Magic of Impromptu Speaking: Create a Speech That Will Be Remembered for Years in Under 30 Seconds (Magic of Public Speaking)

by Andrii Sedniev

This is perhaps one of the most important exercises in the entire book. Once you are able to consistently fill 2-3 minutes with flow of consciousness, you can give an impromptu speech on any topic.

The audience loves speakers who show their vulnerability and tell the truth.

Be sincere and just

say what is going through...

PEEP PEEP (Point, Explanation, Example and Point) is a very easy but effective and practical approach. If you struggle with finding an appropriate story for the answer, you can use this method. Use it when you need to give an opinion and back it up. Point: Make a point in the opening of your speech. Explanation: State your reasons for making this point in the body of the speech. Example: Use an example or illustration to justify your previous remarks. Use words like “for example” or “imagine.” Speaking about personal experiences will make your answer genuine and also memorable for your audience members. Point: Drive home your point again. Link the conclusion to the opening.

Position, Action, Benefit The Position, Action, Benefit approach is very useful when you report your findings to the board of directors or make a sales pitch to a CEO who has only 5 minutes to listen. I call this approach corporate because it is best suited for the corporate setting where telling a story might not always be appropriate and the decision needs to be made quickly. Your answer might not be remembered for years, but it will allow your audience to make an informed decision quickly. For example, you may be asked, “Should we buy this company or not?”, “How can your product help us?” or “Should we stop this project or continue it?” Position: State your position on the question asked. Action: Tell which action needs to be taken to implement your suggestion. Benefit: Describe the benefit of your position.

Details are the most important component of any story. Tell stories and make them detail-rich.

If you don’t use dialogue in a presentation, it’s a news report, an article, a narration, but not a speech. Dialogue is an essential component of any story as it brings events of the past to life. For example, “When I came home, I went to

The structure of a story is introduction of the conflict, escalation of the conflict, and the resolution. As the impromptu speech is much shorter than a prepared one, you need to introduce a conflict very early, often in the first couple of sentences.

Your goal is to try to adhere to 3 fundamentals of the perfect story. Keep them in mind before you go on stage and you will notice how engaging your stories become for the listeners. Your audience members will think, “Wow! It is pure magic how this speaker can craft such outstanding stories after only 30 seconds of preparation.” You, however, will know that this magic consists of 3 words: details, dialogue and conflict.

Exercise 2: Nouns from the bag In this exercise, participants write nouns on a slip of paper. Proper nouns are acceptable. In fact, the stranger the nouns, the more interesting this game will be. After all the papers have been collected in a bag, one participant begins telling a story. After a storyline is established, the moderator picks a paper from the bag and a speaker includes this word in a story. For example, “Yesterday I went to a restaurant with my wife. It was our wedding anniversary and I wanted to make this afternoon special for us.” At this point the moderator picks the word “penguin” from the bag and a speaker continues the story. “The restaurant is called ‘Antarctica’ and they had a special dish of the day made from the meat of penguin. So I ordered it for both of us. I asked, ‘Honey, do you remember how we met 10 years

ago?’” Now the moderator picks another word from the bag and this continues until the story ends. The game “nouns from the bag” develops on-the-spot thinking and the skill of crafting a story while you speak. As you can see, this exercise is very similar to what you face during the actual impromptu speech. You tell a story impromptu and every few seconds decide in which direction it will go.

Exercise 3: Complete a story This exercise helps to develop the ability to craft an imaginary story with any setting. A participant should tell a story in the setting that the moderator announces. For example: “I received an anonymous text that said, ‘I know where you are …’” “The trail dead-ended into dense forest. A sign read, ‘Enter at your own risk …’” “While walking to the store I found an envelope.

Inside was $10,000. I decided to …” “A laid-back bike ride through the wilderness turned dangerous when out of nowhere jumped …” “A knock on the passenger side window was startling. When I looked to see who it was …” “The rain didn’t show signs of stopping, but I had to …” “It was the second time they called. This time I answered …” You can play this game with only one partner or in a large group. Invent interesting introductions and let your imagination go wild. The more freedom you allow your imagination during the practice, the more it will help you later in impromptu speaking.

“In the 21st century we have an iPhone, an iPad, but no eye contact.” In this case “iPhone” and “iPad” set the pattern and the audience expects something like an “iPod” to be next. “Eye contact” derails the sequence from the pattern and makes the phrase funny.

An impromptu speech needs to be succinct Usually an impromptu speech is only 1-3 minutes long and you need to be succinct in order to convey your message and to make it crisp. Each word that you say either adds or detracts value from your speech and there is no middle ground. Following the recommendations below will significantly reduce the amount of unnecessary words in your speeches. Avoid filler words Avoid filler words such as “um,” “ah,” “basically,” “you know,” etc. These words just irritate the audience and don’t add any value. If you don’t know what to say or just feel nervous, instead of using a filler word take a pause to give yourself a couple of seconds to think.

Stages of learning Psychologists have researched how adults learn and figured out that adults learn new skills by going through the same 4-stage process. Impromptu speaking is not an exception. In order to truly become a world-class impromptu speaker, you need to go through the entire process. Unconscious incompetence Unconscious incompetence is a stage at which you just don’t know what you don’t know. I may ask you, “Is it easy for you to speak impromptu?” Your response may be totally confused because you never spoke impromptu before and you don’t know whether it is difficult. You may say, “Oh, it is not that difficult because I speak easily without preparation with my friend and I think speaking in front of an audience is pretty much the same.” Conscious incompetence After you give your first impromptu speech you

may think, “Oh, it’s much more difficult than I thought. My mind went blank when I needed it the most, I didn’t come up with any reasonable answer, I stumbled and felt miserable on stage.” This is a stage of conscious incompetence where you realize what you don’t know. Only at the stage of conscious incompetence can you look for resources to learn a new skill. For example, you may decide to sign up for a training, buy a book or ask a more experienced friend for advice. Conscious competence After reading this book, you will be at the level of conscious competence. You consciously know all the techniques that will make you an effective impromptu speaker. Once you go on stage and implement new strategies for speaking off the cuff, you see initial results but also experience failures. You may struggle to remember all the techniques and occasionally you may implement them awkwardly. The level of conscious competence is very dangerous. If you leave your skill at this level, with time

you will forget all the knowledge you acquired and may stay at the same level you were before reading the book or trying new techniques. To truly master impromptu speaking or any other skill, you need to get it to the level of unconscious competence. Unconscious competence After you have thoroughly practiced the new impromptu speaking techniques that you learned in the book, they will become part of you. You will not need to remember anything you read because you will know it on a subconscious level. Speaking impromptu will be as natural for you as brushing your teeth or walking. Imagine that you see in the eyes of your audience members that they enjoy your speech but you didn’t put much effort into it. How does i...

are remembered for years. However, for my wish to come true you need to raise your impromptu speaking skill to the level of unconscious compe...

Five minutes before you have to speak impromptu, it’s difficult to go through the entire book or remember all the articles you have ever read to make sure you implement the best techniques. However, it is possible to go through a short checklist. Below you can find my checklist that I go through before going on stage. 1. Use the rule of the first thought. 2. Add an unusual slant to the answer. 3. Be genuine. 4. Be energetic. 5. Tell details. 6. My audience members are the best people in my life and my goal is to change their lives for the better. 7. Impromptu speaking is a game. I will have fun on stage. Most speakers come on stage without keeping anything in mind and hope for luck. Seven is a lucky number and I am sure if you keep this checklist

in mind you will be lucky on stage every time you speak and your speech will be outstanding.

Top 100 table topic questions for practice After a certain amount of practice, you will notice some patterns in topics and genres of questions. The number of completely different questions you may be asked is limited and by practicing you may exhaust all of them. In this section you will find 100 interesting questions and statements that you can use for practice in a group of fellow impromptu speakers. Your goal is either to answer a question or to share your opinion about a statement in the form of a short speech. 1. Who was your hero when you were a child? 2. Which historical figure do you find the most interesting? 3. Do you think we should have censorship? 4. Do you support the death sentence? 5. What is your view on gun control?

You should always tell the truth because … 7. Is marriage an outdated institution? 8. Females make better bosses. 9. Do prisons serve a useful purpose in our society? 10. Money can buy anything and everything. 11. To me, success in life means … 12. Why are people afraid to fail? 13. What does Christmas mean to you? 14. The best thing about our nation … 15. The worst problem facing our nation today … 16. Are prisons the answer for reducing crime? 17. What can we do to improve the education system? 18. The world seems to be getting smaller because … 19. Is it important to know a second language?

Is TV worth watching? 21. Are politics and honesty incompatible? 22. The Olympic Games – how important are they? 23. Is it OK for men to cry? 24. Should the budget for the space program be increased? 25. Should all nuclear weapons be eliminated? 26. What is your biggest regret? 27. The thing I’m most proud of. 28. What makes you happy? 29. What is your favorite travel destination? 30. What is the best movie you have ever seen? 31. What was your favorite subject at school? 32. What is the best meal you ever ate? 33. What has been your most interesting journey? 34. What was your most frightening experience?

Who has been the main role model in your life? 36. If I could only accomplish one thing in my life, I would like to … 37. If I were an author, I would write about … 38. If you could be an animal, what would it be? 39. If you had to be a zookeeper for a week, which animals would you prefer to look after? 40. If the world were going to end next week, what would be the last 3 things you do? 41. The best job in the world is... 42. If you didn’t need to sleep, how would your life be different? 43. If you had to choose between being smarter or better-looking, which would you choose? 44. Suppose you could go back in time and talk to yourself at the age of 10. What advice would you give yourself? 45. Imagine you have just won the Mr. or Miss

Universe pageant, a beauty and talent contest. You need to give a speech on television, expressing how happy you are, saying what the award means to you and thanking everyone. 46. If you were given one million dollars and had to spend it in a month, what would you do? 47. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. 48. If you consult enough experts, it is possible to confirm any opinion. 49. The journey is more important than the destination. 50. A smooth path might get you there faster, but a rough trail teaches you more. 51. If a penguin entered the room, what would you say? 52. Do you think professional athletes are overpaid? 53. If you could do something dangerous just once,

without any risk, what would you do? 54. If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be? 55. If you had 6 months with no obligations or financial constraints, what would you do with the time? 56. Is it more fun to be a parent or a child? 57. Who did you want to become when you were a child? 58. Who has been an inspiration to you? 59. Wealth is a means to happiness. 60. Courage is … 61. Where would you choose to live if you had to leave this country? 62. What is your most prized possession? 6...

about yourself. 65. What excites you? 66. What is the best book you ever read? 67. What is your favorite sport? 68. My most memorable holiday is … 69. Which country would you most like to visit? 70. What do you do for fun and why? 71. I plan to retire early so that I can … 72. Would you like to have an identical twin? What about it would be best? 73. If you could turn back time, what age would you want to be, and why? 74. If I could be president for a day, I’d … 75. Knowledge is power. 76. When ...

Where does the road less traveled lead? 80. You’re 15 years old. Convince your parents to let you get a tattoo. 81. Home is where the heart is. 82. The best things in life are free. 83. You can if you think you can. 84. Time and tide wait for no man. 85. Less is more. 86. Imagine the world as a single country. Would it be good for humankind? 87. Which difficulty in life made you stronger? 88. What is the key to happiness? 89. If you were selected to go to the moon with a companion of your choice, who would you choose? 90. If you could be invisible for a day, what would you do? 91. You live next to a nuclear power plant. Defend

the place as a nice place to live. 92. Success is a process, not a destination. 93. Your worth consists of what you are and not what you have. 94. The person who says that something can’t be done should never interrupt the person who is doing it. 95. If you could meet any celebrity, who would it be? 96. If you could witness one event in history, which would it be? 97. If I were the opposite gender, I’d … 98. Are demonstrations a waste of time? 99. What is the best or worst present you ever received? 100. Is it crazy living in this science age?