Six Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Public Speaking Coach
A totally unbiased guide to finding a speech coach who’s right for you.
Caution: You may still encounter subliminal “hire me!” messaging throughout this article.
I’ll start by laying my cards on the table: I, Jamie Silva, am a public speaking coach, and I would like you to hire me. So in my ideal world, the Q&A would go something like this:
Q: Hi! are you Jamie Silva, founder & owner of Silva Speech Coaching?
A: Speaking!
Q: Enough said. When can we start? 😀
Rest assured, though—this won’t be a self-promotional puff piece. What follows are useful, relevant questions you can ask any prospective coach to ensure you select someone who best fits your needs.
1. Do you customize your lessons for each student? How?
This is at the top of the list because it’s the most important. In my experience, every student is different, with a unique mix of speaking goals, struggles and strengths. Sure, there are similarities between many, and recognizing patterns and parallels across students—current and past—can help the instructor provide valuable insights. But just as no therapist would give the same blanket advice to every patient, speaking coaches shouldn’t serve up cookie-cutter guidance to every student. This misses crucial person-to-person variations, uses session time inefficiently, and often leaves the student wondering what advice applies specifically to them, and what was just a shot in the dark.
A speaking coach touting a Tried & True 10-Step Program for every student may sound appealing—like they’ve got a special system or have cracked the code to top-notch presenting. And to be fair, there may be a lot of great content in that program! But it’s just not the same—not as reliable, not as valuable, not as you.
“It’s all in Chapter 3.”
One easy way to tell whether a coach tailors their lessons to individual students is whether they ask you questions—questions that would inform a customized lesson plan—or whether they prefer to hype their Proven Method or New Book. If they don’t ask about you & what you’re looking for, consider going elsewhere.
2. Do you teach public speaking full-time, or do you offer other services as well?
“I’m also a mechanic!”
Often, folks will offer a whole slew of coaching or related services: acting lessons, life coaching, executive training, accent reduction, English as a Second Language (ESL) tutoring, resume review, etc. The versatility may look impressive, but you know what they say about a jack of all trades. 😬 A dedicated—in the sense of being devoted solely to one task or enterprise—public speaking coach likely has deeper knowledge and expertise in that specific area, & can therefore serve you better.
3. How many public speaking students are you personally teaching right now?
Very few students may be a red flag. Maybe the coach is just getting started and has little experience, or speaking coaching is just a side gig. Doesn’t mean they can’t be great! When I was getting started, I fit both those descriptions. (Though I was also much cheaper, in keeping with my novice status.)
A ton—say, 50 or above—could also be a red flag. With such a large roster, devoting sufficient time and attention to each student may be a challenge—and finding slots on the coach’s busy calendar may be difficult, rendering scheduling a hassle.
If the coach declines to give even an approximate number, that’s definitely a red flag. This is information you can use, and it needn’t be confidential.
“How about we all teach you at once!”
4. Will you be the one teaching me?
Some coaching outfits have a whole bunch of tutors, and the first person you talk to may not be the one you get if you sign up. If this is the case, ask to speak to whoever would be coaching you specifically, so you can properly vet their methods, expertise and general vibe. Doesn’t matter how impressive the company is overall, since the company doesn’t coach you—a specific person does. Ask to speak to & get to know that person in particular.
5. How long will it take to reach my speaking goals?
Expect the coach to hedge some here, because it really does depend on several things. Such as: How ambitious are those goals? How far away from them are you starting? How often will sessions take place? Will the student regularly practice any assigned exercises/activities? Taken together, these can dramatically impact a student’s progress, and a simple “oh, 5 sessions and you’ll be all set!” sort of response indicates the coach isn’t properly considering all the variables, or is telling you what they think you want to hear and hoping for the best.
However! The coach should be able to give you a ballpark estimate—both because it’s reasonable to wonder when you’ll see results, and because it’s prudent to set expectations. Speaking for myself, the vast majority of my students report material, visible progress in whatever we’re working on—vocal delivery, speaking anxiety, etc.—within 3 - 5 sessions. And by session 7 or 8 (if we get that far—often it doesn’t take that long), then I usually feel the student is ready to “graduate.” (Read more about that process here.) This doesn’t mean perfection has been achieved—that’s a very high bar! More so that we both agree that they’ve made a ton of progress, they’re speaking & feeling way better, they’ve heard all my relevant suggestions, and they know how to use what they’ve learned to keep fine-tuning their speaking without paying for a coach.
6. Could you review recordings of me speaking?
Reel-to-reel tapes not required.
This is an oft-overlooked aspect of customization and overall coaching effectiveness. To be sure, a skilled coach can get a good read on a student’s needs & strengths simply by listening to them speak live during a session, and some amount of live in-session practice should be included regardless. Recordings, however, permit a deeper level of analysis. The coach can review the tapes several times if need be, confirming his or her impressions, honing in on subtler errors, identifying speaking patterns, and highlighting specific timestamps that illustrate various points or suggestions. & if those recordings can come from live work settings, that’s even more valuable, since it give the coach a glimpse of how you speak in real, potentially higher-pressure settings.
Reviewing assigned recordings before the session also allows the coach to bring prepared feedback—a more efficient use of session time, since less of it is taken up by live speaking attempts.
Note: The recording review service will have an added cost, since the coach will have to spend extra time analyzing them. If that’s not in your budget, then the traditional Live Practice Only model may be the way to go.
Hopefully that gives you some food for thought! In return for reading this far, here’s a little checklist of more basic questions that you might have thought of anyway, but at least now they’re all assembled in one place. Enjoy!
What’s your coaching experience?
What does a typical coaching session look like?
Who are your typical clients?
What’s your rate? Is it by the session or hour?
How often would we meet?
Will this be remote or in person?
What’s your availability? Are some days or times of day off limits?
What’s your cancellation policy?
