102Public Speaking | RITx, on edX | Self-paced | 3 weeks, 4 to 6 hours a week | Free audit | $199 | Not listed |
| PS 103Public Speaking Foundations (2023) | LinkedIn Learning, with Laura Bergells | Self-paced video | 1 hour 1 minute | 1-month free trial | Yes | Not listed |
| PS 104Public Speaking | Alison | Self-paced, with video | 1.5 to 3 hours | Free | Paid; check current price | Not listed |
| PS 105TED Masterclass | TED, on YouTube Courses (US only) | Self-paced video | Not listed | Check current price | Not listed | Not listed |
| PS 201Public Speaking Mastery | Dale Carnegie | Live, in person | 2 days | No: US$ 2,395 | Not listed | Yes: personal direction, video of your talks |
| PS 202Fearless Presentations class | The Leaders Institute | Live, in person | 2 days | No: $2,295 | Yes | Yes: 1-on-1 coaching |
| PS 203Live practice sessions | AmberWillo. Best for practising in front of real people from home | Live online video, small group of up to 15 | Short speeches each round, on your schedule | Free to start | Not listed | Yes: real people on video, then a confidence score, coaching notes and a milestone |
Course codes are this page's own numbering. Every cell was checked on the provider's own page on October 15, 2026; Dale Carnegie's price is from its Tampa Bay schedule and Fearless Presentations' from San Francisco. Confirm before you enroll.
Pair any course with daily reps
A course gives you the method. You get better by speaking out loud, often, and hearing what to fix. Most self-paced courses above don't list feedback on your own voice, so add a practice layer:
- Two random words, 30 seconds speaking out loud
- Scores for your voice and your face, out of 10
- Your filler words counted, and the one thing to fix first
Free on iPhone and Android
How to choose a course
Choosing a public speaking course is matching the format to your goal. It means deciding first whether you need theory, feedback or a certificate. The price of a course rises with live feedback: the self-paced options above run from free to about $200 for an edX certificate, and the 2-day live classes cost over $2,000.
reducing anxiety
Pick a course that teaches anxiety methods and makes you speak: RITx Public Speaking covers controlling public speaking anxiety. A meta-analysis of 30 trials found technology-assisted help works as well as face-to-face help. For live reps from home, AmberWillo puts you on a video call with no more than 15 people working on the same thing, and it costs nothing to start.
work presentations
A short LinkedIn Learning course covers the basics in an hour; for a high-stakes talk, look at public speaking classes with a live group.
keynote speeches
Go live: a 2-day class with coaching and video review of your talks.
corporate team
Dale Carnegie takes requests for training 10 or more employees, and some Toastmasters clubs meet at corporations for regular practice.
free online course
Audit a course on edX or take Alison's free one, then practice out loud every day with a free app.
certificate
Coursera, edX, LinkedIn Learning and Alison issue one, as part of a paid plan or for a fee.
What a course should cover
A good public speaking course is a mix of lessons and speaking practice. It means you record or deliver real speeches, not just watch videos. The core of a course is the same six topics:
- Structure
- Outlining a talk around one key point.
- Delivery
- Voice, gestures and presence.
- Anxiety
- Methods to manage nerves before and during a talk.
- Persuasion
- Rhetoric and evaluating arguments.
- Presentation skills
- Slides, openings, closings and taking questions.
- Feedback
- Peer review, a coach or video of yourself.
The lessons end, the practice shouldn't: here is how to improve public speaking after the course ends. Not sure how to practice alone? Run a scored 30-second rep on your phone.
What a course does for your career
A course pays off where speaking is judged. In AmberWillo's data from 1,851 people working on their nerves, 38% say their mind goes blank, and in job interviews it climbs to 46%. A public speaking career uses your voice to inform, persuade or entertain, and those are the speech types a course drills:
- Informative speech
- Teaches the audience something new, with no ask attached.
- Persuasive speech
- Asks the audience to change a belief or take an action.
- Storytelling
- A personal story to open or prove a point; even one story makes a speech more memorable (AmberWillo storytelling guide).
A typical free online course runs 1 to 4 weeks (AmberWillo free course guide). The catch with any course is what happens after the last lesson. A 30-second Confidently rep keeps the habit alive on your own, and AmberWillo's small online sessions give you real people to talk to. For the confidence side, publicspeakingconfidence.co and fearofpublicspeaking.info go deeper.
Free courses
A free public speaking course is one you can take without paying, usually online and self-paced. It means the lessons are free, while the certificate on a free course costs extra. Most free options below don't list feedback on your own speeches, so plan your own practice out loud alongside them.
- edX: audit RITx Public Speaking for free.
- Alison: Public Speaking, free, 1.5 to 3 hours.
- Coursera and LinkedIn Learning: free trials.
- Confidently: the free 30-second test.
No time for a course this week? Start with public speaking tips you can use today.
Reader questions
Quick answers to what people ask.
Which course is best for public speaking?
The one that matches your goal. Want theory for free? Audit RITx Public Speaking on edX. Want feedback on your actual speeches? Coursera's Introduction to Public Speaking has peer-reviewed speech assignments. Big talk coming up? A live 2-day class. And for daily reps, Confidently's free 30-second test works next to any of them.
Are there free public speaking classes?
Yes. edX lets you audit its public speaking courses for free, and Alison's Public Speaking course is free. Coursera and LinkedIn Learning offer free trials. Certificates, and access after a trial, cost money.
Is public speaking college class hard?
Usually not if you keep up. Sophia's college-level Public Speaking course, for example, is pass/fail: you need an overall score of 70% across 14 challenges, 5 milestones and 5 touchstones. The hard part for most people is the speeches, not the tests.
What are the 7 Ps of public speaking?
Pronunciation, pace, pause, punch, power, passion and posture. That's the list Archbishop Beck Catholic College uses; other schools use different P-lists.
Sources
- Coursera: Introduction to Public Speaking
- edX: RITx Public Speaking
- LinkedIn Learning: Public Speaking Foundations
- Alison: Public Speaking
- TED Masterclass
- Dale Carnegie: Public Speaking Mastery
- Fearless Presentations: San Francisco class
- Toastmasters International: My First Meeting
- Sophia Learning: Public Speaking
- Meta-analysis: interventions for fear of public speaking
- Archbishop Beck Catholic College: the 7 P's
- AmberWillo: speaking problems survey of 1,851 people
- AmberWillo: public speaking career
- AmberWillo: storytelling in public speaking
- AmberWillo: free online public speaking course
- Confidently: 8,184 scored practice sessions
Last reviewed .