PowerPoint 365 logo

Do you have an important presentation coming up and find yourself stressing whether you can deliver an engaging one?  Well stress no more!  PowerPoint 365 for the web has an exciting feature entitled Rehearse with Coach that helps you practice in private to deliver a more effective presentation. Powered by the cloud-enhanced Microsoft Speech Services feature, Coach evaluates your pacing, pitch, use of filler words, informal speech, as well as detects if you are being overly wordy with the use of repetitive words or simply reading the text on a slide.​

All you need is a microphone and a quiet setting to use Rehearse with Coach. Currently, Coach only understands English and is only available when your Office user interface language preference is set to English.

To start rehearsing just follow these steps:

  • Open a new or existing PowerPoint online presentation.
  • Navigate to the Slide Show tab, in the Rehearse group, and select Rehearse with Coach (the presentation opens in a full-screen view).
  • Select Start Rehearsing in the Welcome dialog box (wait to start speaking until you see ..).
  • As you speak, Coach gives on-screen guidance about use of filler words, informal phrases, and whether you are reading the text on the slides.
  • At the end of rehearsal, press Esc to exit full-screen view. Coach opens a Rehearsal Report that summarizes your performance that includes feedback, statistics, and offers suggestions for improvements.​
  • After you review your rehearsal report, you can close the window, or select Rehearse Again to practice the recommendations you have received. Note: The rehearsal report does not offer a save option (if you want to save a copy of it, you must take a screenshot).

Your pace is shown in the rehearsal report, with a graph showing the variance of your speaking rate and pitch over the length of the presentation. Coach listens for filler words because research indicates that a presenter who frequently uses filler words is perceived by the audience as less confident in his or her information which, in turn, can make the audience less confident in the story being told. Coach also gives you a gentle nudge by suggesting specific replacement terms for certain words.

Watch Rehearse with Coach in action:

PPT Rehearse Report Summary