Public Speaking Praise

65 Ways to Say Good Job

Public speaking praise is an essential part of speechmastery. Note that most of these point to the action and not the person. This is key to successful public speaking praise. It is best to praise the action and not the person.

This was written for the student in the classroom setting. It will need to be adapted for professional settings and public speaking.

BY EDWARD S. KUBANY

EVERYONE KNOWS that a little praise goes a long way in any classroom. But "a little praise" really needs to be something more than the same few phrases repeated over and over ad nauseum. Your students need more than the traditional "Good," "Very good" and "Fine" if encouragement is in the cards. Here are some additional possibilities:

That's really nice
Thank you very much
Wow!
That's great
I like the way you're working
Keep up the good work
Everyone's working so hard
That's quite an improvement
Much better
Keep it up
It's a pleasure to teach when you work like this
Good job
What neat work
You really outdid yourself today
This kind of work pleases me very much
Congratulations. You only missed _____
That's right! Good for you
Terrific
I bet your Mom and Dad would be proud to see the job you did on this
Beautiful
I'm very proud of the way you worked (are working) today
Excellent work
I appreciate your help
Very good. Why don't you show the class?
Thank you for (sitting down, being quiet, getting right to work, etc.)
Marvelous
Groovy
Right on
For sure
Sharp
That looks like it's going to be a great report
I like the way Tom is working
My goodness, how impressive!
You're on the right track now
That's "A" work
John is in line
Mary is waiting quietly
Dickie got right down to work
Ann is paying attention
It looks like you put a lot of work into this
That's clever
Very creative
Very interesting
Good thinking
That's an interesting way of looking at it
Now you've figured it out
Clifford has it
That's the right answer
Now you've got the hang of it
Exactly right

Super
Superior work
That's a good point
That's a very good observation
That certainly is one way of looking at it
That's an interesting point of view
Thank you for raising your hand, Charles. What is it?
Sherrie is really going to town
You've got it now
Out of sight
Nice going
Far out
You make it look easy
That's coming along nicely
I like the way Bill (the class) has settled down

Dr. Edward S. Kubany

This article was first published in September 1972, in Teacher, 90(1), pg. 47. He and his publisher have placed the article in the public domain.

Can you think of other ways to use public speaking praise. How about for employees, colleagues and others.

Speechmastery.com: The Public Speaking Praise Website

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