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How to Give an Impromptu Speech, with Examples

March 2, 2021 - Dom Barnard

An impromptu speech is when you’re asked to speak in public without prior notice. It can be one of the most terrifying speeches you’ll ever do; standing up in front of a crowd and having to speak for a few minutes without preparation is daunting, even for the most seasoned speakers.

It’s not likely to happen often, however when it does, you don’t want to be caught completely off-guard. Here are a few things to bear in mind if you’re asked to speak at short notice.

Impromptu speech definition

An impromptu speech is given with little or no preparation, yet almost always with some advance knowledge on the topic. This is sometimes referred to as “off the cuff” or “spur of the moment”.

For example, in class, a teacher may ask a student to give a short impromptu speech about a topic that was in the assigned readings. Business meetings may also start with everyone talking briefly about what they have done recently on the project.

In small informal meetings, the audience will interrupt an impromptu speech and ask questions, which helps guide the speech and the information that is presented.

When campaigning, politicians sometimes respond to reporters or voters almost anywhere and at any time.

Comedians are well known for their impromptu replies to hecklers, which are sometimes planned, but usually made up on the spot.

Tips on giving an impromptu speech

If you are about to make an impromptu speech and have a few minutes to prepare, follow these two tips:

1. Make some quick notes

The first thing you should do when asked to speak is to grab a pen and a piece of paper (or napkin – whatever you can find to write on). Jot down a few initial ideas, or even just a few words that you can expand upon during your speech.

If you don’t write anything else, make sure you’ve written down your  starting  and ending sentences, as these are the most important.

2. Decide on the tone

Next, think about what tone to speak in. This will depend on the type of event you’re at. For example, at a wedding, you would speak informally, and you can have fun with the speech, whereas at a business conference you would speak more formally and stick to a professional tone.

Impromptu speech frameworks

This is when it gets easy. Pick one of these frameworks to use as a structure for your impromptu speech, and you’ll instantly feel more prepared. They’re easy to remember, so you won’t have to write them down – instead write down keywords for each point.

1. The 5 Ws

Useful for when you’re speaking about a person or specific event

Following the 5 Ws provides instant structure to your speech, and you’ll be able to organise your thoughts in an easy-to-follow way. You don’t even need to change the order – starting with ‘who’ gives context to the speech and ending with ‘why’ leaves the audience with the most important, relatable point.

• Who  – who is involved in the event or who is attending
• What  – what event are you at and what are the common goals?
• Where  – where is the event, how did the initiative the event revolves around start?
• When  – is the timing of the event important? What does the future hold?
• Why  – why is everyone there? Why are  you  there?

For example, if you’re talking about a fundraising event, you could say who started the charity, what the goals are, where it is heading, when the event is happening, and why it’s important.

2. Diplomatic framework

Useful for formal occasions such as a business conference.

For this impromptu speech, start by talking about the advantages and disadvantages of the  subject topic , then end with a conclusion.

This will make your speech informative and enable you to talk for a longer period of time than the 5 Ws. It’s important not to be  afraid of silence  when using this framework.

Given that there is less room for creativity, you may find you need to pause to think about what you’re going to say next. While you think, you could walk up and down the stage slightly as if you are letting your last point settle, ask if there are any questions, or ask for a glass of water.

These techniques all buy you more time if your mind goes blank and save you (and your audience) from feeling awkward about a prolonged silence.

3. Storytelling

Useful for informal events such as weddings and book launches.

Storytelling is a powerful method of speaking and is an easy way of  connecting with the audience . When having to speak when you aren’t prepared, start off small, then medium, and end large. Basically, talk about the event from an individual perspective, then a group or national perspective, and end with the bigger picture.

For example, if you’re asked to give a  speech at a wedding , you could talk about when you met the couple and your experiences with them (small), what their relationship and marriage means to the rest of the wedding guests (medium), and end with the future of their relationship and their family legacy.

Practice impromptu speeches

Impromptu speeches, by their nature, are hard to practice for. You don’t know what the topic will be or the type of audience you’ll be facing. However, the more you practice, the better you’ll be when the impromptu situation arises.

We’ve designed an  impromptu speaking exercise  with the following:

• Speak about what’s on a random slide for 30 seconds each slide
• Feedback on your performance so you can identify areas that need improving
• Audio of the practice session is recorded so that you can listen back and self-evaluate your performance

You’ll practice quick thinking by talking about a series of random slides for 30 seconds each. You’ll be able to give speeches at short notice and answer questions more easily with this brain training.

Examples of an impromptu speech

Here are two examples of impromptu speeches. The videos skip the short preparation time and start when the speaker starts speaking.

Being able to deliver an impromptu speech is an important skill to have and will save you a lot of anxiety when you’re asked to speak at the last minute.

To prepare yourself for the unknown, try an  impromptu practice exercise  so that your brain is trained to think on the spot. Not only is this an effective way to learn, but it’s also fun!

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How to Give a Great Impromptu Speech

Last Updated: March 19, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Lynn Kirkham . Lynn Kirkham is a Professional Public Speaker and Founder of Yes You Can Speak, a San Francisco Bay Area-based public speaking educational business empowering thousands of professionals to take command of whatever stage they've been given - from job interviews, boardroom talks to TEDx and large conference platforms. Lynn was chosen as the official TEDx Berkeley speaker coach for the last four years and has worked with executives at Google, Facebook, Intuit, Genentech, Intel, VMware, and others. There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 406,523 times.

Most speeches are the result of careful planning, revision and practice. There may be times, however, when a situation demands that you give an impromptu speech with little or no time to prepare. When you find yourself in an unexpected public speaking scenario, you’ll be improvising what you say, which means you’ll have to be able to think on your feet. Following a basic structure, pacing yourself and staying composed will help you deliver an oration you can be proud of, or at least survive with minimal embarrassment.

Setting Up an Unexpected Speech

• Most of the time when you’re giving an impromptu speech, you’ll be singled out to say a few words on the spot. Since you’ll only have a few moments, preparing yourself is more about getting yourself in the right state of mind than it is knowing exactly what you’re going to say.
• If you really need to milk it, you can buy yourself some extra time by shaking hands, exchanging pleasantries or adjusting the microphone stand before speaking.

• Assume that everyone around you wants to see you succeed. This will help put you at ease. Expecting yourself to fail will only destroy your composure and make you more fearful of your audience.
• Confront the reality of your situation to avoid being blindsided by panic. Accept that you have to give a speech and then focus all your resources on giving a good one.

• Oftentimes, the more confident you make yourself appear, the more confident you’ll feel.
• Relax! Speaking in front of a crowd is not that big a deal. Even if you make a mistake, it’s not the end of the world.

• Don’t just jump right into the main idea of your speech. Test the waters by getting used to speaking and sharing a little about yourself first.

Delivering an Effective Speech

• Use simple sentences that follow a logical progression and enunciate your words carefully to keep yourself from getting tongue-tied.
• Slowing yourself down a little will give your mind time to catch up and formulate new ideas.

• Two minutes will fly by once you start speaking. Despite your reservations about being put on the spot, you may actually find it harder to give a short speech than a long one.

• A good way to give your speech a solid beginning, middle and end is to present details chronologically. For example start with “when I first became friends with John, he…”, follow that up with “now that we’re coworkers, we have more fun than ever…” and conclude with “I have no doubt that the future of our friendship will be just as entertaining.”
• When describing personal experiences, avoid sharing opinions on irrelevant controversial subjects.

• Humor is a great icebreaker and also makes it easier to hold your audience’s attention.
• Be sure any jokes you make are suitable for the age and demographic of your audience, as well as the occasion itself.

Ending on a High Note

• As with the rest of your speech, keep your conclusion brief. It’s alright to sign off with a simple “thank you for your time” or “let’s hear it for the newlyweds.”

• If you’re planning on making a specific request or appeal, as for a business conference, the end of your speech is the proper time to do it.
• The conclusion is the perfect occasion to come out with something especially heartfelt. Emotions will run high and the crowd will be moved by your sentiments.

• You don’t have to thank every important figure at the event individually. A general expression of gratitude is all that’s needed.
• Be clear who you’re supposed to hand the microphone or floor off to so that you don’t end your speech by looking around in confusion. [11] X Research source

• Impromptu speeches are mostly appraised by the willingness of the speaker to rise to the occasion. There’s no sense in being too critical of your performance since you’ll have had no time to work on it beforehand.

Expert Q&A

• Practice for unexpected speaking scenarios by volunteering to give impromptu speeches at casual events. Thanks Helpful 16 Not Helpful 2
• If you're using a microphone, stay within optimal range for your voice to be amplified. Don't move the microphone too close or too far away from your mouth. Thanks Helpful 14 Not Helpful 2
• While brainstorming, quickly come up with three or four main points to cover. Thanks Helpful 18 Not Helpful 4

• Steer clear of subjects you don't know much about. Thanks Helpful 13 Not Helpful 2
• Be careful not to offend your audience. Not only is it bad form and will make your speech be perceived as a failure, it could actually harm your standing among your acquaintances. Thanks Helpful 12 Not Helpful 3
• Take a moment to get your appearance in order before presenting yourself. Steal a quick glance in the mirror or have a trusted friend tell you if your hair is a mess, your shirt is untucked, you have food stuck in your teeth, etc. Thanks Helpful 10 Not Helpful 3
• Don't use generic, pre-written speeches pulled from the internet or oration guidebooks. These can easily come off as stilted and inorganic. Your audience will be able to tell if you're simply going through the motions. Thanks Helpful 9 Not Helpful 4

You Might Also Like

• ↑ Lynn Kirkham. Public Speaking Coach. Expert Interview. 20 November 2019.
• ↑ http://wittcom.com/how-to-develop-confidence-speaking/
• ↑ http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/how-to-impromptu-speech/
• ↑ http://www.askmen.com/money/body_and_mind_150/192b_better_living.html
• ↑ http://www.write-out-loud.com/how-to-use-humor-effectively.html
• ↑ https://speakingwithoutnet.wordpress.com/2012/02/08/ending-on-a-high-note-the-last-sentence/
• ↑ https://www.workingvoices.com/insights/presenting-how-to-react-when-you-make-a-mistake/

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How to Give an Impromptu Speech

No Time to Prepare? Don't Despair

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An impromptu speech is a speech that you have to make without much or any time to prepare. In life, this can happen when you attend special events, like weddings or celebrations. In school, teachers use impromptu speeches as  homework assignments to help you develop communication skills and to help you prepare for those future life surprises.

While this may seem like a cruel trick from a student's point of view, it actually builds confidence and is great preparation for life.

Rarely will you be asked to stand and deliver a speech with no warning and no time to organize your thoughts. This would be unusual in the classroom unless the teacher is attempting to make a point about the importance of preparedness.

At some point in your life, however, you may be asked to speak without notice. There are a few things you can do to avoid panic and embarrassment.

• Grab a pen and a piece of paper. If you have a few moments before your speech is expected to begin, grab a writing utensil and something to write on, whether it's a napkin, envelope, or the back of a receipt you have on hand, and jot down a few thoughts .
• Highlight a few interesting or significant points.  Keep in mind, your impromptu speech doesn't have to be long. A little-known fact about effective speeches is that if you start with a good line and then end with a really great punch, the speech will be perceived as a total success. So the beginning and ending markers are critical. The middle portion of your speech should relate to the event you're attending or the class assignment, but if you have to choose one great moment, your ending line is particularly important. If you can walk away gracefully, your speech will be a hit, so keep your big zinger for last.
• Try to memorize key points. If you have time before your speech, create an outline of the major themes or points and commit it to memory with a memorization trick, like an acronym. Don't try to remember the entire speech in detail like this; just remember important points.
• Hijack the topic.  There is an old trick that politicians use when they're being interviewed on TV, and once you realize this, you can use it yourself. They think of questions ahead of time (or topics to discuss), prepare some talking points, and talk about those, despite the topic or question they're given. This is a handy trick when you're facing a hard question or asked to discuss a topic with which you're unfamiliar.
• Remember you're in charge of this time.  Your goal is to deliver a one-sided conversation, off the cuff, so you are in complete control. Relax and make it your own. If you want to make this a funny story about your pesky little brother who always bothers you during homework time, then do it. Everyone will applaud your effort.
• Feel free to acknowledge that you have not prepared for a speech. If you are speaking in front of friends or family, it may ease your nervousness to express your lack of preparation. This should not be an attempt to garner pity, but rather a way to put yourself and your audience at ease. Then, take a deep breath before you begin speaking. Zone out the audience or choose someone specific to focus on, whichever makes you more comfortable.
• Begin with your introductory sentence, elaborate, then start working your way to your ending sentence.  Fill in the middle space with as many points as you can, elaborating on each one as you go. Just concentrate on the zinger you've reserved for the end.
• As you deliver your speech, concentrate on diction and tone.  If you are thinking about this, you won't be thinking about the eyes watching you. Your mind can't think about too many things at once, so think about breathing, enunciating your words, and controlling your tone, and you'll maintain more control.

What to Do If You Draw a Blank

If you suddenly lose your train of thought or draw a complete blank, there are a few you can do to keep from panicking.

• Pretend you're pausing on purpose. Walk back and forth slowly, as if you're letting your last point sink in.
• There is always a jokester or friendly person who will stand out in the crowd. Make eye contact and try to draw a response from him or her while you think.
• If you need more time to think, you may want to ask the audience a question. Have a few prepared ahead, like "Do you have any questions," or "Can everyone hear me okay?"
• If you still can't remember what you were going to say, make up a reason to pause the speech. You can say, "I'm sorry, but my throat is very dry. Can I please get a glass of water?" Someone will go to get you a drink, and you will have time to think of two or three points to talk about.

If these tricks don't appeal to you, think of your own. The goal is to have something ready for every possible scenario ahead of time. If you know you may be asked to give an impromptu speech soon, try going through the entire preparation process with a few common speech topics .

When caught off guard, many people can suffer extreme anxiety about speaking off the cuff. That's why the best speakers are always prepared.

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How to Deliver an Impromptu Speech: A Comprehensive Guide

Hrideep barot.

• Speech Writing , Toastmasters

It was in eighth grade when I gave my first impromptu speech. Being an introvert, delivering a well-rehearsed speech was itself a big deal, let alone an impromptu one.

It was during one of the monthly events in school where we were seated and waiting for the chief guest to arrive. To fill the gap and to keep the audience engaged, the volunteers called out names at random who were supposed to talk about any topic.

My cortisol and adrenaline levels were at its peak when they called out my name. It was more of a ‘say something, and get embarrassed’ or ‘stay quiet and get embarrassed’ situation.

Since either way, the outcome was to ‘get embarrassed,’ I went with the former, and till today, my friends make fun of me. But, it was a much needed push to not be afraid of going on stage. Since then, I tried to learn more about giving speeches on the spot so I could save myself from so-called embarrassing moments!

So, let me save you from such a situation and help you deliver an exceptional impromptu speech. I understand it’s challenging if you’re like me, but hey, it’s the baby steps that matter the most. So, read on to find out more about it.

What Exactly is an Impromptu Speech?

An impromptu speech is a speech delivered with zero preparation. It can be at an office meeting, job interview, or an event. One needs to be vigilant and mentally prepared at all times when it comes to giving an impromptu speech.

Imagine this. You’re at your colleague’s dinner party on a Friday evening. While trying to get ‘in the mood,’ your pal suddenly calls you to come on stage and talk about the evening.

It’s untimely, and you’re unprepared. But, you must present the best version of yourself at the moment. Now, that’s what is called an impromptu speech.

If you’re the type who does not like social interaction or fears being on stage, then delivering an impromptu speech might be quite challenging.

Scenarios Where You Might be Asked to Give an Impromptu Speech

• When you’re at an art exhibition, a reporter might come up to interview you.
• You might be asked to talk about your friend or colleague during a send-off.
• If you’re attending any conference or talks, you get questioned about the event/topic.
• Business meetings are a commonplace where you’re interrogated about your ideas or updates on the project unexpectedly.
• During events, the speaker might choose you to come on stage and demonstrate or talk about anything.
• Dinner parties are a common place where you might have to speak about if the person hosting is close to you.
• College farewells and events are also where you might have to speak on-spot.
• If you’re interning at an organization, you can be called upon stage anytime to share your experience. It can also be while bidding adieu without prior notice.
• Job interviews are also one of the places where your wit is tested. No matter the amount of preparation, you get asked bizarre questions.

7 Tips to Deliver a Captivating Impromptu Speech

1. Understand That You Only Need to Talk About Your Experiences

When someone gives us a topic, we prepare, rehearse it till the last minute and present it at one go. But, in an impromptu speech, you’re not given a topic that you will not know.

The prime focus of the subject will be either you or your surroundings. If you think about it, this is more straightforward.

It can be about your journey with your colleagues, your company’s latest product, or about your best friend. These are always easy to interpret.  

Well, If you think about it, impromptu speaking has been a part of our everyday lives unknowingly. When you meet a stranger at a cafe or when you head to a nearby store, it is impromptu.

You might be asked to speak on random topics like “Why should one not be a part of the rat-race,” or “Why is it ideal to embrace adversities?” Though these are just examples to give you an overview, you might be asked to speak on any topic under the sun. It all depends on where you are.

2. Learn to Describe What You See Around

We commute to different places in a day, and we see plenty of things happening around. If your friend tells you to describe that cute guy/girl you met on the metro ride, you would go on and on about him/her.

But, if you’re asked to describe a pretty vase on your table, you end it in a few seconds. Learning to describe is an art.

More than describing, it’s about building strong opinions for issues that concern us. Let’s say, the topic is “Your take on mental health.” Though this is a pretty general topic, it’s about your perspective on that particular topic. The upsides and downsides of the issue, the why and what of it. Forming opinions and describing it with actual facts adds a lot of credibility to your speech.

Once you master it, it’ll be easy for you to deliver any speech. If you’re an introvert, you might be well-versed at playing with words on a blank white sheet, but practicing the same by talking can help you with presenting better.

Be a keen observer, try to watch the details. The more you observe, the better you will be able to relate your personal story to the facts, and your audience will love it when your speech is relatable and not generalized.

3. Organize Your Thoughts

I have this problem where a bunch of things will be going on in my mind simultaneously. It’s complete chaos where I end up speaking irrelevant things.

So especially if you’re new to going on stage unprepared, then more than making points, you might start worrying about what others might think of you.

I’ve gone through that, my face would be as red as a tomato and I completely screw up the speech as my voice would stutter and show that I’m obviously nervous.

So, it’s essential to organize your thoughts and prioritize the ones that you want to talk about first.  Also, an impromptu speech is a short speech, so even if you have plenty of things in your mind, filter them and say the best ones. It should be short, engaging, and the audience should resonate with what you say.

A basic strategy is to ask yourself the 5 W’s and H questions when you’re called on stage. Taking the example of “Is it ideal to embrace adversities?” well, you start by asking yourself why is it ideal, how can one overcome, what is the best way to deal with it, and so on.

You can start your speech by speaking about the time when YOU experienced such a situation in your life, move on to tell about how it affected you internally, and finally the ways you overcame your adversity. Conclude by going back to the topic and answering it.

Here, the audience is able to relate to your personal story and also motivate them in the end. This way, you can deliver your impromptu speech more effectively and without much effort. You never know, you might surprise yourself in the end.

4. Try and be as Candid as Possible

Now that you’ve learned to describe things, describing your experiences should be easy.  As mentioned above, though describing the lowest point in your life may not be easy, you can add characters to it and speak as a different story.

When someone asks you to deliver an impromptu speech, go straight up to the stage (this is the time to recollect every possible thing) and express what you feel at that very moment.

If it’s about your colleague or mentor, you can start by speaking about one of the most cherished moments with them, what qualities you liked and learned from them, and how they brought in a positive change in your life.

I’ve seen people who try to be extra formal but end up ruining their speech or make it boring. Just breathe and talk your heart out. No amount of preparation can beat the candid speech ever. It’s the one that comes from your soul, and the one, that touches the audience’s heart.

5. Go with the Flow and be Light-hearted

If you’re a newbie, your first few speeches will not be the way you expect it to be. If you want to be the best version of you, then you need to face complicated situations.

Well, not all the time, but if you land in such a position, embrace it. Never let that consume you. You’re not stooping low and disrespecting yourself, you’re saving yourself from intensifying the situation. It shows you’re confident enough too. 

I bet, even the best speaker would have been through an embarrassing situation at least once.

6. Set a Brand for Yourself

It was during one of my first few speeches in school where I tried imitating the hand gestures similar to that of my classmate. It was so obvious, and also, it did not go well with my personality. So, never do that.

If you’ve watched TEDx Talks, you might have observed that every individual has a unique way of conveying their story to the audience, whether it’s the tone or the body language.

Thus, be comfortable with yourself and your body. You will see the results for yourself. An impromptu speech judges who you are. It’s those few minutes that shows the world who you are. Give your best shot no matter what.

7. It’s Okay to Screw Up in an Impromptu Speech

You might forget your topic while on stage, or you might end up being blank in between your speech. That’s totally alright. It’s a matter of time and everyone would have gone through the same phase.

Learn from it and avoid making that mistake the next time. Maybe even your fifth speech might not be good, but your tenth or twelfth speech will definitely be better than your previous speeches and no one can stop you from there.

Remember, it’s okay to screw up and it’s okay to be reckless. In the end, you will be happy to have that experience. Here’s former NFL player, Bo Eason, telling his students why being reckless is actually a good thing: 

Impromptu Speech Outline

Like any other speech, an impromptu speech has the same structure: the introduction, the body and the conclusion.

Introduction

There are many ways you can start during an impromptu speech. Like always, the introduction should be captivating. 

Gone are the days where the usual “Hello Everyone, I’m ABC and so on” was the norm for starting a speech. It gives the impression that your speech will be boring right from the beginning. 

• One way is by sharing a quick personal story. You can start this way, “I remember the time when I was in a similar situation…”
• Another way is to ask questions. You get enough time to recall notable points. Questioning your audience can buy you extra time if you do not remember right away. (Keep in mind that you do not make majority speech a question-answer session. You’re out there to speak, not to make the audience speak).
• Also, knowing your audience and the time of the presentation is equally important. It can be at an NGO, a corporate place, or even a party. Start your speech accordingly. Knowing your audience can help you be a lot more contextual.

Thus, start with a relatable quote or come up with one. Share a story that is relatable to all. Your introduction is a gateway to you as an individual. Keep it simple yet effective.

Related Article: 15 Powerful Speech Opening Lines (And How to Create Your Own)

Now since an impromptu speech is only for a couple of minutes, you need not rush to conclude your speech. Honestly, I even dread to talk continuously for 2 minutes, so a couple of minutes on stage is a big deal for me. Breathing helps to calm my nerves. I remind myself to live in the moment and continue my story.

• If you’re speaking on “Mental Health,” make 3 to 4 informative points like when did you realize mental health is important, how important is it to focus on our overall well-being, in what way does it affect our day-to-day lives, why is there a stigma around it, how can everyone join as a community and offer help, and so on.

If you have gone through any mental health issues, you can share your story and deliver the speech. You can also talk about personal experiences.

• If it’s a light topic, go on about the details of it, what made you despise or love that phase of life, relate it with the current topic, add facts, quotes, references from movies, or stories if you remember that very moment.

The body of the speech should be informative and engaging. Try not to make it too long. Keep it to the point with all the details included.

Conclu sion

The conclusion is as essential as your introduction. Maybe a little more valuable as your audience will remember your conclusion more than anything. You can either make a gist of your speech and stress on the important points in the end or end it by speaking something that is motivating and inspirational.

• If it’s on Mental Health, you can probably end it by saying “Let’s push the pause button and not be too busy to not care about the one’s next to us. The least we could do is to ask ‘How are you? Are you OK?’ to the people around us. You never know, it might make a huge difference and bring positivity and hope among everyone.”
• If it’s a wedding party, be energetic and lively. You can simply end by congratulating the couples and telling the audience to enjoy the evening.
• If it’s business-related, you can end it with a ‘success’ quote or something compelling enough that is contextual to a business setting.

Keep your speech short, crisp, and sweet.

Related article: 5 Ways to End Your Speech With Maximum Impact!

I came across this video and loved every bit of the impromptu speech. The speaker starts with a story as an example, relates it to our lives, and explains why we should live like the character in the story ending on a positive note with a great message.

How to be Better Prepared for Impromptu Speeches

“The very best impromptu speeches are the ones written well in advance.”  Ruth Gordon

Though an impromptu speech is delivered straight away without preparation, if you practice for a couple of minutes every day, you will definitely nail it. Here are some of the ways to improve your impromptu skills and gain confidence by speaking on-spot on a daily basis. It will help you think fast and deliver your thoughts effectively.

1. Practice at Home With Your Family

 The best way to deliver an impromptu speech is to practice more. Ask your family members to give you a topic on-spot every day. It can be a short 5 min session where you practice one topic or one-hour session where each family member takes turns and speaks on any given topic. A perfect bonding moment as well. Once you develop the confidence to speak in front of your family members, you will be much more comfortable speaking in front of strangers. 

2. Call a Friend

You can call your friends and play pick-and-speak . It will definitely be fun and everyone can improve their impromptu skills. It’s always entertaining with friends when they come up with cool topics.

Call your friend up and give her a topic. Let her speak on the topic for a minute or two. After she’s done, switch your roles and allow her to give you a topic. Once you both are done speaking, evaluate each other and give feedback on how you can improve each other’s speeches.

This is a short, effective and fun way of practicing and gives you a buddy to practice and track your progress with.

3. Attending Toastmasters

You can join a Toastmaster’s club near as they help you in improving your speaking skills. You meet like-minded people, and here, you are supposed to pick a topic and present it in front of the members under the Table Topics section. It’s a perfect opportunity to improve your impromptu skills.

Here is another video where a member of a Toastmaster club speaks on a Table Topic. The flow of the speech is natural, and she presents it with grace and autheticty, which is laudable.

Related Article: How to Best Perform the Role of Table Topics Master in a Toastmasters Meeting?

4. Attend an Event or Volunteer at Your Neighborhood 

You can also volunteer at NGO’s and take part in conducting campaigns, reaching out to people, and hosting events. It boosts your self-confidence and gives you a chance to host events or speak on stage at certain occasions. 

Impromptu Speech Delivery

Here are a couple of things you need to keep in mind to be prepared for delivering a speech. Even though you cannot prepare for the topic, you can prepare yourself for any topic.

Read, Read and Read a Lot

Now that you know that an impromptu speech is unplanned, it’s a test to your knowledge. Though you will be sharing personal experiences, the more you add quotes and facts, the better your speech. So, it’s essential to read a lot. Pick up any book, newspaper, or magazines every day and read. Make notes on points you could connect, or the ones that you feel would help you in your speeches.

Work on Your Body Language

When it comes to body language, it’s okay to not be comfortable in your first few speeches. But come home and practice it in front of the mirror. Make sure to not repeat the same mistakes again. A few basic rules to remember are to not keep moving around too much or standing completely still, to not cross your hands, keeping it authentic, etc.

Realted article: Body Language Guide to Public Speaking (The Do’s & Don’ts)

Practice Voice Modulation

When you’re anxious, you might want to get done with your speech so end up speaking in a monotonous tone. Voice modulation is essential while delivering a speech. Another crucial thing is while describing your experiences, try to bring in various tones rather than being monotonous. Explain how a mother narrates a story to her child.

Read aloud at home, narrate a story to kids, or record your speech and listen to it repeatedly. Find out where you’re going wrong. Recording your voice will help you understand the areas where you need to work more.

Related Article: The Incredible Impact of Video Recording Yourself While Practicing a Speech

Related article: All You Need to Know about Voice Modulation & Tonality for Public Speaking

Impromptu Speech Topic Examples

• Do you think self-love should be given more priority than any other form of love?
• Does engaging in journaling ensure productivity?
• Why is there a stigma around mental health? What should be done to spread awareness?
• Why should one not be indecisive in life?
• Is it true that if a person masters one skill, he is capable of mastering every other skill?
• Why is it essential to obtain physio-mental stability for everyone?
• Is it ideal to follow your passion even after knowing the rapid changes happening in the world?
• What is the most significant thing in life to succeed: persistence or hard work?
• Should one always go with the flow in life?
• What should one do to find one’s true potential at the earliest?

Impromptu Speech Online Course

While I encourage you to practice impromptu speaking by yourself, sometimes, a little help can go a long way. 

If you want to learn impromptu speaking in a more structured format, check out this course by Shola Kaye on Udemy :

Public Speaking Success: IMPROMPTU public speaking

The course is quite handy when it comes to understanding impromptu speaking at deeper level. I personally like this course for two reasons:

• The instructor makes you practice impromptu speaking within the course framework itself. So you’re practicing AND learning, not just learning
• You get familiarised with various impromptu speech topics and scenarios. This helped be more sensitized to different topics and situations I could face where I would have to rely on impromptu speaking

I really like the instructor, Shola Kaye, as well. Being an introvert herself, she’s quite a relatable instructor. 

She’s also familiar with Toastmasters’ Table Topics. So all you TM members out there, this will be a great match! The curriculum is set out for only 7 days. So the content is extremely snackable and easy to watch. Check it out!

Bottom Line

An impromptu speech may not be as daunting as you expect it. A little belief in yourself and a never give up attitude is all that is needed to master it.

Sometimes, well, most of the time, it’s all the chaos in our mind stops us from being the best version.  It’s the thought about what others think of us put a full stop to our personal growth. Get that thought off your mind, and you’re half-way there.

Enroll in our transformative 1:1 Coaching Program

Schedule a call with our expert communication coach to know if this program would be the right fit for you

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Impromptu speech outline: 7 formats

How to prepare for an impromptu speech.

By:  Susan Dugdale  

Using a speech outline to prepare an impromptu speech seems counterintuitive, doesn't it? After all, impromptu means of the moment, spontaneous, without preparation. So, what is an impromptu speech outline?

Quite simply it’s the structure, or format of your speech. It’s how you order your material from the time you open your mouth at the beginning of your speech, until you close it at the end.

An outline doesn’t need to be a written document or put on note cards to be effective. An experienced impromptu speaker will have an assortment of structural patterns memorized. When they’re asked to speak, they’ll mentally flick through them and choose the most appropriate.

Following an outline lessens the possibility of rambling aimlessly off topic. And, given my flibberty gibbet tendencies it's vital! Maybe yours too?☺

What's on this page

Seven structural patterns , each with example impromptu speech outlines and a printable blank outline template to download.

How to use these structural patterns : guidelines for practice

About the printable impromptu speech outlines

How to reframe a topic : examples of openings showing how to adapt a topic.

The patterns are: 

• Point, Reason, Example, Point (PREP)

Past, Present, Future

Problem, solution.

• Pros/Cons, Positives/Negatives, For/Against, Advantages/Disadvantages

Cause, Effect, Remedy

• Before/The Event/The Result

Local, National, International

 How to use these structural patterns

To become a competent impromptu speaker you need to get familiar with them. So initially just play with them for practice either with a friend or by yourself.

• Get a subject to talk about. (Click for 150 impromptu speaking topics ).
• Choose yourself a pattern to form the body of speech.
• Now go. Open your mouth and speak.

You’ll need an introduction followed by your material organized according to whatever pattern you’ve selected, and then a conclusion.

Keep it simple. You don’t need to try hard to say devastatingly intelligent insightful things. The starting goal is to get used to thinking, then speaking, without a great deal of prior preparation.

This is impromptu speaking, ‘off the cuff’, largely spontaneous. Be honest and where you can, add personal stories. Your own experiences, plus your knowledge of the subject, will establish rapport and credibility. Don’t be afraid to experiment, or 'fail', as that's how you'll learn.

If your content at this stage is trite nonsense and you putter out of ideas too soon, so be it. At the beginning it’s more important to learn to let go of feeling anxious, inadequate and the need for perfection. 

Once you’re used to a pattern, and can follow it easily without having to stop and think about which part comes next, you’ll naturally come up with better material.

Along with examples of each impromptu speech outline structure there's a link to a blank printable. There are seven of them: one for each pattern. They are there for you to use as a guide. You'll find the links for them below the example outlines. 

Each outline has the same four step format.

The first step is mentally preparing yourself: sorting out your topic, considering your audience and working out what tone best fits with them, as well as your speech purpose. 

The second step covers preparing the introduction, the third, the body, and the fourth and final step, the conclusion.

Your chosen structural pattern is the body  

The third step, the body of your speech, holds the specific pattern you’re working with. It’s this step, the body, you’ll want to focus on first when you’re practicing. After you’ve set your topic allow yourself a few minutes to think it through (or make notes) using the pattern headings as a guide.

Once you feel comfortable with the body, you’ll find the openings and conclusions become much easier.

Getting the time and content balance right

The overall length of your speech or the time you take to deliver it is, to a large part, determined by how much information you put into the body. Obviously one or two main points and their supporting material will take less time than three or four.

( Practice will help you confidently and reliably get the balance of time to content right. Click the link for  examples of one minute speeches  prepared using the Point-Reason-Example-Point (PREP) pattern. They'll give you an idea of what's required.)

Practice, practice, and then do it some more

You don’t need to follow each of the four steps of the outline slavishly. However, to use that old cliché, before you can run, you need to know how to walk. So before giving yourself permission to try to improvise and dazzle publicly, ground yourself in structure. Give yourself a solid baseline to work from.

There’s no secret behind becoming more confident and competent reasonably quickly. It’s practice. Lots of it.

Time and record yourself. Play it back and listen carefully.

Is there a good opening? Have you followed the pattern you chose in the body of the speech? Is it clear? Have you got clean transitions between each part of your speech and the one following it? Is there a strong ending? And are the words you’ve chosen, as well as the way you use them, right for your subject, the purpose of the speech and your intended audience?

And lastly, learn one pattern well before you work with another.

Effective impromptu speech activities 

If you teach a public speaking or communication class or lead a public speaking group, here's  a comprehensive bundle of   17 proven fun and effective impromptu speech activities , complete with full guidelines and printables. They ease, rather than jettison, students into impromptu speaking one step at a time.  

How to reframe a topic

Sometimes when you're asked to speak on a topic you'll find yourself needing to modify it before going ahead.

Or maybe you want confirmation that you've understood what you're being asked to speak about.

Here are examples of three ways to reframe the topic as part of your opening. They are particularly useful for Question and Answer sessions.

Add them to your practice too.

1. Give the topic a scope. This establishes what you're prepared to cover.  

For example: Thanks. That’s a great question. I am happy to share what has happened since I joined the organization in 2020.

Or:  Thanks, that’s a great, and very big question. I don’t have time right now to cover all aspects of it. So here’s the first part. If anybody would like me to follow up with the second and third, please see me later and we’ll make a time.

2. Summarize and ask for confirmation. Use this technique to  make sure you’ve understood what’s being asked of you before you answer. 

Example:  Thank you for your question. It's an important one and I want to make sure I’ve understood it correctly before answering. You want to know why we’re not mobilizing the Defense Force to clear protesters from the streets, is that right?

3. Redirecting, reshaping the question or angle, before responding . This can be useful when you want to give a bigger picture, or establish context - something the original question didn't allow for.

Example: You’ve asked about using the Defense Force to clear the streets. Let’s consider the precedents for that: the 1951 Waterfront Dispute, Bastion Point, 1978, and the anti-Springbok rugby tour protest in 1981. What have they taught us?

7 impromptu speech outline patterns

Please note, these examples are not complete speech outlines. In most instances they don't include the opening or the conclusion. What they do is illustrate seven ways to organize material in the body of the speech. And some of the examples are more fleshed out than others.

 PREP: Point, Reason, Example, Point

PREP is an acronym for: Point, Reason, Example, Point. The pattern adapts well to most situations.

Here are two PREP impromptu speech outline examples: one for a social setting and one for business or workplace audiences. You can also see it in action on this page of one minute speech topics where I've used it in three sample one minute speech outlines.

PREP impromptu speech outline: workplace 

Topic: Cameras off during a virtual team meeting

Point: Human Resources are reporting numerous requests from employees to be allowed to leave their cameras off during routine virtual (zoom) meetings.

Reason: The reason most frequently given is fatigue due to  strain 

Examples: It is hard to:

• maintain focus while looking at a grid of faces for the length of an entire meeting,
• see yourself on camera and NOT respond to it,
• be physically constrained in a small space in order to remain on camera,
• arrange life so it doesn’t intrude in the form of kittens, babies or anything else while on camera,
• have your colleagues in your home without having issued the invitation yourself.

Point: And that’s why we’ve asked Human Resources to develop a set of guidelines to cover when cameras should be on, and when they can be turned off. If you have any suggestions or points you’d like them to consider, please get them by Friday.

For more: 

• Bailenson, J. N. (2021). Nonverbal Overload: A Theoretical Argument for the Causes of Zoom Fatigue . Technology, Mind, and Behavior, 2(1). 
• Should We Require Students to Turn Their Cameras On in the Zoom Classroom?   Anna Lännström, Stonehill College. Published by Wabash Center, 2020  

PREP impromptu speech outline example: social

A toast to acknowledge friend’s engagement

Point: It’s a joy to join you celebrating Ryan and Mary’s engagement.

Reason(s): There’s dozens of reasons for my being pleased to be here. We haven’t got time for them all. So here’s three. The first goes back a long way to when we were ten years old. I’m never going going to get married, he said. Thanks to Mary, look at you now! I am delighted you have to eat those words. The second reason is quite selfish. At least the field is cleared now because he’s well and truly spoken for. Hi ya singletons out there! And the third and most important is because I’ve never seen Ryan quite so deliriously crazy happy, ever, in all the years I’ve known him.

Example(s): This is the man who has spent all his weekends for last year renovating the house they share. You know it’s got to be the real thing when unclogging drains, getting rid of rat nests and replacing rotten window frames is better than time out with me and the boys. When you add making significant positive changes to his eating and drinking habits, throw in running a kilometer or two or three or more, several times a week, it’s proof. You’ve got be happy to do any of that!

Point: Which in turn, makes me happy too. Here's to Ryan and Mary!

Download PREP impromptu speech outline

Click the link to download a printable pdf file to use: PREP impromptu speech outline

Use this pattern if you want apply a time line treatment to a subject.

Topic: In your experience what's an effective way of getting children to eat vegetables?

In the past:

When I was a child not eating whatever was served was not an option. It didn’t matter if it was something dreaded like cauliflower, broccoli or spinach. It was on the plate. Therefore it needed to be chewed and swallowed. If it wasn’t you were in for a long sit at the table. Because both you and the plate of food remained in place until the plate was cleared. This as a technique was a failure. It built resentment rather than a love of vegetables.

That kind of stand off would not happen nowadays. I have more tolerance than my parents for children whose taste buds do not thrill to strong tasting vegetables. The only thing I ask of my kids, is that they try a little of each new one when it is served. If they don’t like it, they can put it to one side. Alongside that, we use vegetables as snacks, sneak them into purees and sauces, get the kids involved in choosing and cooking them, and set an example by eating copious quantities of them ourselves.

Our diets are changing. They are becoming increasingly plant based. Vegetables are no longer an accompaniment, an after-thought. Instead they’re center plate – up front and proud. 

Perhaps the infamous battle over vegetables will disappear entirely. It’s my hope that through showing greater tolerance of our children’s preferences and by being more creative with how we introduce them into their diets, that the issue will simply cease to be one.

Vive la broccoli!  

Topic: What are the most popular and enduring toys for children?

Past : Toys that sold well: Teddy bears, named after Theodore Roosevelt 1902, yo-yos – 1928, Silly Putty, 1955, GI Joe – dolls for boys, 1960s, including two that have kept right on selling;

Present: Lego from Denmark, 1932, and Barbie from USA, 1959

Future : More Lego, more Barbies who are more diverse, more skin types and shapes. Both seem set for along time yet.

Download Past, Present, Future outline

Click the link to download a printable pdf file to use:  Past, Present, Future impromptu speech outline

This is a simple two part pattern: here’s the problem. Now here’s the solution.

Example: The problem is congestion on our main city roads during peak hours.

The solution is to:

• reroute heavy vehicles over those hours
• look carefully at the current design of the roundabouts, on and off ramps and laybys and update them if necessary 
• adjust the speed limit

Example: The problem is maintaining a work routine while working from home

• make yourself a dedicated work space.
• set yourself regular hours for getting up, having breakfast, being at your desk, lunch etc.
• establish clear boundaries around your work time for family and friends. Being in the same room or the next one, doesn’t mean you’re available.
• prioritize your tasks for the day each morning.

Download Problem, Solution outline

Click the link to download a printable pdf file to use: Problem, Solution impromptu speech outline

Pros and Cons, Positives and Negatives

This is a useful beginning point toward answering the classic ‘what shall I do?’ dilemmas.

Setting out the pros and cons * of a situation gives us an overview, which we can then use to help make a rational, considered decision.

* 16th century: from Latin  prō  for + con, from  contrā  against

Dilemma:  Whether or not to go to university

• New experiences, new people, broadens outlook
• Builds networking opportunities, long term friendships, & professional relationships
• After graduation enter workforce at different level – a leg up because core competencies already established
• Scholarships available
• Leadership and extension activities/clubs available
• High levels of personal debt
• Difficult to sustain oneself mentally, physically and financially without support
• Doesn’t guarantee a job on graduation
• Doesn’t train you for a specific vocation
• Doesn’t automatically mean entry into higher paying job

Dilemma:  Whether or not to buy cheap or fast fashion

• Affordable – instantly gratifying
• Up to the minute clothing – democratization of fashion – not just for elite rich
• Can follow the trend – included rather than excluded on price
• Can change mind and buy more if don’t like what you have – not going to cause you hardship
• Profitable for retailers and manufacturers
• pollution: people throw out their clothes which then enter land fills
• waste: breeds throwaway mentality – chuck rather than mend
• loss of skills: how to mend clothing: sew on buttons, fix a fallen hem, patch a rip etc.
• exploitation of woman and children in 3rd world countries: low wages, and unsafe workplaces

For more: Fast Fashion by Adam Hayes, April 2021, investopedia.com

Download Pros and Cons outline

Click the link to download a printable pdf file to use:  Pros and Cons impromptu speech outline

 This is a three-part problem solving pattern.

• What is the cause of something?
• What is its effect?
• And what is the remedy?

Topic: Public speaking anxiety

Cause(s) of public speaking anxiety:

• feeling self conscious in front of others
• fearing repeat of past poor experiences
• fear of being judged
• fearing not being as good as you’d like to be, or as good as others
• breathing poorly which doesn’t support the voice
• becoming overwhelmed by symptoms of fear: shaking limbs, quivering voice, racing heart beat, forgetting what had been practiced
• gabbling through speech at break neck speed
• becomes a cycle which intensifies each time a person has to speak in public
• limits personal potential in many ways: at work and socially
• take a public speaking course, join a public speaking club
• practice a great deal,  get good support and practical feedback you can use
• and take every opportunity to speak in front of others as it will lessen the fear.

Topic: Procrastination

Cause(s) of procrastination:

• boredom: not being interested in the task that needs completing
• fear of failure: thinking the task will prove too difficult - would rather not begin it, than risk failure, perfectionism
• unable to prioritize what needs to be done against what isn’t so urgent
• overwhelmed: too many things to do, and too little energy

Effect(s) of procrastination:

• pressure: rushing to catch up on what should have been done which leads to poor decision making
• failure: letting oneself, friends, family and workmates down, compromised work standards, reputation
• losing time, opportunities, limiting your career options
• escalating low self-esteem issues and health risks
• Create incremental to-do lists – a bit at a time rather than one huge overwhelming piece of work.
• Create a stimulating work-place for yourself – surround yourself with what you genuinely like to see.
• Time-line your work realistically - what needs to happen. today, tomorrow and the next day to arrive at the due date with the work completed to your satisfaction.
• Get rid of the temptations you know you are distracted by. Put your phone on mute. Remove bookmarked sites.
• Find a mentor, someone you admire and who will hold you to account.

Download Cause, Effect, Remedy outline

Click the link to download a printable pdf file to use: Cause, Effect, Remedy impromptu speech outline

Before, The Event, The Result

This three-part pattern is a time line centered around an event. The result of event (eg. a natural disaster or a personal or societal change, large or small) profoundly changes what came before it. Sometimes the end result is much better, and sometimes far worse.

It’s a pattern much loved by advertisers who imply that the event (the purchase and use of whatever product or service they are selling) will result in whatever is desired: health, wealth, beauty, popularity, longevity, peace, love, intelligence... It's the classic Before and After format.    

Topic: Covid-19 - its impact on the tourism industry in NZ

Total annual tourism expenditure had increased by almost $15 billion, or 55%, in the seven years prior to 2020. 

• Tourism was New Zealand’s biggest export industry, contributing 20.1% of total exports. 
• Tourism generated a direct annual contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $16.4 billion, or 5.5%, and a further indirect contribution of $11.3 billion, another 3.8% of New Zealand’s total GDP.  

Then along came Covid–19.  The borders were closed in an effort to keep it out for as long as possible. Good for the population: fewer deaths and hospitalizations compared to other first world countries: USA, UK, Australia but not so good for tourism.

The result:  

• total tourism expenditure was $26.1 billion, a decrease of 37.3 percent ($15.6 billion) from the previous year.
• international tourism’s overall contribution to New Zealand’s total exports of goods and services fell to 2.1 percent from 20.0 percent
• tourism generated a direct contribution to GDP of $8.5 billion, or 2.9 percent, a decrease of 47.5 percent ($7.7 billion), or 2.6 percentage points

Reference:  https://www.tia.org.nz/about-the-industry/quick-facts-and-figures/

Here’s a feel-good-hard-work-pays-off story using the format, the sort you might hear on your local TV or radio station.

Topic: the house makeover

Before the makeover:

• dark and dingy – very few windows, dated décor
• very poor heat retention – no insulation
• no outdoor – indoor flow
• small poky kitchen with limited storage
• one bathroom – not adjacent to either living areas or bedrooms

The Event:   the makeover of the worst house in the best street,  a perfect project for husband (builder) and wife (interior decorator), 12 month time line, carefully planned

The Result:

• jump in value of property
• a house which is a pleasure to live in, fabulous garden, everybody is happy, reporters come calling for house and garden magazine before and after spreads☺
• an inspirational example of talent plus effort

Download Before, The Event, The Result outline

Click the link to download a printable pdf file to use:  Before, The Event, The Result impromptu speech outline

This structure is excellent for comparisons and overviews spanning spatial areas.

Topic: Deaths from Covid-19 in New Zealand as at 22nd February 2022

Local: none

National: 56

International:  5,905,942

Reference: Google News - Covid 19 map - New Zealand  

Topic: Who follows the news?  A survey of 38 countries, 2018

Local news :  Global median = 78%. 78% of respondents are  more likely to follow the news if in own area and own country. 

National news : Global median = 86%. 86% of respondents are more likely to follow if the news is about own country.

International news : Global median = 57%. Comparatively significantly less of the respondents are likely to follow the news. That changes with the amount of education a person has. If they have more education, they are more likely to follow the news.

Reference:  Publics around the world follow national and local news more closely than international : Pew Research Center report, 2018

Download Local, National, International outline

Click the link to download a printable pdf file to use:  Local, National, International impromptu speech outline

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Article • 9 min read

Impromptu Speaking Skills

Preparing for last-minute opportunities.

By the Mind Tools Content Team

Your boss, Amanda, is due to introduce a speaker at a conference this afternoon. But, at the last moment, she's taken ill with food poisoning and you need to take her place.

You've had almost no time to prepare, and you're worried that your nerves will get the better of you. Your reputation and credibility are now on the line, and you're not sure what to do.

Many of us have experienced situations like this in the past, but there are a number of ways that you can prepare yourself to give an effective, unplanned speech.

In this article, we'll look at why impromptu speaking skills are so important, and we'll explore how you can prepare for these last-minute opportunities.

Benefits and Opportunities

Many people feel nervous or fearful about public speaking . When you need to talk in front of people, and you've had little or no time to prepare, it's easy to feel overwhelmed.

Impromptu speaking might sound like something to avoid whenever possible, but it can open doors and lead to new, unexpected career opportunities. For example, impromptu speaking skills can give you the self-confidence you need to give a last-minute presentation, sail through a challenging job interview, or win over a difficult client.

You can build your reputation and impress leaders in your organization when you learn to speak effectively under pressure. Impromptu speaking skills can also help you deliver an elevator pitch , conduct a successful question-and-answer session, or make important connections at a networking event.

By developing impromptu speaking skills, you can learn to speak with eloquence, humor, and confidence, and you'll ensure that you can communicate your messages clearly and succinctly.

How to Build Your Impromptu Speaking Skills

Use the strategies below to develop good impromptu speaking skills.

1. Adjust Your Attitude

Impromptu speaking doesn't have to be scary – it can even be fun! Your attitude has a big impact on how well you perform, and having a positive mind-set is the foundation for success.

First, use positive thinking to try to see the situation as an opportunity to share your skills and expertise, build your reputation, and help others.

Next, take a moment to envision your success . Imagine that the speech is over: everyone is smiling and clapping. You feel great because you did a fantastic job, and you helped everyone in the room. It feels good, doesn't it?

Last, use affirmations to develop a positive, confident attitude. Consider using the following statements:

• "My audience is genuinely interested in what I have to say."
• "It's about them, not me."
• "I only have to talk to other people, it's no big deal!"
• "I will be calm and relaxed while I speak."
• "Everyone wants me to do well."
• "The audience will benefit from my expertise."

Come up with your own personal, positive, and meaningful affirmations, and repeat them to yourself before you start your speech.

You might not have a great deal of time, but use the time you do have to prepare. Think about what your audience expects you to discuss, and what your main objective needs to be.

For example, if someone invites you to speak at a meeting, think about your audience members. Why are they there? What do they need to learn about? Why were you asked to speak? What value can you provide?

If you have enough time, plan a rough outline of what you want to say using the PREP* mnemonic. PREP stands for:

• P oint – make your main point clearl in your introduction.
• R eason – state why you made your main point. Include opinion, research, statistics, and any other material that adds credibility.
• E xample – cite an example that supports your point.
• P oint – make your point one last time. Aim to link your conclusion back to your introduction.

Make sure that you're always prepared for the possibility of an impromptu speech. Keep a pen and paper with you, so that you can take notes and draft a plan. As you speak, use the PREP method to remember the points that you want to make.

3. Slow Down

Last-minute speaking opportunities can make you feel stressed, unprepared and anxious . Learn to think on your feet , so that you remain calm, cool, and collected.

If you only have a few minutes to prepare before you speak to an audience , take several deep breaths to slow down and relax. If you're in a public setting, get up from your chair slowly, and take measured steps toward the podium. This will give you extra time to collect your thoughts.

When you stand in front of your audience, resist the urge to start speaking immediately. Instead, take deep breaths to calm down and collect your thoughts. Be conscious of your body language – stand up straight with your shoulders back, and look right at the audience.

Don't apologize for being unprepared, or for speaking at the last minute. Chances are, the audience won't even notice! Instead, repeat your affirmations to yourself, and remember – the audience wants you to do well. Speak slowly, talk directly to people, and think about how you can add value or help them. Stay focused, and try not to ramble, repeat points, or get distracted.

If you're taking part in a question-and-answer session, repeat or reword questions slowly after people ask them. This will give you extra time to think about your response, and it will show the audience that you're listening actively to what the questioner asked.

It can be useful to prepare mini-speeches, stories , and jokes in advance. Practice these in front of a mirror.

A useful practice exercise is to pick a random topic. Give yourself 30 seconds to plan your outline, then talk for two to three minutes about your topic. Breathe deeply, slow down, and engage with your audience.

4. Join Toastmasters

One of the best ways to become comfortable with public speaking is to join a group like Toastmasters International . Toastmasters focuses exclusively on helping people learn good public speaking skills.

The format is simple: you meet with other members in your community, and you give prepared and impromptu speeches. There is no instructor – instead, members provide constructive feedback on your performance. This can be a practical, fun way to gain public-speaking experience.

Look for other ways to get out of your "comfort zone," too. Offer to give a toast at a friend's wedding, attend community meetings, speak about issues that are important to you, or volunteer to introduce a speaker at the next town hall meeting. The more experience you have speaking publicly, the easier it will be when someone asks you to lead a last-minute meeting.

5. Control Your Nerves

If you're nervous before you start to speak, take several slow, deep breaths. Deep breathing slows your heart rate and calms your thoughts, and it can help you to sound more confident.

It can also be useful to put things into perspective. Will this impromptu speech matter in a month, a year, or five years? And what's the worst that can happen if you don't do a good job? In most cases, this situation won't be very important if you look at the big picture, so focus on relaxing, and enjoying the experience!

Finally, learn how to manage your emotions . It's entirely possible to control nervousness; and, in fact, a good amount of nerves can even give you the edge you need to deliver an excellent speech!

During your career, people may ask you to speak publicly with little or no time to prepare. For example, you might need to chair an important meeting, give a sales presentation, or deliver an elevator pitch.

Use these five strategies to develop your impromptu speaking skills:

• Adjust your attitude.
• Take time to prepare.
• Join Toastmasters.
• Control your nerves.

* Originator unknown. Please let us know if you know who invented this model.

Sedniev, A. (2014) ' Magic of Impromptu Speaking: Create a Speech That Will be Remembered in Years to Come ,' Dallas: Primedia E-Launch LLC.

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10 Ways to Generate Impromptu Speech Ideas

Impromptu speech ideas – they’re like keys that unlock your ability to communicate effectively on the fly. Imagine this: You’re asked to speak unexpectedly. Your heart races, your mind blanks. It’s a scenario many fear. But what if you’re always prepared? What if ideas flow easily, even spontaneously?

The challenge here isn’t just about speaking without preparation. It’s about having a reservoir of ideas, ready to be tapped at a moment’s notice. Most impromptu speeches revolve around our perspectives on life or stand on issues. Being acutely aware of your thoughts and surroundings is crucial.

Mastering Impromptu Speeches

Mastering impromptu speeches makes you more than just a good speaker. It transforms you into a communicator who’s always ready, always relevant.

The secret weapon is simple to create: constant collection and organization of ideas . By doing this, you ensure that you’re always prepared, turning every impromptu speaking situation into an opportunity to share valuable insights.

Let’s explore how to gather a treasure trove of ideas, keeping you ready for any speaking challenge that comes your way.

1. Daily Reflections

Start with what’s closest to you – your own thoughts and experiences. Daily reflections are a mirror to your inner world. Each day brings new thoughts, feelings, and insights. Capture them.

Your personal reflections are unique to you . They’re original, authentic, and resonate with real-life experiences. When you share these in a speech, you connect deeply with your audience. It’s your voice, your perspective.

Here’s the action plan. Keep a journal, or use a digital app, dedicated to your daily reflections. Make it a habit. Every day, spend a few minutes jotting down your thoughts, feelings, observations, and learnings. Over time, these entries become a rich repository of ideas that you can draw upon for any impromptu speech.

Embracing daily reflections not only prepares you for impromptu speaking but also enriches your understanding of yourself and the world around you. It’s a practice that turns everyday experiences into potential speech material, always keeping you ready and relevant.

2. Current Events

Keeping up-to-date with what’s happening around the world is more than just staying informed; it’s about gathering a wealth of topics that are immediately relevant and often widely relatable. Read the news, follow current affairs, and stay abreast of global trends.

Current events provide a backdrop that is instantly recognizable and engaging for your audience . Discussing a recent event, a new scientific discovery, or a trending social issue not only showcases your awareness but also demonstrates your ability to connect global happenings with local or personal narratives.

Integrate a routine of consuming news and current events into your daily life. It could be through a newspaper, an online news portal, podcasts, or news apps.

As you consume this information, note down interesting and thought-provoking events. Think about how these events might relate to broader themes or lessons that are speech-worthy. This ongoing collection ensures you have a trove of contemporary and compelling topics for any impromptu speech situation.

Regular engagement with current events turns you into a speaker who can not only inform but also inspire, drawing on the immediate world around us to deliver speeches that are both timely and timeless.

3. Personal Stories

Dive into the treasure chest of your own life experiences. Personal stories are not just recollections; they are a vibrant tapestry of lessons, emotions, and experiences. Reflect on your past events, challenges you’ve overcome, funny incidents, or even everyday happenings.

The power of personal stories in impromptu speeches lies in their authenticity and relatability. When you share a piece of your life, you create a connection with your audience that goes beyond facts and figures . Your stories become a vehicle for conveying emotions, values, and insights, making your speech memorable and impactful.

Start documenting these personal anecdotes. Keep a diary, a digital note, or even voice recordings of interesting life experiences. Think about the lessons learned, the humor in them, or the emotions they evoke. When called upon to give an impromptu speech, these stories can be your go-to resource, providing a personal touch that resonates with any audience.

By weaving in personal stories, your impromptu speeches become more than just talks; they become a shared experience, a window into your world that enlightens and entertains, making every speech uniquely yours.

4. Books and Articles

Literature, whether it’s books, articles, essays, or even blog posts, is a vast sea of ideas. Every piece of writing you consume can spark thoughts, opinions, and new perspectives. As you read, pay attention to themes, narratives, and arguments that intrigue you.

Books and articles often explore ideas in depth, offering insights and viewpoints that you might not have considered. They can introduce you to new worlds, historical events, philosophical debates, or cultural perspectives. Using these ideas in your speeches not only adds depth to your content but also shows your intellectual curiosity and breadth of knowledge.

Create a habit of reading regularly and maintaining a list of intriguing ideas, quotes, or arguments you come across. This list becomes a go-to source for speech topics. When faced with an impromptu speaking opportunity, you can draw from this well-curated collection, weaving in the insights and narratives you’ve gathered from your readings to enrich your speech.

Integrating ideas from literature into your speeches transforms them from off-the-cuff remarks into well-informed, thought-provoking discourses that reflect your intellectual engagement with the world.

5. Observations of People and Places

Your everyday observations are a goldmine of ideas. Pay attention to the people around you, the places you visit, and the interactions and events you witness. These observations can be about human behavior, societal trends, or even simple yet profound everyday occurrences.

Observations offer real-world, relatable content for your speeches . When you talk about things people can see, feel, or connect with in their daily lives, your speech becomes more engaging and impactful. Observations can serve as examples, stories, or analogies, bringing abstract ideas to life.

Start carrying a small notebook or use a note-taking app on your phone to jot down your observations. It could be something as simple as a child playing in the park, an interaction at a coffee shop, or the ambiance of a busy street. Reflect on what these observations mean and how they relate to larger themes.

These notes will be invaluable when you need to quickly come up with a speech topic that is both relatable and insightful.

Incorporating your observations into impromptu speeches allows you to draw on the tapestry of everyday life, making your speeches not only interesting and varied but also a reflection of the world as you see and experience it.

6. Hobbies and Interests

Your hobbies and personal interests are a treasure trove of topics. Whether it’s cooking, gardening, tech gadgets, sports, or art, these activities are filled with potential speech ideas. They are not just pastimes; they’re part of who you are.

Your hobbies can offer a unique perspective or a fresh take on a common theme . They allow you to speak passionately and authentically, engaging your audience with your enthusiasm. Moreover, these interests often tie into broader life lessons or universal experiences, making them great fodder for impromptu topics.

Reflect on your hobbies and interests and think about the lessons they’ve taught you or the joy they bring. Note down interesting aspects or experiences related to these activities. When you need to give an impromptu speech, these notes can provide a starting point for a talk that’s not only interesting but also close to your heart.

By tapping into your hobbies and interests, you bring a personal touch to your speeches, making them not just informative but also a window into your world, enriching your speeches with the colors of your personal passions.

7. Quotes and Sayings

Quotes and sayings are compact nuggets of wisdom that can spark expansive thoughts and discussions. Collect quotes that resonate with you, whether they’re from famous personalities, literature, movies, or even everyday conversations.

The beauty of using quotes in impromptu speeches lies in their versatility and depth. A well-chosen quote can serve as a launching pad for your speech, providing a theme or a central idea to build upon. Quotes can also add a touch of eloquence and memorability to your talk, making your message stick with the audience.

Start compiling a list of quotes that inspire you or make you think. This can be in a notebook, a digital document, or a mobile app. Whenever you come across a quote that strikes a chord, add it to your collection. Then, when you’re faced with an impromptu speaking situation, you can use one of these quotes as a foundation to weave your speech around, exploring its implications, related ideas, or personal interpretations.

Incorporating quotes into your impromptu speeches allows you to tap into the collective wisdom of others, enriching your speech with diverse perspectives and timeless insights.

8. Conversations and Debates

Everyday conversations and debates, whether with colleagues, friends, or family, are often filled with spontaneous and insightful ideas. Pay attention to these dialogues. The topics discussed, the viewpoints shared, and the questions raised can all be sources of inspiration.

Why is this valuable for impromptu speeches? Conversations reflect what people are thinking and talking about. They’re a pulse on opinions, concerns, and interests of those around you. Drawing from these discussions helps ensure that your speech topics are relevant, timely, and engaging. Additionally, debates often expose you to multiple perspectives on a topic, enriching your understanding and providing a well-rounded foundation for your speech.

Make a habit of noting down interesting ideas or topics that come up in your conversations and debates. Keep a small notebook or a digital app handy to jot these down. Reflect on these notes later to explore how you can develop them into impromptu speech topics, considering different angles and perspectives to make your speech more dynamic.

By tapping into the wealth of ideas present in everyday dialogues, you ensure that your impromptu speeches are grounded in real-life conversations, making them highly relatable and thought-provoking.

9. Historical Events

History is not just about the past; it’s a rich source of stories, lessons, and parallels that can inform the present. Delve into historical events, figures, and eras that interest you. They can provide a vast array of topics and perspectives for your speeches.

Historical references can add depth and context to your speech . They allow you to draw parallels with the present, offering a broader perspective on current issues. Moreover, history is full of dramatic narratives and powerful characters that can captivate an audience and illustrate your points vividly.

Start by exploring historical subjects that intrigue you. Read books, watch documentaries, or listen to podcasts about history. As you learn, note down interesting events, stories, or figures that you could talk about. Consider how these historical elements relate to modern-day issues or life lessons. This preparation enables you to craft speeches that are not only informative but also rich in historical context and relevance.

Incorporating historical events into your impromptu speeches allows you to connect the past with the present, offering your audience insights that are both enlightening and engaging, rooted in the lessons of history.

10. Philosophical and Ethical Questions

Philosophical and ethical questions delve into the deeper aspects of life and humanity. These questions challenge us to think, reflect, and often, to take a stand. They can range from classic philosophical dilemmas to modern ethical conundrums.

Engaging with these deeper questions helps you explore fundamental aspects of human experience , offering rich material for speech topics. These topics can provoke thought, stimulate debate, and provide substantial content for your speeches. They encourage both you and your audience to ponder life’s big questions, making your speeches not only informative but also deeply reflective.

Begin by identifying philosophical or ethical questions that intrigue you. This could be through reading philosophy books, listening to podcasts, or participating in discussions. Note these questions and your thoughts on them. When the opportunity for an impromptu speech arises, you can use these reflections as a foundation, offering your audience a chance to engage with these profound questions through your perspective.

By weaving philosophical and ethical questions into your impromptu speeches, you elevate them from mere presentations to thought-provoking discourses that challenge and engage the minds of your listeners, fostering a deeper connection and understanding.

Mastering the art of impromptu speaking is about being prepared – not just in skill, but in having a wealth of ideas at your fingertips. By constantly collecting and organizing thoughts from daily reflections, current events, personal stories, literature, observations, hobbies, quotes, conversations, historical events, and philosophical questions, you equip yourself with a diverse and rich repository of topics.

This practice of awareness and reflection ensures that you are always ready to deliver speeches that are not only spontaneous but also deeply meaningful and valuable. It transforms the often daunting task of impromptu speaking into an opportunity to share insights and perspectives that are engaging, relevant, and impactful.

Remember, the key to excelling in impromptu speeches lies in your continuous curiosity and your commitment to gather and reflect upon ideas from all aspects of life.

Become a speaker who is always prepared, always resonant, and always capable of turning any speaking opportunity into a moment of connection and enlightenment.

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15 Best Impromptu Speech Tips (With Examples)

An impromptu speech is often the scariest type of speech you can make because you don’t get to prepare or predetermine what you’re going to say.

The speaker only gets a topic given in the form of a quotation, object, or proverb, and they have to do their best to deliver long-awaited answers.

Impromptu speech doesn’t have to be a full speech on its own. It can be a combination of answers to short quotations or terms provided during interviews or live discussions broadcast on the television.

While you can’t prepare yourself for the impromptu speech since you might not have any idea what you’ll be asked, you can still work on improving your speech and dialog with the help of the tips below!

I have also listed some great examples of impromptu speeches to give you an idea of what I am talking about.

Also Read : Common Weaknesses List & Examples

15 Best Impromptu Speech Tips

These 15 tips will let you know exactly how to behave during an impromptu speech, how to know what and when to say, and how to guide your speech without having too many pauses or breaks in between.

1. Hold it Together (Be Confident)

Impromptu speeches might happen suddenly for many reasons, and often, you might find yourself in front of the audience without even agreeing to it.

No matter what happens during the speech, you have to assure yourself that you’ll be alright. This means you should look up, never avoid eye contact, and breathe deeply. Thinking about something positive is a confidence boost you might need to get through the speech.

2. Focus on Your Audience

When you’re starting your impromptu speech, keep in mind that you’re not going against the audience, yet the audience will be on your side.

Therefore, you should work with the audience and focus your speech around something positive and helpful to the audience.

The goal is to have the audience listen and understand what you’re saying in your impromptu speech but also respond to the things you’re saying. Being confident in front of the audience is one thing you should do, while the other is to focus on the audience and plan a structure you’ll learn in the next tip.

3. Plan a Structure

Even though you might not be prepared for a speech, you will still be able to quickly develop a speech structure in your head as soon as you hear the topic, question, or object you’re given to talk about.

Every speech structure should include three steps and the speech can be structured around almost anything. The most popular structures are:

• Past/present/future
• Cause/effect/remedy
• Before/the event/the result

Think of the structure as a guideline of your speech that will help you get from start to finish as smoothly as possible. Another thing to keep in mind is that you can tell your structure/plan to your audience so they can easily keep up with your speech and know what to expect from it.

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4. Don’t Ramble

When you come up with a quick structure for your impromptu speech, you’re left to deliver the speech, but one thing you should keep in mind is not to ramble.

Rambling won’t get you anywhere; you’ll feel unease, and your audience won’t follow your speech easily.

Instead, it would help if you stuck to the “less is more” saying, stick to the target, and keep things short and to the point.

With a proper structure plan, you’ll have three key points (no matter what they are), so by splitting your speech into three sections, you’ll be able to judge how much time you should spend talking about each section.

5. Stand Out

Many try to stand out by actions, gestures, and confidence during their impromptu speech. While this is also important, there’s something even more important.

The first and the last sentence are the most memorable. It’s all about the primacy and recency, and most of the audience will most likely remember the first and the last thing you say.

Therefore, starting and finishing with powerful sentences that go well with your given topic and are linked to the message you deliver in the speech is super important as it will have the biggest impact if properly executed.

6. Talk as if You Were Talking to a Friend

Talking in front of the audience can be scary, but without preparation, talking in front of the audience can be even scarier.

Instead of feeling the pressure, feeling uncomfortable, or sweating buckets, you should go on with your impromptu speech as if you were talking to a group of friends.

You don’t have to fake anything, as the audience will see right through it. Instead, be yourself and try to do your best as this will always provide a better result.

Also Read : Best Executive Summary Examples

7. Tell a Relevant Story to Personalize Your Speech

The great thing about impromptu speeches is that they can go in your favor. If you don’t know what to talk about or what to include in your speech, here’s one tip that can help change the way you do your speech.

Try to think of a personal story that will be relevant to the subject of your impromptu speech. This will give you a topic to talk about, you won’t have to do any research or try to come up with facts that you will have to somehow back up, and your audience will love a personal story.

Personal stories are always easier to follow, and they’ll always go down well with any audience. Another piece of advice is to include a personal story in the middle section of your speech, but you can place it somewhere near the beginning of the speech.

8. Pay Attention to Your Voice Tone

When you take care of everything else before the speech and during the speech itself, many speakers forget to think of the voice tone.

There’s not much to overthink and you should speak slowly. Rushing might get you near the end sooner, but your speech won’t be a smooth ride.

Instead, take your time, focus on your breathing, rely on pauses, and have an impact while you deliver the key parts of the speech.

9. Make Sure to Follow Your Speech with Confident Actions

Confident actions are the most powerful body language actions that are not hard to get right, yet you might have to remind yourself to be “presentable”.

Standing tall on both your feet, not slouching over, keeping eye contact, using hand gestures, and avoiding fiddling are some of the things that will make you look confident.

Such confident actions will go well with your speech structure, confident voice tone, and relaxed, personalized speech.

Learning a couple of hand gestures will also put you at ease as you won’t have to wonder what to do with your hands during the speech.

10. Don’t Aim for Perfection

Every speaker wishes for their speech to be perfect, but an impromptu speech is the worst time to expect a perfect speech from yourself.

Therefore, it’s okay to lower the bar and focus on the execution and let the main goal be the smooth flow.

Setting the bar too high will only put you under pressure. In reality, most impromptu speeches happen due to unpredicted reasons, so if you’re put under the spotlight unwillingly and unprepared, the audience will notice, and they’ll understand, so there’s nothing to be afraid of.

Explore : Goal vs Objective – Difference & Examples

11. Practice Beforehand

You might not ever be prepared for a specific impromptu speech, but if you’ve been put into the spotlight once, you can be put under the spotlight again.

What you can do is practice quickly coming up with a speech structure on any given topic. Even if you have only a couple of minutes, you can develop a quick and concise structure and rehearse it in your head or in front of a mirror before you go in front of the audience.

And if you have a couple of hours, you can do a lot of practicing and even go through all these tips and be fully ready, no matter what the audience throws at you.

12. Use Humor to Break the Ice

No matter what the speech is about, you can always add a bit of humor to it. Don’t overdo it, but even a tiny bit of humor can help you make a better connection with your audience, ensure they pay attention to what you’re saying, and that they’re intrigued to hear what’s next.

Followed with a personalized story, you’ll have the audience hooked up until the end of the speech.

Of course, humor should come naturally, and you shouldn’t do it if you feel like you have to force it. But keep in mind that humor can be a great ice breaker, so it’s never a bad idea to keep it as a “secret weapon”.

13. The Meaningful Pause

Unfortunately, you’ll likely feel stuck or not know what to say next during your impromptu speech.

Just the thought of this can paralyze many speakers who are put under the spotlight. However, there’s a quick tip you can use to turn the block in your head into an advantage.

Instead of worrying if your audience noticed, try to “fake” a meaningful pause whenever you’re feeling stuck. During this pause, you can relax, and sooner than you know it, you will think of something.

The best thing is, your audience will never notice that “something’s wrong”, and yet this will also give them a breather and help them continue following your speech.

14. Keep Things Short

Less is more, and during impromptu speeches that can go extremely wrong, it’s better to cut your speech short and yet deliver everything you believe is valuable to the audience.

In other words, it’s better to regret not saying something than to say too much and then be on the spot from where you can’t turn back.

Also, keeping things short will help you stay in control of your impromptu speech and even look a lot more confident during your performance!

15. Try Turning the Impromptu Speech into Q&A Session

Since most impromptu speeches happen unexpectedly, not only will you have to come up with something from nothing, but you’ll also have to give the audience something you’re looking for.

Therefore, depending on the setting of your speech, you might try and turn your impromptu speech into a Q&A session, just like the journalistic interview type.

This will help you think less about what your whole speech will look like and focus on things the audience asks you in pieces.

You’ll still have full control over the answer, so turning a speech into a Q&A session is never a bad idea.

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Best Impromptu Speech Examples

We’ll now take a look at some of the best examples of impromptu speeches to draw inspiration from.

University of Kentucky – Speech and Debate Team

In this impromptu speech example, the speaker only took two minutes for a quick structure plan from where she was put under the spotlight straight away.

A great start with a personalized story that leads straight into the argument. During the argument, clear signs of uncertainty are visible, but the speaker did well by slowing the speech down and taking a couple of very short meaningful pauses.

Prepared with examples which is a bonus, the speaker went through her speech structure with ease. There were moments where the speaker was nervous, but she kept it well together and even seemed confident in her speech at times.

Use gestures, confident actions, eye contact with the audience, and all other positive things you can learn from the tips above.

Closing the speech without any rumbling and getting the point straight across to the audience is a memorable way to end the speech, which is why this is one of many perfect examples of an impromptu speech.

Interesting Post : Popular Digital Marketing Quotes

Chris Gurrie Impromptu Speech Example

This is a short yet educative impromptu speech example where the speaker, Chris Gurrie, gets assigned a random topic by the audience and then guides the viewers of this video on how to plan a perfect impromptu speech structure.

While you would usually have around two minutes for the planning and practice process, Chris does it in about 30 seconds.

Chris starts his impromptu speech with many questions that come from a personalized story that then leads into the main topic of the speech.

What Chris also does is focuses on his audience and he shares his planned structure.

Chris’s impromptu speech is full of valuable information the audience might not have been aware of, which then ties to things on a larger scale. Even though Chris only took 30 seconds to work on the speech plan, he looks very relaxed, confident, with a strong game right until the end of the speech.

What’s interesting enough is that if you didn’t know this was an impromptu speech, you might not even know. Therefore, this is a perfect example of how good you can get at impromptu speeches without knowing the subject beforehand.

Toastmaster International – Impromptu Speaking

If you prefer learning from a video example, this four-minute video is everything you’ll need to gain the confidence to do an impromptu speech.

In this example, you’ll learn opportunities where impromptu speaking might be required. Of course, all of the opportunities are the ones where you don’t have much time to prepare.

However, with the techniques covered in this example video, you’ll learn how to manage last-minute speeches.

Lastly, the video will teach you all the benefits of holding impromptu speeches.

Even though this is an educational-type video, if you have a better look, you would notice that this whole video is less than five minutes long, and it’s scripted in a way to serve as yet another impromptu speech example.

Therefore, as you learn how to perform an impromptu speech, you’re watching an impromptu speech which is a brilliant idea.

Preparing yourself for an impromptu speech is only half the job, so in this video, you also learn how to deliver your impromptu speech with more useful tips.

Impromptu Speech Example: Thesis-Point-Story Format

Planning a structure for your impromptu speech is super important. The thing about the structure is that you can develop any three- or four-step process that will get you through the speech.

This video is a perfect example of a thesis-point-story format where Chris, the speaker, gets assigned a random topic from where he creates the thesis-point structure, shares it with the students, and gets down to the speech itself.

With word play, Chris slowly introduces the topic to the audience, and while he speaks to his students as his friends, he is getting down to the story’s main point.

As Chris goes through his impromptu speech, you can also notice that he asks the audience plenty of questions, and by answering his questions, he is slowly revealing the whole story behind the point of his impromptu speech.

Even though this example might be a bit complicated to understand, you can also learn from Chris’s body language, how he speaks, and how he controls his speech as he’s a highly skilled impromptu speaker.

Angel Anderson – Impromptu Speech Example

In this four-minute impromptu speech example video, Angel Anderson teaches you exactly what impromptu speaking is, how to practice it, and even shows an example full of important tips that can help you develop the same skills.

Angel uses a question-style topic, after which he sets the timer for two minutes for his impromptu speech.

With this type of question, Angel starts his impromptu speech with a personal story that gets interesting, which ensures that the audience follows him.

Not only did Angel answer a question, but he also shared an anecdotal story, and even then, he shared some more information connected to this story.

By far, Angel’s video is not the perfect impromptu speech, but it’s a real example of how easily you can work on your impromptu speech, practice, and learn as you progress.

Of course, this example is ideal for all interview-type impromptu speeches, which can be as hard as the topic-type speeches.

Impromptu speech can seem scary at first, but with plenty of preparation and practice, you will be able to speak on any topic without much preparation.

These 15 tips are everything you’ll need to start, develop, and finish your impromptu speech while being confident both verbally and nonverbally.

On top of that, these five examples show you how impromptu speech is done first-hand. Remember that you shouldn’t aim for perfection, but even tiny improvements are a good step forward to achieving a decent impromptu speech.

Tom loves to write on technology, e-commerce & internet marketing. I started my first e-commerce company in college, designing and selling t-shirts for my campus bar crawl using print-on-demand. Having successfully established multiple 6 & 7-figure e-commerce businesses (in women’s fashion and hiking gear), I think I can share a tip or 2 to help you succeed.

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Speaking Without a Net: How to Master Impromptu Communication

Stanford improv experts discuss the art of in-the-moment communication in this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart.

January 17, 2020

When we think about our communication at work, we tend to focus on those time-consuming presentations. But most professional communication is spontaneous in nature. It’s providing feedback in the moment, answering questions, and introducing people. That spur-of-the-moment communication can be as important, if not more important, than our planned high-stakes communications.

On this podcast episode, strategic communication lecturer Matt Abrahams talks with two Stanford improv experts, Adam Tobin and Dan Klein , about spontaneous speaking and how to become more comfortable and confident in the moment.

Think Fast, Talk Smart is a podcast produced by Stanford Graduate School of Business and hosted by Matt Abrahams. Each episode provides concrete, easy-to-implement tools and techniques to help you hone and enhance your communication.

Full Transcript

Matt Abrahams : Let me start by introducing Adam Tobin. Adam is a senior lecturer in Film and Media Studies here at Stanford University, and a teacher in Continuing Studies. Dan Klein is also a lecturer at Stanford, both at the Graduate School of Business as well as in Theater and Performance Studies. Dan also is an instructor at the D School. Adam and Dan, thanks for being here.

Adam Tobin : Thank you.

Dan Klein : Thank you. Glad to be here.

Matt Abrahams : This is going to be a lot of fun. So we all are involved with situations where the students we teach or the clients we coach feel challenged by spontaneous speaking. Can you share a little bit about where you think that challenge comes from? Why is this type of speaking so hard?

Dan Klein : There’s a moment when we feel that the pressure is on. It’s like everyone’s attention is on us and we have to perform. And the moment we have that self-conscious awareness, it’s like our brain starts to short circuit. We go into a different set of systems. We’re thinking about ourselves or thinking about how it looks, how we did. There’s a critical level. But sometimes we see this with improvisors specifically. There’s another problem where if the pressure’s on and you think you did really well. That also short circuits your ability [laughs] to be present and in the moment.

Adam Tobin : And it’s amazing people can shut down, or sometimes people can talk too much. It’s like their mind-body is running away from them. It’s doing everything except kind of what they need to do in the moment. But we are expert at that because, for most of the time, we’re improvising. You know, nobody wakes up and writes the script of the day, and everyone else goes along with that script. We’re actually experts at improvising. It’s just when we get put on the spot.

Dan Klein : And when Adam says we are experts, he doesn’t mean he and I. He means like humanity.

Adam Tobin : Right. We are experts, by the way.

Dan Klein : We are experts.

Matt Abrahams : That’s true. You are. That’s why you’re here.

Dan Klein : We all are experts.

Matt Abrahams : And we see this in lots of high stakes situations. I think of athletes who for years have been practicing what they do. But in that high-stakes situation, that pitch, that putt where, all of a sudden, they fail or they struggle because of that over-awareness that you’re talking about. Before we start getting into specific tips and tricks about how to manage in these situations, I really think a lot of what you guys teach has to do with mindset and approach. Would you guys like to talk about that approach that you take?

Adam Tobin : Yeah. One of my favorite stories is that when I first moved to the Bay Area before GPS, I would go to San Francisco, and every time I would get lost. Every single time. And it wasn’t until the seventh or eighth time that I got lost and I looked up and I said, I don’t know where I am, but I’ve been lost here before. And if I just make a right and a right, I’ll get back on the freeway and I know how to get home.

And for me, that was a mindset shift. That was I don’t need to have all the answers. I need to be present enough to kind of find a way to solve the answers. I need to be okay enough, comfortable enough being uncomfortable, that I can plug in. And our mentor, Patricia Ryan Madson, who wrote this great book, Improv Wisdom , when I told her that story, she said, “No, no, no. You missed the point. The point is to get lost on purpose and discover what you find.” And for me, that was another mindset shift.

Dan Klein : I love that. I’ve been trying to run a little bit more in my life. And I find that it’s really exciting to go out and try to get a little bit lost. Like I don’t want to get so lost that it’s actually physically dangerous and I might be in trouble. But I want to find something I’ve never seen before. And I was running near my house the other day in Oakland, and I was going to go the way I know to get home, and I thought, well, I’ll just get a little bit lost.

And I turned right, and literally half a block, they made a native plants park in between two streets. It was 10 yards away from where I was, and I had a walk in nature with native plants completely transported. And I would never have had that if my mindset wasn’t get a little bit lost. Like take the slightly less traveled path.

Adam Tobin : And in speaking, that’s the thing of if you’re present, if you go just a little bit someplace you hadn’t gone before, it may feel terrifying at first. But you’re only going to discover new things that way.

Matt Abrahams : Yeah. That I think is really the crux of what hinders a lot of people in these situations is that ability to let go. There is such pressure to do it right. The expectation is that I’ve been asked to do this, or I need to do this, and I want to do it right. And I know in your experience and in a lot of the improvisation that you bring to the work you do, letting go of the getting it right is really important.

So can you share some ideas about how we get out of our own way? And in fact, I’m going to ask: there’s a wonderful improv game, and in a class that Adam and I co-teach, we often start with this game. And it’s called Shout the Wrong Name . And I think this is a great. If one of you could describe the game and use this as a way to help us understand how we get in our way.

Dan Klein : Yeah. Well, this is a great early game. And the first round is Shout the Right Name. So you walk around pointing at things and calling out what they’re called. And I give people permission to mess up. Like if you get the wrong name, that’s fine. We’re all doing it at the same time. And after a round of that, then we do another round where you say Shout the Previous Name. So you call out what the last thing you pointed out was called, which really messes with your brain.

Matt Abrahams : Wow. Right.

Dan Klein : And hopefully you’ll get messed up. Sometimes you’ll get it right and sometimes you get it wrong. We’re in that weird state.

Matt Abrahams : So you point at a lamp, and then when you point at the computer, you call it a lamp.

Dan Klein : You call it a lamp. And then when you point at the wall, you call it computer.

Matt Abrahams : Right.

Dan Klein : And then the last round is you’re free. You could call it the previous thing, or you could call it the next thing or something else in the room or something not in the room, or something that’s not even a thing. Like you have permission to call things gibberish. The goal is to emphatically declare the name. Don’t intellectually sort of solve the problem by figuring out a category of things that you can just list.

And once we’re doing that, we’re in a completely different psychological, emotional, your view of the room and the world shifts after just 45 seconds.

Matt Abrahams : What I found so interesting about this, and I don’t know, Adam, if you want to comment on it, is when I participated in this game, people get so frustrated because they feel that they’re not doing the game right. And you hear students saying, “I didn’t call it that because that’s not the right wrong name.”

Dan Klein : Right, right. Exactly.

Adam Tobin : Yeah. And all the different ways that we judge ourselves come out. So the thing we shouted wasn’t interesting enough. The thing we shouted was too interesting. The thing we shouted was something we heard from somebody else. The thing we shouted was a repeat of something I’ve said before. And in the boundaries of this game, the rule is Shout the Wrong Name. And beyond that, we bring all this baggage of all these different ways to judge the idea that we’ve come up with.

And for me, it just brings to light all the different ways that we strangle ourselves from speaking because it might not be appropriate, it might not be interesting enough. And you know, in the world of business and Stanford and what I do, film, and achievement, people want to be powerful speakers. They want to be interesting. But what we don’t realize is that by trying to meet every goal in our head, we’re shutting ourselves off from material.

Matt Abrahams : Yeah. And I think that’s one of the big key aha moments I have I doing the work that I’ve done with you all is that we stifle creativity before we actually have an opportunity to be creative because we’re evaluating. And I know none of the three of us is advocating that you get up in a spontaneous speaking situation and just say the first thing that comes to your mind. But if you loosen the restrictions that you put on yourself, interesting things can happen.

There’s a wonderful saying that comes from the world of improv, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on this, but this notion of Dare to Be Dull. And when I have the audacity to be in front of my MBA students and say, “Dare to be dull.” And it sucks the air right out of the room because I immediately have to follow it up with why. And would one of you like to help articulate why daring to be dull is so liberating?

Dan Klein : It’s exactly that. It’s liberating because it takes the pressure off. We are so driven to be interesting. Our mentor, Patricia Ryan Madson, she had a mentor in improvisation. It’s Keith Johnstone. So he’s like our grand mentor. [Laughter] Our fear of being seen as unoriginal is one of the most inhibiting fears that we carry. And so the idea of like dare to be dull, or be obvious. Be obvious is the most powerful, creative mantra that there is. He said when you’re trying to be original, you sound like everyone else trying to be original. But when you’re obvious, you’re yourself. And that’s what’s genuine. And if the obvious thing you say is what everyone else was thinking, then they’ll just think you’re brilliant for saying it.

And if your obvious thing is different, then that’s actually genuinely original.

Adam Tobin : Right. And that obvious thing is kind of your voice, right? But it’s also true. You’re not putting on any kind of fake version of yourself to try to impress people. You’re actually dealing with what’s going on, what’s in your head, what your reaction to the thing is.

Dan Klein : There’s another message that we got from Keith Johnstone and from Patricia that I personally found really powerful, and I use it in my teaching all the time. And that is shoot for average and fail cheerfully. And when I tell students that, especially here at Stanford, these high-achieving students, I can tell that they don’t really believe it. [Laughter] They laugh. They’re sort of guarded. And they’re still sort of holding themselves back.

But over the course of 10 weeks of practicing doing this, of doing it with other people, of getting the experience of that playful support, being able to fail and have it still work out, I start to see the armor crack. I see them kind of emerge and show up as themselves, which is something that they’ve been holding back.

Adam Tobin : There’s so much pressure to be outstanding and original and break the paradigm. And the truth is that we can’t actually get to those spaces if we’re protecting ourselves. We need to allow ourselves to play and discover and be authentic. I think those skills can be learned over time. As Dan said, the more you do it, the more you tap into something kind of true, instead of trying to wow everybody with this false version.

Matt Abrahams :I really think this is critical, to take the time to understand how much pressure we put on ourselves and how much judging we do of ourselves that gets in the way of us actually being able to do what it is we want to do. And that notion of reflecting on what happens if it doesn’t go well, accepting the failure, really is liberating. We are certainly not saying that this is the only way to communicate.

All of us agree there are situations where we need to do what we traditionally do: prepare, plan, the wording has to be right. But to have flexed these other muscles and be able to have another approach so we can choose in certain situations to turn off the evaluation and the judging and act in another way.

Adam Tobin : Well, in Patricia’s book, in the opening she says, “When I go to a surgeon, I certainly want a surgeon who is prepared and schooled up and knows what they’re doing. But I also want, if something goes wrong, for them to be able to be present and improvise. Also, I would like that surgeon to be able to talk to me about [laughs] what’s going on.

I think if you get expert enough in your material, then that frees you up to be more connected, more conversational because you know, deep down, I know this. Sometimes we’ll do an exercise where we’ll have somebody tell the story of their name, just some story about their name - first name, middle name, last name, whatever, or tell a story about what they did this weekend and remind them that when you’re an expert on the material, you don’t have to have every word perfectly staged.

If you build a comfort in your material, then you can be a little more free-flowing in how you present it.

Matt Abrahams : Being present oriented is really critical in what I’m hearing us discuss. And I know a lot of improvisation requires or invites that kind of present orientation. So I’d like to hear from each of you a bit about how present orientation helps in spontaneous moments. And also, let’s include in that this notion of listening. What I have found in the work I do is we often don’t take the time to be present enough to listen, to understand truly what’s needed in that moment so we can respond accordingly.

Because we’re in our heads, because we’re judging and evaluating, we might miss some nuance or make some assumptions that get in the way of being successful and spontaneous speaking. Curious to know your thoughts about that listening and that present orientation.

Dan Klein : Okay, what did you just ask me? [Laughter] Sorry. I’m sorry.

Matt Abrahams : That was a softball there, Dan [laughs].

Dan Klein : I know, I thought of that early and then I planned to say it.

Matt Abrahams : Yeah [laughs].

Adam Tobin : And you blocked out everything else he said.

Matt Abrahams : There you go. What not to do.

Adam Tobin : Look. If you’re like locked into a script or locked into this idea of how you were going to do it, and something is going on, you’re totally not connecting with your audience, with their needs. Like imagine you’re giving a talk and there’s a fire alarm and the sprinklers go off, and you keep giving your talk. It’s the opposite of actually connecting your material [laughs] to people. You have to be there, and you have to keep bringing the current circumstances to your material so you can get it to people.

Dan Klein : https://www.improv.org/actors/rafe-chase/ is a brilliant improvisor and director here in the Bay Area who’s created amazing theater for more than 30 years. And his advice was, in the moment when you find yourself thinking about yourself, either in the past or in the future, how I did or how I’m going to do, don’t beat yourself up but let that be a little reminder that there’s something to notice right now. And that’s always true. There’s always something to notice right now.

Adam Tobin : And I would say one of the most powerful ideas that improv gave to me personally and then I’ve applied certainly to speaking and to pitching movie ideas and to teaching and to this room right now is it’s not about you, it’s not just about you, it’s really about them. It’s about your listener. It’s about your partner. It’s about making your partner look good. There’s a great improv maxim, which is do what needs to be done. Don’t do more, don’t do less, do what needs to be done.

And you only know that if you’re paying attention.

Matt Abrahams : That’s right. And a great way I think for people to help get in that present moment, not when they’re playing improv games because improv games invite that but taking time to greet your audience. Take time to get to know them. Ask questions. It brings you into that present moment. You can’t be worried about everything that could happen if I’m shaking your hand and asking you a question.

Another way to make sure that you’re listening well and understanding is using paraphrasing. I’m a big fan of paraphrasing, such that you hear the information and demonstrate you heard the information. There’s no sense communicating if you’re not communicating on the topic that’s needed in that moment.

Adam Tobin : I just had an insight about paraphrasing, which is you’re kind of extending the now, right? So like now keeps moving past you and blah-blah-blah-blah and it’s hard. But what paraphrasing does is like what they said, you’re saying again and you’re kind of like living in that space for a little moment, right? And yes, it reaffirms fidelity. Did I get that message right? It affirms what they said, “Oh, I heard you and you said something.”

But also, it’s like, “Okay, before we rush on to what we think about that or what that means, like let’s take a moment and just be in that for a sec.” And it doesn’t take a long time, but it’s in the now.

Dan Klein : There’s another piece here. I connect this to teaching but also to speaking, with teaching being a variation of speaking, which is sometimes we really want to get a laugh because the laugh kind of gives us an indication that everyone’s with us and it’s working.

Matt Abrahams : Right. They’re engaged. Yeah, right.

Dan Klein : It’s an ego boost, but it also says we’re alive and together. There are some laughs that are actually costly. If you’re just doing your jokes, if you’re making fun of somebody, you might get the laugh, but it won’t actually build that connection. But there is a laugh that you can get which comes from highlighting something funny or interesting that someone else did. So if someone does something funny to be celebrated, as the teacher, as the host, to call it out, you get that laugh, but you get it in service of the other person and of the message.

I think it’s true in talks as well. If something happens in the room that you can call out that gets the laugh, it’s not you generating a joke and saying, “Look at me.” It’s sort of being present in the moment.

Adam Tobin : And it’s something we’ve all experienced in that room, and no other talk will experience that. And if anything, it might be the more memorable thing when you leave of like, “Oh, that moment,” because it’s a live moment. It happened. We participated in it.

Matt Abrahams :I love this notion of connection and being in service of your audience. That’s a mantra that I share a lot. For many people, though, it’s very nerve-wracking to go from that monologue to dialogue, to letting other people in. And I know that improvisation and both of you have some thoughts about how we perceive and frame those interactions.

Many of us in a Q&A situation, where people are asking us questions or asking for our feedback, feel that in that moment we are being challenged, that we are being evaluated.

Dan Klein : Attacked.

Matt Abrahams : Attacked in some cases. And I know improv has a lot to say about this notion of offers and opportunities. Do you want to make mention of that? I think that reframing these situations as a positive versus a negative can make a big difference.

Adam Tobin : Yeah. I mean, one of the improvisors’ mantras is that there are always offer coming at us from all different directions and that we should notice those offers. So an improvisor goes on stage with absolutely nothing planned, and just the posture of their partner coming on stage will say, ah, that person is just a little slumped, or that person is a little proud. And I’ll notice that, and I’ll treat it as an offer. And now I’ll have a sense of what we’re beginning to do on stage.

So there are these offers everywhere. And our audiences, for sure, are giving us offers all the time.

Dan Klein : Yeah. In the moment when an audience member is challenging, when they ask a question that might have an aggressive tone to it, something that might put you on the defensive, especially if you’re not that confident about that specific area, one of the things that I learned as a facilitator, and I’ve seen it happen over and over again, is that person is the most engaged. That’s what they’re showing you.

Matt Abrahams : Wow, that’s great.

Dan Klein : They are engaged, and they are the best opportunity. It’s not a fight. You’re not going to fight with them, but they are an opportunity. So take that energy, get delighted. Whenever something goes wrong on the improv stage, improvisors just get excited. Their eyes light up and they go, “Oh, good, what can we do with this?”

Adam Tobin : It’s live. It’s an opportunity. It’s new information.

Matt Abrahams : I am surprised that I’m the one that has to say this, but yes and.

Adam Tobin : Yeah.

Matt Abrahams : Isn’t that what it’s all about?

Adam Tobin : Yeah. Right.

Dan Klein : So someone challenging you, someone being sort of negative or a problem, we’re instantly reframing that. And I’ve seen it many times. The person who has the most challenging question is most likely to be your champion. They’re the one who is going to be your biggest supporter when you work with them and are able to engage and turn around.

The other thing I learned was when they ask a question that has a lot of energy behind it, don’t answer. Say, “Tell me more,” or say, “What thoughts do you have about that?” Like let them keep talking, because sometimes you’re just misinterpreting that negative energy. They’re fired up in another way.

Adam Tobin : It’s very powerful. I mean, you mentioned yes and. And it’s such a cliché of improv. But really to parse it and say when you’re met with something, see that as an opportunity. And not only see it as an opportunity but build on it, run with it. This is a story I tell in the class that Matt and I teach together. There was a time where I was pitching a TV show. And the person I pitched it to said to me, “Tell me why this isn’t a sci fi story.” And I thought [laughs], this isn’t a sci fi story. It never occurred to me. Like maybe there’s some element?

And I said, “Why do you say that?” And it turned out that that person’s boss had been burned by the last three sci fi stories that they had made. What this person was doing was actually asking me for ammunition that he could then take to his boss to sell my story. He was solving a problem that I didn’t even know existed. And so rather than seeing that question as an attack, see it as this person is bringing information from like outside of my headspace, right?

Like I wasn’t aware of this. By bringing that question, he’s bringing his concerns and he was actually trying to help.

Matt Abrahams : What I love so much about that story is it brings together many of the things we talked about. You had to be present in the moment to see that that’s what was going on. You had to take the offer that he was giving you and see it as an offer, that there was something of value there. So you really had to be present. You had to listen and have that mindset.

Adam Tobin : And I did paraphrase. I asked a question back, as Dan said, “Tell me more. Why? Where is this coming from?” And it turned out the deeper source was something useful for both of us.

Matt Abrahams :I think for folks who find themselves in situations where they’re handling objections or taking questions, this advice and guidance is critical. You have to listen. You have to be open. You have to see how this is now an opportunity to expand and extend versus to just offend and entrench.

Adam Tobin : I mean, one thing that was very powerful that I learned was from you, Matt, which is to make this into a conversation rather than a performance. And that mindset shift of I’m presenting, I’m in front of a group. But it’s much more like I’m in a conversation where I’m putting information out. You’re giving information back. I’m taking that in and moving it forward. And that’s a way to kind of demystify or take the anxiety out of these situations.

Matt Abrahams : Absolutely. Being conversational always I think is beneficial. So it seems to me that everything we’ve talked about so far is really about mindset and approach. Now you actually have to communicate. You have to do something. And you both know, and I’ll share with everybody listening, I have a very strong bias towards structure. I think actually structure is critical. In a spontaneous situation, the structure you leverage is very, very important.

And the same is true in improv. And I find it very interesting that people think improv is totally unstructured. But in fact, there are a whole bunch of rules and procedures and processes that folks doing improv are working on together and sharing. Can you talk a little bit about how structure actually frees people up to be spontaneous?

Dan Klein : Well, I think that’s it exactly. At even another level, one of the things that we learned from Patricia from the first day was we’re not doing improv so that we have less work, right? We’re not doing improv so we don’t have to spend time memorizing our lines or rehearsing. In fact, if we’re going to step into this world, we have an extra responsibility that we are not late, that we are not casual and sloppy, that we are taking care of each other, and that we are doing this in a most respectful way.

And if you see a professional improv show, they don’t kind of slowly get up on stage and go, “What should we do tonight?” They have a very clear plan about how are we going to get this first suggestion? What’s the start? How are we going to do the lights at the beginning? How will we know when we’ve come to the end? What’s the curtain call? We get the frame really well established, which then gives us room to play within the structure.

Adam Tobin : And I’m a huge believer in structure in film and television, too. And in general, it’s this sense that a playground structure allows kids to climb up and over and through and around and run around and make it into a mountain or make it into something else. But if you just drop a couple of kids in an empty field and they don’t have a bat or a ball or lines or anything, it’s actually harder to generate play. You need building blocks a little bit.

And when there are structures, you can kind of say, “Okay, here’s what I’m doing first,” or, “Normally, I would do that first, but I’m going to switch it around.” And it just gives you a basis in which to play.

Matt Abrahams : The way I like to think about it is whenever you have to communicate, you have two fundamental things you have to worry about. One is what am I saying, and other is how am I saying it? And this notion of structure gives you the how I’m going to say it. So you actually free up your brain to focus on what you’re going to say and how you put it in the structure.

And I fully believe if you take the approaches that we’ve talked about and the mindset, it puts you in a place where you can then think about the different structures, maps, approaches that you want to take and, therefore, plug the information in.

Dan Klein : For about seven years here at Stanford, my wife and partner Michelle Darby and I taught a class on storytelling where we taught people to get up on stage and tell a true story in front of a live audience. That was not improvised. But we also encouraged people to plan your story, rehearse it, practice it, but don’t memorize it because it’s like the life force gets pulled out when you’re just reciting the lines.

Even if they’re beautiful and well-crafted, if you’re reading it, there’s something that’s missing. But if you’re sharing it, if you’ve planned it out and you know where to go. And there’s a version of improv which is just ad-libbing. There’re a lot of improvised movies where the structure is actually totally in place. We know the characters. We know the scenes. But the dialogue hasn’t been written. That’s an important skill, too.

Some [unintelligible] that we’re talking about is where you don’t know anything about the story and you’re figuring it out right there in the moment. That’s wonderful training. Even just the ability to ad lib, to know where you are but be fully present and let the words come to you as you’re there. Even with all of that, we say you should memorize the first line and the last line.

Adam Tobin : Right.

Dan Klein : Don’t be sloppy about those.

Adam Tobin : Right. I mean, Matt has talked about in our class that anxiety peaks at the beginning of a talk and at the end of a talk. And if you can start strong and finish strong, that will reduce some of your anxiety. And people remember primacy and recency, right? But also, I mean, I do think that when you have a script that you’ve written out, you’ve added all these other layers of judgment to it. Am I hitting all the words that I needed to hit? Am I inflecting them right? Am I pausing the way that I had planned?

You’re subservient to the script and the plan instead of to getting your message across to the people who are here.

Dan Klein : And if you’re picturing the words themselves as they appear on the page, you’re in a completely different space than an actual communicator.

Adam Tobin : Yeah, right. Yeah.

Matt Abrahams : I think it’s important for us to distinguish between script and structure. So a structure is like a map. It’s not the step-by-step street name that you go to to get to where you want to be. We’ve talked about a lot of really interesting, useful skills that people can use to feel more comfortable speaking in a spontaneous way. I’m curious if both of you would be willing to be a little spontaneous. We end each of these podcasts with a little game. So I’m going to ask each of you three questions that we end each podcast with. So we’ll alternate back and forth, and we’ll switch who goes first. So one of you will truly be being spontaneous. So Dan, I’m going to start with you.

Matt Abrahams : If you were to capture the best communication advice you’ve ever received as a five- to seven-word presentation slide title, what would it be?

Dan Klein : Adam already said it earlier. I just want to pull it back in. It is not about you.

Matt Abrahams : Nice. Very good. Adam, same question to you. What five to seven words would be on your slide title?

Adam Tobin : I was going to say that.

Dan Klein : That was yours?

Adam Tobin : It’s not about you. It’s about them.

Matt Abrahams : Oh, okay. We’ll give you credit. That’s all right. That’s all right. So Adam, since you were a little less original, we’ll give you question number two.

Adam Tobin : But I was present and I failed cheerfully.

Matt Abrahams : Who’s a communicator that you admire and why?

Adam Tobin : You know who I really enjoy is Trevor Noah, the host of the Daily Show. And his autobiography audiobook is just amazing. But what I like about him is a mix of he does seem always present. He seems always him. You know, you really feel his voice. But he can speak with authority. He can speak sometimes crassly or glibly or sometimes like really kind of profoundly. And so I enjoy the range that he brings. And yet it’s always him.

Matt Abrahams : So that authenticity then, yeah.

Adam Tobin : Yeah, yeah. And specificity and naturalness. Yeah, I really enjoy watching him.

Matt Abrahams : So Dan, who’s a communicator that you admire and why?

Dan Klein : I’m going to go a little bit obscure here. Almost 20 years ago, I went to the Edinburg Fringe Festival. And there’s a British comedian storyteller named Daniel Kitson who was hosting it was an event called Late and Live. And Late and Live was notorious because it was at midnight and the crowd would be packed, and you’d get a random collection of standup comics. And they were handling hecklers, like that was the culture of that environment.

And Daniel was the host of it. And he was so masterful at playing with what people would shout out. He would disarm them so easily. He was so present. Not high status. Not aggressive. Very calm and comfortable, but so comfortable in his own skin. And he would name exactly what was there in the room. So whatever someone called out to him, the tone of voice, the phrasing; he was so present and aware of what it was that everyone just fell apart. It was absolutely hysterical.

Matt Abrahams : That’s cool. That’s cool. So usually the third question that I ask is to ask the person to give three ingredients that go into a successful communication recipe. But I’m going to turn this into a little bit of an improv game. So instead of each of you telling three, and I’ll play as well. Say one ingredient that you would put in the recipe. So Adam, what’s one thing you would put in?

Adam Tobin : Cinnamon.

Matt Abrahams : Oh, excellent.

Adam Tobin : No, I’m sorry. How do I say this? You build up a trust in yourself over time, and by putting yourself out there in safer ways, and then increasingly you get more and more comfort. I think ultimately, having some trust in yourself is a really powerful ingredient.

Matt Abrahams : Dan?

Dan Klein : Here’s something we haven’t quite talked about, but it fits into everything. Plan the talk. Be ready. Do the research. Think about the audience and their needs. But in the moment when you’re delivering, use an opportunity to pay attention. Like meet people beforehand in the room. Have some quick conversations. Listen to the speaker right before you.

And use something from the room in your talk. You don’t have to change everything you’re going to do, but reference something that’s come up on that day in that moment so that your talk is particular to that space and that time.

Matt Abrahams : So I like this notion of trust yourself, be ready. And I would add to this, have fun. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves. I’ll never forget when I went for my first martial arts black belt, somebody I trust and a mentor, right before I went to do the test, he looked at me and said, “Have fun.” And I was in total utter shock. How can this be fun? This is something that’s going to be torturous. But taking that approach really made a big difference.

I think those three ingredients would make for a wonderful, spontaneous speaker. Thank you for that and thank you for joining today. I really hope that people listening in take to heart the advice that we gave. It’s about the approach you take. It’s about having that open mindset, being present, listening, relying on structure, trusting in yourself. Taken together, those are the skills that will help somebody become a better spontaneous speaker. Thank you, guys.

Dan Klein : Thank you.

For media inquiries, visit the Newsroom .

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How to Give Impromptu Speeches

Last Updated: September 15, 2021

This article was co-authored by Patrick Muñoz . Patrick is an internationally recognized Voice & Speech Coach, focusing on public speaking, vocal power, accent and dialects, accent reduction, voiceover, acting and speech therapy. He has worked with clients such as Penelope Cruz, Eva Longoria, and Roselyn Sanchez. He was voted LA's Favorite Voice and Dialect Coach by BACKSTAGE, is the voice and speech coach for Disney and Turner Classic Movies, and is a member of Voice and Speech Trainers Association. This article has been viewed 10,474 times.

The secret to a successful impromptu speech is to anchor it in your personal experience. Your experience may be different, but it is never "wrong". Even if you're invited to speak on something you don't know well, turn it around and speak from experience. Always "go with what you know".

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• ↑ Patrick Muñoz. Voice & Speech Coach. Expert Interview. 12 November 2019.

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5 Steps to Deliver an Impromptu Speech (Even If You Hate Public Speaking)

If you are new to public speaking, an impromptu speech is one where you have to speak on short notice. So you won’t have a lot of preparation time. Even seasoned speakers can panic when asked to deliver one of these “spur of the moment” presentations. It makes sense. When we train new speakers, we tell them to organize their thoughts and practice the speech a few times. When someone puts you on the spot and askes you to speak, you can’t do any of these things. There are no note cards. So, impromptu speaking is a solid speaking skill. The better you get at this, the better a speaker your audience will see you as.

In the session, we are going to cover two parts of speaking off the cuff. First, we are going to talk about how to reduce nervousness when someone puts you under pressure. Then the second part is a simple structure you can use to design a compelling speech focused on a single main point. This structure will work in almost every impromptu speaking situation. (We will also give you a couple of concrete examples of how to use the structure.)

How to Reduce Public Speaking Fear When Delivering Impromptu Speeches.

Let’s start with the more difficult part, though. When someone puts us on the spot, panic can sit in. When we get nervous, we will not think as clearly. So, these tips can help you clear your head. A great speaker will not allow his or her audience to see them sweat.

Step 1, Realize that Many Impromptu Speeches Aren’t Impromptu at All.

“ But I never was happy, never could make a good impromptu speech without several hours to prepare it .” — Mark Twain

Often, just being more proactive versus reactive can help reduce nervousness in impromptu situations. Before you go into a meeting, anticipate what questions might be asked of you. Organize your thoughts around how you might respond if the question is asked. Here are a couple of examples.

Before you go to a staff meeting, try to figure out what the discussion will be about in the meeting. What is going on in the company right now? What are the most important things that will be covered? How can you participate in the discussion and add value? By answering these questions, you will be a step ahead of most others in the meeting. (They likely wouldn’t have taken the time to even think about them.)

A few years ago, I was coaching a team that was delivering a high-level sales presentation. The buyers gave the team 45 minutes for their presentation. Then, they added a 15-minute question-and-answer session at the end. The buyers were, in essence, a panel of judges that could ask any question.

The team and I spent the better part of two hours brainstorming possible questions that would be asked. We put all of these questions down on a piece of paper. Then, one by one, we used the structure below to answer each in a compelling way. We ended up with over 30 questions along with a great answer for each.

The team leader made a series of index cards — one for each question. Then, she gave each index card to the person who would answer each of the questions based on their expertise. Each team member ended up with five or six questions. The technique worked beautifully. After practicing each answer a few times, they no longer needed the notecards. The impromptu speaking was not impromptu at all.

Step 2: Take a Deep Breath.

Many of the symptoms of public speaking fear can be reduced (at least a little) by taking a deep breath. When put under pressure, a public speaker can sometimes panic. Your heart can start beating very quickly. This is what causes the sweating and fuzzy thoughts. When you start to feel these things, just pause. Take a deep breath. Immediately, your heart rate will start to slow down to a more normal speed.

When you do this, the symptoms will start to diminish a little. Often, that is all you will need to begin to establish effective clear thoughts.

Step 3: You Don’t Have to Respond Quickly. Pause and Clarify Your Answer.

Too often, a speaker may blurt something out in haste that he or she will later request. Keep in mind that you don’t have to respond right away. In fact, I will sometimes pause and say, “Hhmmm, let me think about that,” before I answer. I would prefer to deliver a well-thought-out answer than a fast answer.

Sometimes, that little pause will allow you to come up with a very compelling response. It also gives you a chance to do the next tip…

Step 4: Think of a Story or Example that You Can Use in Your Impromptu Response.

Stories from your own personal experience are magical in presentations. They help you build trust and rapport with your audience. However, the main reason to use a story in an impromptu situation is that stories reduce nervousness dramatically.

Basically, when you recall an incident — a moment in time — related to the topic, you will begin to play a video in your head of the memory. All you really have to do is describe to the audience what you are seeing in the mental movie.

To recall a story based on a topic, just ask yourself, “Why do I believe what I believe about this topic? Where did this belief come from?” Asking questions like this will often elicit a memory of the topic. Once you have an incident in mind, just relay the details to your audience.

One of the “magic” things that stories and examples from your personal experience do is take away arguments. If I give you my opinion, it is easy for you to counter with an opinion of your own. However, if I give you an example from my experience, you can’t really argue with me. I mean I was there and you weren’t. So when you add these examples into your responses, not only do you reduce nervousness, but you also often look around the room and see people nodding in agreement.

Step 5: Practice Your Impromptu Speaking Skills.

Once you understand the concepts that we cover in this session, look for ways to practice your skill. Public speaking is a skill, just like any other. The more you do it, the more comfortable you get doing it. An easy way to practice this skill is in business meetings. For instance, good impromptu speakers practice the skill in group discussions. The next time you participate in a staff meeting or class, look for an opportunity to participate in the discussion.

I promise you that the first time you do this will be terrifying. However, immediately after you finish, you will feel elated. The main thing to remember is that your nervousness will peak just before you open your mouth. If you begin to respond effectively (especially if you start with a concrete example,) your nervousness will begin to go down immediately.

By the way, Toastmasters International is another way to practice impromptu speaking. Each Toastmasters Club begins with a session called “Table Topics.” A topic master will throw out a random topic (mostly about current events) and then call on participants to stand and speak. The method is a little contrived. However, if you go for eight straight weeks, you will have delivered eight straight impromptu speeches. That is a solid amount of practice time to help you get started.

If you really want to eliminate public speaking fear , try the 2-day Fearless Presentations ® class . (It works 100% of the time!)

The Most Effective Way to Deliver an Impromptu Speech

So what happens if an audience member throws an unexpected question to you? The important thing to remember is to not panic. Another important thing to remember is how powerful a story or example can be. Try this simple step-by-step process to quickly design a short impromptu speech.

Start Your Off-the-Cuff Remark with an Example or Story.

To come up with your example, try this trick. Think to yourself, “That reminds me of the time…” The human brain is a fantastic hard drive that stores every experience from your life. This phrase works like a search engine to find a good example.

I’ll give you a few examples to show you how this technique works.

• Every muscle in my body hurt. (Read the phrase and just think, “That reminds me of the time.”)

There is a good chance that as you thought the magic phrase, an image of a memory formed in your head. If the memory didn’t come right away, try the phrase, “When was the last time every muscle in my body hurt?” Keep asking yourself until the image pops in your head.

Let’s try another…

• Make sure to proofread your work.” (Read the phrase and just think, “That reminds me of the time.”)

Hopefully, this one came a little quicker. The more that you experiment with this important skill, the easier the answers will come to you.

Let’s try one that you might get from a Toastmasters Table Topic.

• An unrealistic and illogical response to the Coronavirus pandemic.” (Read the phrase and just think, “That reminds me of the time.”)

Because this one is based on a current event (at the time we wrote this,) it may be a little harder to get to the memory. Just like before, though, keep asking questions until the image appears in your head.

Tell Your Audience the Moral of the Impromptu Speaking Story.

Although the story has a magical component, if you just tell the story, your audience will think, “Uh, what is your point.” Instead, finish your story by telling them your point. The following phrases work really well.

• The moral of the story is…
• My point is…
• So, the reason I’m sharing that story with you is…

Then make your point.

This part of the impromptu speaking technique is really important. Most presenters will field a hostile question from the audience and just answer the question. That is a trap. If you answer the question really well, the person asking the question will likely just follow up with a more hostile follow-up question.

However, if you start with an example, the hostile person will take a short mental trip into your experience. He or she may actually start nodding in agreement. The example is very compelling. So now when you finish with your opinion, the questioner is less likely to argue with you.

Finish with a Way that the Audience with Benefit from Your Advice.

So in the previous step, we told the audience what we want them to believe or do. Keep in mind that human beings are pretty self-centered. The common response will be, “Why?” They want to know “What’s in this for me?” So finish your impromptu speech by telling them how they will benefit.

For instance, going into the previous example about proofreading, a good response might be the following:

( Start with a Story : Proofreading? That reminds me of the time…) A few weeks ago, a client asked me to create a synopsis of a custom workshop we were creating for them. It was late in the day, so I quickly jotted down a couple of paragraphs for her. I read through it once to make sure that the content was accurate and sent it over to her. A month later, she sent me a copy of the invitation that was sent to her group. The last sentence had a typo. I was just about to let her know when I decided to double-check the email I had sent to her. Of course, the same typo was there. She had just copied my content over to her invitation. It was an embarrassing moment that I could have avoided by spending just a couple of minutes of extra time. ( What is the Point? ) So, based on my experience, I’d suggest you proofread every email you send to outside customers. ( What is the benefit? ) If you do that, you will avoid some of those embarrassing typos.

You may also be interested in Communicating and Leading Under Pressure .

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10 top tips for delivering an impromptu speech

No time to prepare take heart – and take note..

For many of us it’s the worst-case scenario – suddenly having to deliver an impromptu presentation. Being asked to speak in public is a major challenge for many leaders. Being asked to speak spontaneously as well as publicly can catapult the task straight into the very-difficult, to-be-avoided-at-all-times-I’d-rather-die category. The negative possibilities appear grave – your brain freezes, you mumble incoherently, or you appear to lose all gravitas.

Yet these scenarios happen all the time – introducing yourself at networking events, giving a toast at a company party, unexpectedly being pulled into a meeting to give an update, having a colleague directly turn to you in the middle of a presentation for input or being asked an unexpected question on a panel.

While you may wish for thorough preparation, giving an  extemporaneous  speech can mark you out as an excellent communicator. It’s how you handle yourself when you are least prepared that often demonstrates your leadership and influencing abilities.

Here are 10 top tips for performing – and presenting – under unexpected pressure.

• Be confident – look up, breathe deeply, say to yourself something positive – ‘I’m going to be fine’.
• Focus on the audience – Every presentation, including impromptu ones, need to be audience centric. The audience will be on your side – focus on what will be useful to them.
• Less is more – Avoid the tendency to ramble. An audience is far more likely to listen if you stay on target and are succinct. In fact, they’ll love you for it. Keep it short and to the point. Remember the Power of 3 – stick to three key points.
• Have a structure – Tell them what you are going to tell them; tell them; tell them what you told them. In the main section use a simple structure. For example:
• Past / Present/ future
• Cause / Effect / Remedy
• Before / The Event / The Result
• Primacy and recency – The audience will remember the first and last things you say. Make sure these are therefore powerful and linked to your key message.
• Talk conversationally – imagine you are speaking to your best friend and let yourself be authentic and natural.
• Personalise your speech & have a relevant story . Share from personal experience. No need to research, no need to investigate, and no need to memorise anything. When in doubt about what to say, just tell a story from your past related to the situation. Stories are memorable.
• Demonstrate powerful body language – Stand tall on both feet, resist the urge to slump or fiddle, use big gestures, smile and get eye contact with your audience.
• Use a credible voice tone – Go slowly! Hurrying will increase any feelings of unease you have. Take your time. Breathe deeply. Deliver your words slowly and use pauses.
• Turn your impromptu session into a Q&A session – For lengthier impromptu speeches re-frame the session as a Q&A session, which are probably easier for you to answer individually and breaks a session up into a series of very small impromptu interventions. Also, the content comes directly from the audience, so you are guaranteed to deliver what they are seeking.

Whilst we can still enjoy the famous tongue-in-cheek Mark Twain quote ‘it usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech’, you now know what to do when confronted by the dreaded impromptu business presentation. Now all you have to do is practise on the edge of discomfort.

Appeared in Management Today – April 2018

Previous post authenticity: how to be genuine when you present, next post how to engage an audience in 3 minutes flat, contact jeremy:.

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Impromptu Speech: Meaning, Tips And Skills

Whether it’s tackling unexpected job interview questions or bidding farewell to a colleague, we have all been in situations where…

Whether it’s tackling unexpected job interview questions or bidding farewell to a colleague, we have all been in situations where we were asked to talk about a subject on the spot. These are some examples of impromptu speech, which means exactly how it sounds.

Even though it’s often unexpected, you can always practice impromptu speaking. It not only helps you be confident in your delivery but also makes meaningful speeches that leave a lasting impression on your audience.

Meaning Of Impromptu Speech

The good and bad of impromptu speaking, how to give an impromptu speech.

When you deliver a speech without any prior preparation, it’s known as an impromptu speech. The word impromptu means without preparation or organization. While impromptu speaking may seem intimidating and not as glamorous as a well-prepared speech, it’s an essential skill to master. You may find yourself in various scenarios where you’re asked to share a few words. Here are some common instances that often encourage an impromptu speech:

Small talk at networking events or parties

Exchanging opinions in business meetings

Weddings and other celebrations

Sharing your experience when you’re leaving an organization

A speaker goes missing and you need to fill in at the last minute

As you can see, an impromptu speech can be as professional as sharing opinions in a meeting or as informal as a toast at a party. Either way, you’re expected to say something smart and meaningful.

The Good And Bad Of Impromptu Speaking

In an impromptu speech, you’re in an advantageous position as you get to choose the topics you want to talk about. You can enhance the quality of your speech by using personal anecdotes and real-life examples. As you aren’t prepared, you’re likely to deliver your speech as if you were in a conversation with another person. Speaking with conviction makes you sound confident and impresses your audience.

At the same time, impromptu speaking means not being well-prepared. Collecting your thoughts may be time-consuming if you don’t have much knowledge about the topic. Even if you’re familiar with a topic, your speech may lack relevant details. Moreover, if the audience doesn’t engage or ask questions, you may miss out on significant content.

However, speaking without prior preparation shouldn’t be so difficult. There are several strategies that can help you brush up on impromptu speaking skills and deal with any situation confidently.

Communication is an integral part of our lives and speech is one of its fundamental components. Language wouldn’t have evolved like it has without the help of speech. Impromptu speech, in particular, gives you the liberty to explore ideas, opinions and perspectives while sharing them with an audience. Here are some impromptu speech tips that’ll help you deliver your content confidently while captivating and convincing your audience of your thoughts:

Organize Your Thoughts

If you’re speaking in front of an audience unprepared, the first thing you should do is collect and organize your thoughts. When you start making points in your head, you gain clarity and direction regarding your topic. This further helps you prioritize and filter out unnecessary elements from your speech.

Go With The Flow

While formal situations such as business meetings and conferences may require you to be mindful of the information you share; informal situations like parties and gatherings can be candid and light-hearted. It’s best to be as candid as possible and not force yourself to behave in a certain way. This further helps you feel relaxed and use a conversational tone with your audience.

Share From Personal Experience

It’s best to focus on yourself and your surroundings. When you speak from personal experience, you’re not only familiar with the topic, you don’t require much preparation time. Storytelling is a great way to increase audience engagement. Personal anecdotes and examples can make a huge difference.

Start A Q&A Session

If you’re caught off-guard and you’re unsure about what to say or present, you can start your speech by engaging in a question-and-answer session. An interactive start will not only involve the audience but will also keep them captivated till the end. This is particularly helpful in situations where a speaker is absent and you’re filling in for them.

Use A Written Paragraph Approach

Speaking successfully involves the same outline as a written paragraph. There is an introduction, main idea discussion, supporting examples and conclusion. This structure is generally followed by people who prepare their speeches in advance. Following such an outline can help you organize your thoughts and improve the flow of the speech.

Working on your speaking skills should be a part of your career-development strategy. Harappa’s  Speaking Effectively course will teach you how to strengthen your communication skills and create ever-lasting impressions on people. The PAM Framework will help you understand your Purpose, Audience and Message better, while the Non-Verbal Cues framework will help you exhibit confidence. Be the speaker that everyone takes notice of. Start your learning journey today!

Explore topics such as Art of  Public Speaking , What is  Business Communication , Importance Of  Speaking Skills ,  Presentation Techniques  and  Audience Analysis  from Harappa Diaries to build a personal brand that inspires, motivates and guides others.

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How to Organize Your Five-Minute Impromptu Speech: Building Your Introduction (Part 1)

What do five minutes feel like to you? You could tell us that it’s made of up 300 seconds, in which time corn on the cob could be microwaved, a round of commercials could be played, and one kilometer be could run – at least for some of us. But the experience of five minutes is relative. It feels a lot longer if you’re waiting in traffic, than if you’re running late for class. So in this article, you’ll learn what five minutes should feel like when making an impromptu speech, by breaking down the different parts of your speech in order to create a structure that’s both organized and timely. All organized speeches have a beginning, middle, and end, also known as the introduction, body, and conclusion. Knowing how to plan the content of these parts is key to reaching a five-minute impromptu speech, especially because of the limitations you’re under with only two minutes of prep time. Why is this important? Two reasons. One: without keeping track of your time, you may end up finishing early and leaving out essential analysis. Two: many of us have a tendency to ramble and go off-topic, confusing both you and your audience in the process. So, as you map out the structure of your speech, you’ll learn how much time to allow for each part, and what content should be included to reach that timing. Let’s start with impromptu introductions, which require five key ingredients. First, the hook. All good speeches should create a strong first impression. For impromptu, hooks generally come in the form of a personal or well-known anecdote that’s related to the meaning of your prompt and thesis. If you choose a famous story, consider picking something simple that you know well, like the plot of a fable you’ve been taught or a movie you’ve watched. These anecdotes are the quickest to think of and can often be told smoothly without much preparation. For instance, if we suddenly asked you to retell the tale of Snow White, or your vacation last summer, you probably remember quite well what happened. In total, you should spend approximately 40 seconds on your hook, which is about six sentences. Second, the transition sentence or sentences. It’s important to link your hook to the prompt so the audience can see how they relate together. This link should be approximately one to two sentences, no more than ten seconds. For instance, let’s say the last sentence of your hook is, “The story of Snow White ends as a happy one, as the princess wakes up after true love’s kiss from her Prince Charming.” You wouldn’t want to immediately follow it with, “This quote by Stephen King says, “The trust of the innocent is the liar's most useful tool.” Why? Because the audience wouldn’t understand how Snow White is related to “innocence” or “liars.” So, ask yourself, what do the story and the quote have in common? Well, if you recall, Snow White was too innocent, trusting the old lying granny who sold her the apple. Let’s try to use this information to link the hook and the quote together. Your transition might be: “Fairytales such as these don’t exist, with innocent people often getting hurt rather than living out their ‘happily ever after.’” Notice how this sentence makes the connection between the hook and prompt by comparing how fairytales are different from real life. Third, the prompt and your interpretation. Even with a transition sentence, it’s helpful to add a dependent clause before you present your prompt. A dependent clause is a group of words that cannot be used alone; they instead provide additional information for the independent clause, which in this case, is your prompt. Avoid directly saying things like, “the prompt I got today is…” Be a little bit more subtle in your language. You could do this one in of two ways. One: link specific parts of the hook directly to the prompt. You could say something like this: “Snow White’s trusting actions are exactly what Stephen King described in his quote…” Two: If your transition sentence is already clear, use a conventional phrase like: “This brings me to today’s quote…”, or “Which is why we see in today’s quote…”, or “This story is fitting with today’s quote…” You can of course replace the word “quote” with proverb, word, or picture, depending on what type of prompt you’re given. Now for your interpretation. If your prompt is a quote or proverb, spending a sentence to explain its meaning is enough. Elaborate on who or what the prompt refers to and what kind of tone it sets. If there are any hidden meanings, then you might add an extra sentence or two. For word prompts, take more time to describe or define it, giving an example of how this word is commonly used. For picture prompts, read off any text, and describe the picture and its purpose. In total, introducing the prompt and your interpretation of it should take about 20 seconds. Fourth: the thesis statement, which its main objective is summed up in one clear, concise, and debatable sentence. This should take no more than five seconds. Finally, your roadmap (also called the preview), which outlines your speech’s three main points. Usually, in other speeches, your roadmap would include your three claims. However, because most impromptu speakers don’t have time to fully brainstorm these claims during prep, it’s common practice to simply introduce the three stories you plan to talk about in two or three sentences, which is your final 15 seconds. The best way to make this short and simple is to create story titles for each example or to refer to the names of the people or groups you plan to talk about. And there you have, five key parts and their timeline for building a one-minute and 30-second introduction. In the second part of this article, you’ll see an example of a good introduction, and then we’ll break down body paragraphs and conclusions.

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How To Judge Impromptu

Basic understanding.

Impromptu is a public speaking event where students have seven minutes to select a topic, brainstorm their ideas, outline the speech, and finally, deliver the speech. The speech is given without notes and uses an introduction, body, and conclusion. The speech can be light-hearted or serious. The speech can be based upon prompts that range from nursery rhymes, current events, celebrities, organizations, and more.

In an Impromptu round the speaker draws three prompts from an envelope. After drawing the three prompts, the student must select one and begin brainstorming their ideas for the speech. In total, a student has seven minutes. This seven minutes may be divided up by the student however they see fit. For instance, they could brainstorm and outline their ideas for three minutes and then deliver a four-minute speech; or they could brainstorm and outline for one minute and speak for six minutes. There is no minimum amount of time required for brainstorming and no minimum amount of time for speaking. Therefore, the student should work to develop the best possible structure and reasoning in as short amount of time as possible. Sometimes students think it’s more impressive to speak longer, but if the ideas aren’t clear or well developed, it can detract from the overall performance.

Conversely, a well-thought out but short speech restricts a student’s ability to spend adequate time analyzing the prompt. Therefore, examine which students struck the best balance between preparation and speaking. An Impromptu speech follows a basic structure in which a student presents an introduction, body, and conclusion. Similar to other public speaking events, the introduction should provide adequate context for the trajectory of the speech. If a student has illustrated an example, conveyed their chosen prompt, and provided a thesis statement for the speech, they have created a structurally sound introduction! The most common formulation for the body of the speech is to explore two or three topic areas in greater depth. For example, if a student’s thesis focuses on cultivating innovation, they would likely introduce two effective ways to do so and use examples to prove their point. Following this, the student will conclude the speech by reiterating the prompt, thesis, and main arguments.

As a judge, ask yourself if the speaker has created sound arguments, used a structure that was easy to follow, and held your attention for the duration of their speaking time. Students who do well in those three categories have demonstrated effective Impromptu speaking skills.

Evaluating the Round

When evaluating an Impromptu round, consider three main criteria.

First, organization . Does the student have a clear structure to their speech? Are transitions used to move effectively between each part of the speech? Does the development of the speech make sense?

Second, analysis . Does the student directly address the prompt? Does the student develop justifications for their ideas and establish significance to the points?

Third, delivery . Does the student use voice, movement, and expression effectively? Is the speaker confident? Is there consistent eye contact? Is the volume appropriate?

Filling Out the Ballot

Performers are ranked compared to the other students in their room with the best performance receiving the one ranking. The judge may also assign speaker points, typically in a range from 90 and 100, with 100 being outstanding.

The judge writes on the ballot how the speaker can improve (e.g., eye contact, clarity, emotion, etc.) and what the student did well. This is an educational activity and all feedback is welcome. Please make sure the feedback is constructive and not merely critical.

Sales - 5 min READ

The art of speaking on the fly: 6 strategies for impromptu speech

Impromptu speaking skills improve your ability to think on your feet

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Katrina Oko-Odoi

Sr. Content Marketing Manager

If you’re like nearly 30% of the population, just the phrase “public speaking” might make you break out into a cold sweat. Recent psychology research finds that between 15-30% of people have anxiety around public speaking. While the anxiety may be overwhelming for some, many people are able to develop their public speaking muscle and largely overcome the stress associated with speaking to large crowds. And it’s always easier to minimize public speaking anxiety when the speech is planned ahead of time. But what about impromptu speech?

The thing is, not all public speaking is created equal. There are the planned speaking spots — the keynote address, conference introduction speech, group seminar presentation, or awards speech — and then there are the spontaneous or impromptu speeches. Whether you’re put on the spot to say a few words at a company gathering, or you’re fielding unexpected questions from higher-ups, spontaneous speaking is an entirely different art.

In terms of communication skills, many of us often overlook the skill of speaking on the fly, even though it’s more frequent than you might think — and it can have a substantial impact on professional success. Whether you’re a sales rep, marketing manager or seasoned executive, polishing up your spontaneous speech skills can only help.

Why embrace impromptu speech?

Given how unpredictable business and work can be on a daily basis, being adaptable can make a big difference. From making unplanned remarks at an event to chatting informally with colleagues, there are endless spontaneous speaking scenarios that offer valuable opportunities to build your personal brand, nurture relationships, and expand your network.

Research dating back over 100 years has proven that well-developed “soft skills” and “people skills” like impromptu speaking account for 85% of people’s career success. And 91% of employers continue to seek out strong communication skills when hiring; while 70% of employees feel that better communication would improve their relationships with their peers.

There’s no question that capitalizing on these moments can pave the way for impressing peers and making strides toward your career objectives. But how can you go from a shy wallflower to an expert conversationalist? We’re sharing a few strategies to get you started.

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6 strategies to master spontaneous speech.

It may seem intimidating, but speaking on the fly is a skill that can be enhanced with time and practice. As you start on this journey, keep these six strategies in mind to help guide how you engage with others.

Move beyond the usual

We’ve all reached for the obvious conversation starters when we join a group for casual dialogue: weather, sports, upcoming holidays. Everyone goes there — and for that reason, it’s just plain boring. Do your best to avoid default, conventional responses. They might be safe, but they won’t be memorable. You’ll increase your chances of leaving a lasting impression if you find something more unique to say.

Instead of offering a standard greeting or comment, do your best to make your words memorable. One tip is to use shared references or analogies to engage your audience and forge meaningful connections. Or throw in a personal reference that people are likely to identify with. “My son threw an epic tantrum this morning — and it almost made me late to this conference!” That’s a much more memorable icebreaker than asking where people are from.

Find the balance

Keep things brief and focused whenever possible. Especially when responding to someone’s question or addressing a specific topic, it’s important to be concise and avoid going into too much detail that could lose people’s attention.

Do your best to think about what your goal is for the specific interaction and build your response from there. If you’re sharing feedback on a colleague’s marketing strategy proposal, going into more detail and giving specific examples may be warranted. But if you’re informally throwing out ideas for a webinar or ebook, it makes sense to be concise.

Prioritize listening

We’ve all heard of active listening, but perhaps “deep listening” is a more appropriate strategy here. The more you focus on what others are saying, the easier it will be for you to respond both appropriately and thoughtfully.

Take time to process the information someone is sharing and to engage with them from a place of empathy. Think about what they would appreciate hearing from you, before you move into what you want to communicate.

For example, say a co-worker shares with your small group that his team is struggling to keep their freelance designer on deadline for their current project. The answer may seem obvious to you, but respond first to their sharing of a challenge that’s bothering them. “That sounds frustrating, I’m sorry you have to deal with that.”

Next, gently suggest a solution without sounding pushy. “Have you considered using a project management tool to help keep everyone on the same page?” or “Have you communicated with the freelancer about your frustrations with timing?” Asking a question instead of making a statement is less threatening and helps open up a productive dialogue.

Allow yourself to be ordinary

There’s a difference between being memorable and being perfect. Don't get bogged down by the pressure to say the exact right thing, or the smartest or most illuminating thing. Instead, embrace being your authentic self, and all of the unique knowledge and experiences that you bring to the table.

The most genuine communication stems from being true to yourself. If your boss is sharing about their recent trip to Paris (where you’ve never been) and they ask you what your favorite landmark is there, don’t make something up. Simply say, “I haven’t had a chance to visit yet, but I’d love to check out the Louvre when I make it there.” Your honesty will help build rapport with your colleagues.

Structure your thoughts

Structure amidst spontaneity; how is that even possible? A clear structure for your communication can actually be very helpful — even in impromptu situations, helping make your message more compelling and understandable.

Think of your statement or response like a story, with a defined beginning, middle, and end.

You can easily adapt this type of simple narrative framework to various scenarios you come across. Here’s a general structure you can build from:

Subject: Introduce/reiterate the idea or topic

Importance: Explain why people should care or how it’s relevant

Your take: Share your perspective on the topic

Action: Suggest next steps or implications of what you’ve shared

Let’s look at an actual scenario. Your manager has asked you what you think about your team’s current sales reporting model.

“I’ve been using our sales reporting model for about 6 months now. The data in the dashboard is really important to keep our whole sales team on track and identify any gaps in our processes. I find most of the metrics useful, but I would love to see days sales outstanding (DSO) added so we can track the length of our sales cycle more closely. I’m curious to hear what everyone else thinks.”

In this case, the action you suggest is fielding feedback from others. This is an excellent approach to encourage dialogue and collaboration among the rest of your team.

Getting better at speaking spontaneously

Speaking on the fly with confidence is more than just a skill — it's a valuable tool that can help you excel professionally. From impromptu feedback sessions to unexpected questions from a supervisor, when you respond with poise and thought, you’re more likely to make a lasting impression and build a positive professional reputation — which can take your career far.

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Public speaking can be daunting for students. They often struggle to start, engage the audience, and be memorable. It's a fear of forgetting words or losing the audience's interest.

This leads to anxiety and self-doubt. Students wonder, "Am I boring them? Will they remember what I say? How can I make my speech better?"

The solution lies in speech examples. In this guide, we'll explore these examples to help students create captivating and memorable speeches with confidence.

So, keep reading to find helpful examples!

• 1. Speech Examples 
• 2. Tips to Write a Good Speech

Speech Examples 

Talking in front of a bunch of audiences is not as easy as it seems. But, if you have some good content to deliver or share with the audience, the confidence comes naturally.

Before you start writing your speech, it is a good idea that you go through some good speech samples. The samples will help to learn how to start the speech and put information into a proper structure. 

Speech Examples for Students 

Speech writing is a huge part of academic life. These types of writing help enhance the creative writing skills of students.

Here is an amazing farewell speech sample for students to learn how to write an amazing speech that will captivate the audience.

Below, you will find other downloadable PDF samples.

Speech Examples for Students

Every school and college has a student council. And every year, students elect themselves to be a part of the student council. It is mandatory to impress the student audience to get their votes. And for that, the candidate has to give an impressive speech. 

Here are some speech examples pdf for students.

Speech Examples For Public Speaking

Speech Examples About Yourself

Speech Examples Short

Speech Examples For College Students

Speech For Student Council

Speech Examples Introduction

Speech Example For School

Persuasive Speech Examples

The main purpose of a speech is to persuade the audience or convince them of what you say. And when it comes to persuasive speech , the sole purpose of speech becomes more specific.

Persuasive Speech Example

Informative Speech Examples

Informative speeches are intended to inform the audience. These types of speeches are designed to provide a detailed description of the chosen topic. 

Below we have provided samples of informative speech for you.

Informative Speech Example

Informative Speech Sample

Entertainment Speech Examples

Entertainment speeches are meant to entertain the audience. These types of speeches are funny, as well as interesting. The given speech samples will help you in writing an entertaining speech.

Entertainment Speech Example

Entertainment Speech Sample

Argumentative Speech Examples

Making a strong argument that is capable of convincing others is always difficult. And, when it comes to making a claim in an argumentative speech, it becomes more difficult. 

Check out the argumentative speech sample that demonstrates explicitly how an argumentative speech needs to be written.

Argumentative Speech Example

Demonstration Speech Examples

The demonstrative speeches are intended to demonstrate or describe the speech topic in depth. Get inspired by the demonstrative speech sample given below and write a captivating demonstrative speech.

Demonstration Speech Example

Demonstration Speech Sample

Motivational Speech Examples

Motivational speeches are designed to motivate the audience to do something. Read out the sample motivational speech given below and learn the art of motivational speech writing.

Impromptu Speech Examples

Impromptu speech writing makes you nervous as you are not good at planning and organization?

Check out the sample impromptu speech and learn to make bullet points of your thoughts and plan your speech properly.

Graduation Speech Examples

Are you graduating soon and need to write a graduation farewell speech?

Below is a sample graduation speech for your help. 

Wedding Speech Examples

“My best friend’s wedding is next week, and I’m the maid of honor. She asked me to give the maid of honor speech, but I’m not good at expressing emotions. I’m really stressed. I don’t know what to do.”

If you are one of these kinds of people who feel the same way, this sample is for you. Read the example given below and take help from it to write a special maid of honor speech.

Best Man Speech Examples

Father of The Bride Speech Example

Speech Essay Example

A speech essay is a type of essay that you write before writing a proper speech. It helps in organizing thoughts and information. 

Here is a sample of speech essays for you to understand the difference between speech format and speech essay format.

Tips to Write a Good Speech

Reading some famous and incredible sample speeches before writing your own speech is really a good idea. The other way to write an impressive speech is to follow the basic tips given by professional writers. 

• Audience Analysis: Understand your audience's interests, knowledge, and expectations. Tailor your speech to resonate with them.
• Clear Purpose: Define a clear and concise purpose for your speech. Ensure your audience knows what to expect right from the beginning.
• Engaging Opening: Start with a captivating hook – a story, question, quote, or surprising fact to grab your audience's attention.
• Main Message: Identify and convey your main message or thesis throughout your speech.
• Logical Structure: Organize your speech with a clear structure, including an introduction, body, and conclusion.
• Transitions: Use smooth transitions to guide your audience through different parts of your speech.
• Conversational Tone: Use simple, conversational language to make your speech accessible to everyone.
• Timing: Respect the allocated time and write the speech accordingly. An overly long or short speech can diminish the audience's engagement.
• Emotional Connection: Use storytelling and relatable examples to evoke emotions and connect with your audience.
• Call to Action (if appropriate): Encourage your audience to take action, change their thinking, or ponder new ideas.
• Practice Natural Pace: Speak at a natural pace, avoiding rushing or speaking too slowly.

So, now you know that effective communication is a powerful tool that allows you to inform, persuade, and inspire your audience. Throughout this blog, we've provided you with numerous examples and invaluable tips to help you craft a compelling speech. 

And for those moments when you require a professionally written speech that truly stands out, remember that our team is here to help. We can rescue you from writer's block and deliver an outstanding speech whenever you need it.

With our professional essay writing service , you can be confident in your ability to communicate your message effectively and leave a lasting impact. 

So, don't hesitate – place order now and buy speech that will truly captivate your audience.

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Dr. Barbara is a highly experienced writer and author who holds a Ph.D. degree in public health from an Ivy League school. She has worked in the medical field for many years, conducting extensive research on various health topics. Her writing has been featured in several top-tier publications.

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How to Watch Joe Biden's 2024 White House Correspondents' Dinner Speech

P resident Joe Biden is slated to deliver remarks at the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) dinner on Saturday before a crowd of journalists, celebrities and politicians as protesters have vowed to gather outside the event.

The Context

Outside the dinner site, protesters have pledged to rally against Israel continuing its war in Gaza. The conflict began after the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, that left 1,200 people dead and saw over 200 more taken hostage.

In the nearly seven months of war, the Palestinian death toll has surpassed 34,000, with more than 76,000 wounded, according to the Associated Press, per the Gaza Health Ministry. While the Hamas-run ministry does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in their count, it says at least two-thirds have been children and women.

The staggering number of Palestinian deaths has ignited international criticism that has led to protests across the globe. The death toll and distressing images of children dead in the rubble of bombed buildings resulted in mounting calls for a ceasefire and increased pressure on Biden to take a tougher line on Israel, a longtime U.S. ally.

What We Know

Comedian Colin Jost, known for his role on Saturday Night Live , is expected to deliver humorous jabs at the president and other politicians during the annual event at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C.

The WHCA hosts the black-tie event that usually features the sitting president and popular comedians mocking politicians and current events. In previous years, Biden has used the dinner to mock his political rivals, notably former President Donald Trump .

The dinner will air online on C-SPAN's website beginning at 8 p.m. EST and can also be viewed on C-SPAN's YouTube channel as well C-SPAN's TV channel.

Newsweek reached out via email on Saturday to representatives for the White House for comment.

More than two dozen journalists in Gaza recently wrote a letter published by Medium that urged members of the press corps to boycott the historic event.

"As Palestinian journalists, we urgently appeal to you, our colleagues globally, with a demand for immediate and unwavering action against the Biden administration's ongoing complicity in the systematic slaughter and persecution of journalists in Gaza," the letter states. "We insist you publicly boycott the upcoming White House Correspondents' Dinner on April 27 as an act of solidarity with us — your fellow journalists — as well as with the millions of Palestinians currently being starved in Gaza due to the Biden administration's continued political, financial, and military backing of Israel and cut-off of funding for live-saving humanitarian aid."

Photos captured before the event began showed dozens of protesters trying to block guests outside of the venue.

In an interview with Sirius XM radio host Howard Stern on Friday, Biden said he planned to emphasize the importance of a free press during his WHCA dinner speech.

The president also told Stern that the media is not hard enough on Trump, the presumed 2024 GOP presidential nominee, saying: "I think some of them are worried about attacking him, worried about taking him on."

What's Next?

The WHCA dinner begins at 8 p.m. Biden is expected to deliver remarks around 10 p.m. and will be aired online.

Update 4/27/24, 6:18 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information and background.

Related Articles

• Pro-Palestinian Protest Attempts to Drown Out Pro-Israel March at Columbia
• Here's What Israel, Taiwan and Ukraine Are Getting Under the Aid Package
• Protesters Hang Palestinian Flag from Venue Before Joe Biden's Speech

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25 Women to Know, 5 Young Women honored as pledges pour in for new Club 25 scholarship

The pledges poured in as the tears flowed out.

A celebration luncheon for the 2024 Class of the Tallahassee Democrat's 25 Women You Need to Know and the 5 Young Women to Watch Thursday became a remarkable display of generosity and commitment to the education of future women leaders when over $11,000 in pledges was raised in the room for a scholarship for the student winners and future honorees.

The event was organized by Club 25, the alumni group made up of almost 500 women leaders who continue to meet to donate resources, time and expertise to our community.

The Democrat has been highlighting women leaders in the community for the last 18 years.

"The women you’ll meet or be reacquainted with today often serve on the front lines. Other times they lead from behind, " Democrat Editor William Hatfield told those gathered at the Tallahassee Community College's Innovation Center downtown. "But each of their contributions make Tallahassee a better place to live, work and raise a family."

The event, which was catered by LUXE Personal Chef & Catering Services LLC and Sonya Scott, concluded with Kingdom First Realtor Christic Henry, the president of Club 25, announcing an inaugural scholarship for the five student winners. The scholarship began with a $1,000 donation from Henry and $250 from Katrina Rolle, President and CEO of the Community Foundation of North Florida.

During the presentation, Tallahassee City Commissioner Curtis Richardson raised his hand and said he wanted to make a $500 pledge in honor of his two daughters, past recipients of the Five Young Women to Watch, who have become the first Black sisters from Florida to attend the U.S. Naval Academy.

What followed was more raised hands as former 25 Women winners and business leaders added contributions ranging from $100 to $1,000. Tallahassee Rep. Allison Tant bounced around the room recording the pledges. When the speeches were done and the faces dried of tears, the new scholarship had raised $13,500.

Henry told the Democrat afterward she was "overwhelmed and amazed" by the response.

"It was the most organic and emotional outpouring of generosity on the community level that I have ever seen outside of church, and that is saying something," Henry said. "It started with our hometown newspaper deciding to honor women, and has morphed into a movement to invest in the future of young women throughout our region. That is the definition of legacy and Club 25 Women is honored to play a role in keeping it alive."

If you'd like to contribute, contract [email protected] for details.

The complete list of honorees with links to their full profile that ran in the newspaper and online are available at tallahassee.com.

5 Young Women to Watch

• Haniah Rose Edwards , Senior at Rickards
• Aria Fisher , Senior at Leon
• Kavyashree Kadhirvelu , Senior at Rickards
• Riley Long , Senior at Leon
• Jordyn Synii Sams ,  Senior at Lincoln

25 Women you Need to Know

• Winifred L. Acosta , Assistant United States Attorney
• Monique Akanbi ,  Field Services Director, Society for Human Resource Management
• Carrie Boyd ,  Founder of The Network of Real Estate Investing Women
• Anita Bushnyakova ,  Chief Financial Officer/Director of Finance and Operations of Kids Incorporated of the Big Bend
• Hetal Desai ,  Administrative Law Judge, Division of Administrative Hearings
• Dot Trotman Ealy ,  VP/Market Manager at Cumulus Media Communication
• Morgan Evers ,  Founder, FINACIOUS
• Carla Juarez Farley,  Manager in Corporate Communications at IEM
• Joanne Gallagher ,  CEO/Founder, SOAR
• Kimberly D. Hankerson , Assistant Vice President for University Advancement at FAMU
• Delshuana Jackson ,  Principal, Bond Elementary School
• Ashley Leland ,  Intake counselor with Oasis Center for Women and Girls
• Karen Miller ,  CEO at Tallahassee Lenders Consortium
• Chelsea Johnson Muir ,  Teacher/Coach Godby High School
• Teresa Palmer Nix ,  Owner, Catering With Care, LLC
• Dr. Temple Robinson ,  Chief Executive Officer, Bond Community Health Center
• Mary Stafford ,  Vice President, Senior Business Development Officer at Prime Meridian Bank
• Dr. Selika Stackhouse Sampson ,  Director of Continuing Education at Florida A&M University, College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
• Shannon C. Smith , Managing Director, The Moore Agency
• Dr. Calandra Stringer,  Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Tallahassee Community College
• Josefina "Josie" Tamayo ,  CEO of Volunteer Florida
• Brandi J. Thomas ,  Attorney/Managing partner at Akbar Thomas Law
• Gwendolyn Thomas , Retired administrator/educator Leon County Public Schools
• Reenee Williams-Walter ,  Rapid Response Coordinator, Career Source Capitol Region
• Brenda Williams ,  Executive Director of Tallahassee Housing Authority

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Senate passes bill forcing TikTok’s parent company to sell or face ban, sends to Biden for signature

The Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would force TikTok’s China-based parent company to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban. Here’s what to know.

A TikTok content creator, speaks to reporters outside the U.S. Capitol, Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Washington, as Senators prepare to consider legislation that would force TikTok’s China-based parent company to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban, a contentious move by U.S. lawmakers. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

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Jennifer Gay, a TikTok content creator, sits outside the U.S. Capitol, Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Washington as Senators prepare to consider legislation that would force TikTok’s China-based parent company to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban, a contentious move by U.S. lawmakers. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

FILE - A TikTok content creator, sits outside the U.S. Capitol, April 23, 2024, in Washington. TikTok is gearing up for a legal fight against a U.S. law that would force the social media platform to break ties with its China-based parent company or face a ban. A battle in the courts will almost certainly be backed by Chinese authorities as the bitter U.S.-China rivalry threatens the future of a wildly popular way for young Americans to connect online. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, file)

Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., center, speaks to reporters outside the U.S. Capitol, Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Washington as Senators prepare to consider legislation that would force TikTok’s China-based parent company to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban, a contentious move by U.S. lawmakers. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would force TikTok’s China-based parent company to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban, a contentious move by U.S. lawmakers that’s expected to face legal challenges and disrupt the lives of content creators who rely on the short-form video app for income.

The TikTok legislation was included as part of a larger $95 billion package that provides foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel and was passed 79-18. It now goes to President Joe Biden, who said in a statement immediately after passage that he will sign it Wednesday.

A decision made by House Republicans last week to attach the TikTok bill to the high-priority package helped expedite its passage in Congress and came after negotiations with the Senate, where an earlier version of the bill had stalled. That version had given TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, six months to divest its stakes in the platform. But it drew skepticism from some key lawmakers concerned it was too short of a window for a complex deal that could be worth tens of billions of dollars.

The revised legislation extends the deadline, giving ByteDance nine months to sell TikTok, and a possible three-month extension if a sale is in progress. The bill would also bar the company from controlling TikTok’s secret sauce: the algorithm that feeds users videos based on their interests and has made the platform a trendsetting phenomenon.

TikTok did not immediately return a request for comment Tuesday night.

The passage of the legislation is a culmination of long-held bipartisan fears in Washington over Chinese threats and the ownership of TikTok, which is used by 170 million Americans. For years, lawmakers and administration officials have expressed concerns that Chinese authorities could force ByteDance to hand over U.S. user data, or influence Americans by suppressing or promoting certain content on TikTok.

“Congress is not acting to punish ByteDance, TikTok or any other individual company,” Senate Commerce Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell said. “Congress is acting to prevent foreign adversaries from conducting espionage, surveillance, maligned operations, harming vulnerable Americans, our servicemen and women, and our U.S. government personnel.”

Opponents of the bill say the Chinese government could easily get information on Americans in other ways, including through commercial data brokers that traffic in personal information. The foreign aid package includes a provision that makes it illegal for data brokers to sell or rent “personally identifiable sensitive data” to North Korea, China, Russia, Iran or entities in those countries. But it has encountered some pushback, including from the American Civil Liberties Union, which says the language is written too broadly and could sweep in journalists and others who publish personal information.

Many opponents of the TikTok measure argue the best way to protect U.S. consumers is through implementing a comprehensive federal data privacy law that targets all companies regardless of their origin. They also note the U.S. has not provided public evidence that shows TikTok sharing U.S. user information with Chinese authorities, or that Chinese officials have ever tinkered with its algorithm.

“Banning TikTok would be an extraordinary step that requires extraordinary justification,” said Becca Branum, a deputy director at the Washington-based Center for Democracy & Technology, which advocates for digital rights. “Extending the divestiture deadline neither justifies the urgency of the threat to the public nor addresses the legislation’s fundamental constitutional flaws.”

Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat who voted for the legislation, said he has concerns about TikTok, but he’s also worried the bill could have negative effects on free speech, doesn’t do enough to protect consumer privacy and could potentially be abused by a future administration to violate First Amendment rights.

“I plan to watchdog how this legislation is implemented,” Wyden said in a statement.

China has previously said it would oppose a forced sale of TikTok, and has signaled its opposition this time around. TikTok, which has long denied it’s a security threat, is also preparing a lawsuit to block the legislation.

“At the stage that the bill is signed, we will move to the courts for a legal challenge,” Michael Beckerman, TikTok’s head of public policy for the Americas, wrote in a memo sent to employees on Saturday and obtained by The Associated Press.

“This is the beginning, not the end of this long process,” Beckerman wrote.

The company has seen some success with court challenges in the past, but it has never sought to prevent federal legislation from going into effect.

In November, a federal judge blocked a Montana law that would ban TikTok use across the state after the company and five content creators who use the platform sued. Three years before that, federal courts blocked an executive order issued by then-President Donald Trump to ban TikTok after the company sued on the grounds that the order violated free speech and due process rights.

The Trump administration then brokered a deal that had U.S. corporations Oracle and Walmart take a large stake in TikTok. But the sale never went through.

Trump, who is running for president again this year, now says he opposes the potential ban.

Since then, TikTok has been in negotiations about its future with the secretive Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a little-known government agency tasked with investigating corporate deals for national security concerns.

On Sunday, Erich Andersen, a top attorney for ByteDance who led talks with the U.S. government for years, told his team that he was stepping down from his role.

“As I started to reflect some months ago on the stresses of the last few years and the new generation of challenges that lie ahead, I decided that the time was right to pass the baton to a new leader,” Andersen wrote in an internal memo that was obtained by the AP. He said the decision to step down was entirely his and was decided months ago in a discussion with the company’s senior leaders.

Meanwhile, TikTok content creators who rely on the app have been trying to make their voices heard . Earlier Tuesday, some creators congregated in front the Capitol building to speak out against the bill and carry signs that read “I’m 1 of the 170 million Americans on TikTok,” among other things.

Tiffany Cianci, a content creator who has more than 140,000 followers on the platform and had encouraged people to show up, said she spent Monday night picking up creators from airports in the D.C. area. Some came from as far as Nevada and California. Others drove overnight from South Carolina or took a bus from upstate New York.

Cianci says she believes TikTok is the safest platform for users right now because of Project Texas, TikTok’s $1.5 billion mitigation plan to store U.S. user data on servers owned and maintained by the tech giant Oracle.

“If our data is not safe on TikTok,” she said. “I would ask why the president is on TikTok .”

Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick and Matt O’Brien contributed to this report.

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Macron, Battling the Far Right at Home, Pushes for a Stronger Europe

In a major speech, France’s president returned to a familiar theme, warning that “Our Europe is mortal” if it does not become more self-sufficient.

By Roger Cohen and Aurelien Breeden

Challenged by the extreme right and perhaps more vulnerable than at any time in his presidency, Emmanuel Macron of France sought renewed momentum on Thursday through a sweeping speech on the need for a more assertive Europe, a theme that he has pressed with urgency since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The nearly two-hour speech reflected Mr. Macron’s conviction that only a reinforced and “sovereign” European Union — a “Europe power,” as he puts it — can save the continent from irrelevancy in an unstable world that is dominated by the United States and China and confronting wars in Europe and the Middle East.

“We must be lucid about the fact that our Europe is mortal,” Mr. Macron declared before an audience of government ministers, European ambassadors and other dignitaries. “It can die. It can die and whether it does depends entirely on our choices.”

The speech, at the Sorbonne University in Paris, was a follow-up to one that Mr. Macron gave in the same location in September 2017 . Then, Mr. Macron discussed the future of Europe as a young, recently elected and disruptive president still enjoying a political honeymoon.

Today, without an absolute majority in Parliament, and with his popularity falling after seven years in office, he has struggled over the past two years to give direction to his second term.

Coming less than two months before elections to the European Parliament on June 9, Mr. Macron’s decision to speak out was widely seen as a bid to bolster his centrist Renaissance party, which is placing a distant second in the latest polls behind the far-right National Rally party led by Jordan Bardella. Mr. Macron’s party is polling at about 17.5 percent of eligible voters; Mr. Bardella’s has about 30 percent.

Mr. Macron described a world at “a turning point,” in which a Europe that could no longer depend on America for its security, on Russia for its energy and on China for its industrial production must become more strategically autonomous, technologically innovative and militarily resilient.

“We are too slow and not ambitious enough,” he said, proposing that only through “power, prosperity and humanism” could Europe set out a distinctive model for the world, including by investing massively in its own defense industry, in green technology and in new fields like artificial intelligence.

Europe, he said, should “never be a vassal of the United States.”

“The ideas, on the whole, didn’t feel new,” said Georgina Wright, head of the Europe Program at the Institut Montaigne, a French think tank. “But there was a sense of urgency that wasn’t there in 2017.”

There have been significant advances toward greater European integration since Mr. Macron’s first speech, which was in some ways prescient. The Covid pandemic saw Germany break a longstanding taboo and back the issuing of European joint debt, and the war in Ukraine has spurred increased European spending on defense, something Mr. Macron has long called for to reduce reliance on American military power.

Always impatient with what he considers lazy thinking, as when he described NATO as suffering from “brain death” in 2019 because it had not adjusted to a changed world, Mr. Macron has irked some of his European partners with his bold declarations. Not everyone in Europe is convinced that it is Mr. Macron’s role to lead the 27-member union to a different future.

“The ideas themselves are gaining more traction” in European capitals, said Mujtaba Rahman, the managing director for Europe at Eurasia Group, a consultancy. But “the fact that Macron is the messenger often works to his disadvantage ,” he added.

Recently, the always difficult relationship between Mr. Macron and Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany has been roiled by disagreements. Mr. Scholz was incensed by Mr. Macron’s suggestion that the deployment of Western troops in Ukraine could not be ruled out , a statement the president said on Thursday that he “stands by absolutely.”

“The essential condition of our security is that Russia not win its war of aggression against Ukraine,” Mr. Macron said.

Despite their differences, Mr. Scholz’s first reaction to Thursday’s speech was positive. “Together, France and Germany want Europe to remain strong,” Mr. Scholz said on X , telling Mr. Macron that “your speech contains good ideas on how we can achieve this.”

Mr. Macron reiterated support for the creation of a European “rapid deployment” force of about 5,000 military personnel to respond to external crises, which is expected to be fully operational in 2025. He also called for the creation of a “European military academy” to improve coordination between European armies.

These are familiar themes from the president, who has struggled to overcome an image of aloofness. It was far from clear that his lofty visions, at a time of economic difficulty for many French people, would do anything to dent the popularity of Mr. Bardella, the far right’s 28-year-old prodigal son.

The longtime barrier against the far right coming to power, built around the broad conviction that it was a danger to the republic, has collapsed as the National Rally has become the largest single opposition force in Parliament.

Mr. Bardella’s themes — anti-immigration rhetoric, the need for greater security and the fight against inflation — have resonated with an anxious France.

“Never before have citizens been so far removed from the major decisions that have such a tangible impact on their daily lives,” Mr. Bardella said at a news conference on Thursday. He called Mr. Macron’s speech a “self-congratulatory session.”

Mr. Bardella, a member of the European Parliament, is the protégé of Marine Le Pen, the perennial far-right candidate for the presidency. His popularity has increased the chances that she may succeed Mr. Macron, who is term-limited, in 2027, or even that he become a presidential candidate himself.

Taking aim at the extreme right, Mr. Macron said that “liberal democracy is not a given” and that the rule of law, an independent press, free universities, the rights of minorities and the separation of powers were being “denied” in too many European countries. He celebrated Poland as an example of an E.U. member turning its back on illiberalism, after its recent election that saw a centrist victory over the governing nationalist party.

Mr. Macron also said that he hoped to see the right to abortion enshrined in the European Union’s charter of fundamental rights. France last month became the first country in the world to protect access to abortion in its Constitution .

Aides to Mr. Macron insisted that the Sorbonne was not a campaign stop for the French leader’s party but a way to influence the European Union’s overarching strategic agenda for the next five years, which is expected to be decided by E.U. leaders after the June elections.

Still, “if there is a 15-point gap on June 9, it will be seen as a major defeat for Macronism,” said Mr. Rahman, of Eurasia Group.

French voters often use European elections to vent against the government regardless of European issues, he said, adding that Mr. Macron’s speech “will probably have more impact in E.U. capitals than it will on the French electorate.”

Anxiety is widespread in Europe that former President Donald J. Trump could prevail in the American presidential election in November with an “America First” program and skepticism over NATO. For Mr. Macron, these developments have been a form of vindication of his seven-year-old warnings that Europe must master its own destiny.

Christopher F. Schuetze contributed reporting from Berlin.

Roger Cohen is the Paris Bureau chief for The Times, covering France and beyond. He has reported on wars in Lebanon, Bosnia and Ukraine, and between Israel and Gaza, in more than four decades as a journalist. At The Times, he has been a correspondent, foreign editor and columnist. More about Roger Cohen

Aurelien Breeden is a reporter for The Times in Paris, covering news from France. More about Aurelien Breeden