An impromptu speech is easily the most difficult form of public speaking assignment. It’s a type of speech that will not give you enough time to prepare. You will be asked to speak in front of everyone out of the blue in order to talk about the specific subject. But even with little to no preparation, you are still expected to deliver a great speech. A badly delivered speech is inexcusable even though you didn’t have any time to prepare. You’ll still be viewed as a bad speaker if you are unable to have a compelling speech with little to no preparation.
Grabbing Every Opportunity
When you’re asked to deliver a public speech without prior notice, you need to prepare as fast as possible. It could only be seconds or minutes before you actually stand in front of everyone so you need to grab every opportunity to prepare. You can’t just stand in front of everyone without thinking about the speech. This can easily lead to disaster as you didn’t have any thought on what you should talk about. If you’re not an experienced speaker, your first sentences could easily lead to disastrous consequences.
The first thing you have to do when asked to promptly speak in public is to look for a pen and paper. This will really help you control your thoughts. Because of time constraints, you have to create the flow of your speech and this can be done by creating an outline. This will help you concentrate on what you need to talk about instead of delving on too many subjects.
The Launching Point
The first thing you want to write down on your notes or at least remember is the launching point. This should be your main topic in your speech. Because you don’t have a lot of time in your hands, you don’t have to create multiple points in your speech. Write the main topic and support them with additional information that you already know.
Be sure to choose the launching point well. Don’t choose any topic that you vaguely remember. You’ve been selected for a reason and that is your expertise on the said subject. Focus on the said subject so that you can easily deliver facts and information.
The First and Last Line
One of the best ways to ensure success in an impromptu speech is to write down (or at least remember) your first and last line. These are the words that will be often be remembered by your audience. Create a compelling introduction so that you can easily draw your audience to the topic you are about to discuss. As a conclusion, you can summarize what you have just said or you can simply emphasize a point you just made.
A simple trick is to use a quote. It doesn’t have to be a familiar quote but should be related to your topic. With a quote, you can slowly expand your speech as you support the quote with information that you already know.
Relaxing Methods
Panicking and uneasiness is a common reaction even for professional speakers when they are asked for an impromptu speech. Talking to a crowd with very little preparation could easily go wrong. With very little preparation, not enough information might be gathered and the audience might not be informed or at least entertained.
Panicking only increases the chance of giving a bad speech. Take a deep breath before you go up the stage or stand in front of everyone. If you have a minute or two to prepare; close your eyes and breathe slowly but deeply so that you can control the blood flow in your body which could help you relax.
Take Note of Your Tone
With your small notes and quotes to help you jumpstart your speech, there is one more thing that you have to take care: the tone of your voice. Because you can’t rehearse for the speech, you have to concentrate on controlling your tone while talking to the public. A controlled tone will mean command of the language as well as knowledge of the subject.
An impromptu speech is a very challenging task. But as long as you grab every opportunity you have to prepare for the speech, you should be able to deliver without any problem.
