The Presentation Trainer (PT) is a tool to improve a user’s public speaking by tracking her or his body and voice, observing aspects of nonverbal communication, and giving real-time feedback. Assessment results showed that users’ performance improved over five sessions of use, while the performance of a control group remained stable. Post-session questionnaires showed that PT users believed they were learning better than the control group, preferred using the tool to classroom instruction, and were much less bored.

Most of the paper describes the design of the tool. The nonverbal aspects observed were body posture, hand gestures, voice volume modulation, pauses in speaking, number of “filler sounds” (hmm, aah, and so forth), and switching weight from one leg to another while presenting. The physical aspects were captured using the Microsoft Kinect sensor, and the auditory aspects through what appears to be standard circuits. Feedback was presented to the user both through a video screen and a vibrating wristband.

The PT logged all “presentation actions,” noteworthy events in the presentation. To avoid overloading the user, only one piece of feedback was presented at a time, and the strategy implemented was to show the oldest presentation action. Feedback can be corrective or interruptive. The log of all presentation actions is available to the user after the session. The paper notes that specific feedback is given--for example, “You have not gestured in the last 20 seconds”--rather than general advice--such as, “Be calm.” The paper is exceptionally clear and well organized. The device appears to be effective.