Master Impromptu Speaking in 4 Steps
To Influence Others Through the Power of Your Words
Dear friends, good evening! I am Tom Niklas, a seasoned writer and book reviewer. Welcome everyone to the Tom’s ReadVault, please subscribe to me and join us in reading 100 books a year together.
Have you ever met someone who rambles on without making a clear point? You can’t help but ask “what exactly is your point here?” It can be incredibly frustrating. In meetings, if someone drones on aimlessly without driving the conversation, everyone suffers. But let’s consider — could we sometimes be that person? Do we effectively communicate our ideas or do we often fail to make our point?
If this sounds familiar, the popular book “Impromptu: Leading in the Moment” may be valuable for you. As an experienced writer, I recognize the significance of impromptu speaking. It makes every interaction an opportunity to influence and inspire others.
Firstly, in this fast-paced world, we need more concise and impactful communication. Formal speeches tend to be long-winded and ineffective, while impromptu talks are flexible and direct.
Additionally, impromptu talks break the constraints of traditional roles and hierarchy. Anyone can be a leader and make an impact at any time, like when a junior employee seizes the moment to impress an executive in an elevator pitch.
Moreover, impromptu talks feel more authentic and heartfelt since they are spontaneous, not deliberately planned out. Just think of a movie’s most memorable lines that actors improvise in the moment. This genuineness better resonates with people.
Finally, skilled impromptu speaking showcases a leader’s magnetism. Studies show that those able to gracefully navigate situations have greater appeal and influence — a hallmark of good impromptu speakers.
So I highly recommend developing impromptu speaking skills. Doing so will make your life and work more fulfilling while empowering you as a true leader.
So what exactly is impromptu speaking? It doesn’t mean winging it without preparation. Good impromptu talks still require some forethought — just less time and depth than a formal speech. As Mark Twain noted, even his best off-the-cuff speeches needed at least 3 weeks of prep!
Alright, so what sort of preparation works best? In my opinion, there are five key areas:
- First, know your topic and audience to avoid fumbling for words.
- Second, outline a few key points or opinions to guide your talk. Build off these in the moment.
- Third, have some facts, data or examples ready to back up your views persuasively.
- Fourth, structure your talk mentally with an intro, body and conclusion. This organization helps you express ideas fully.
- Finally, prepare some tactics for handling audience questions. Impromptu talks often include a Q&A so be ready to think on your feet!
With the right kind of prep, impromptu talks can still be coherent and impactful. The greatest speakers in history prepared this way to seamlessly pull off their addresses.
Take Churchill — before any speech, he’d review and organize his impromptu “notes” to get his language just right. So impromptu talks aren’t shots in the dark — they’re a deliberate process we can steer with smart preparation for speech success.
So why has impromptu speaking become so vital? There are three driving forces behind this — flattening organizational structures, expanding tech influence, and increasingly fragmented communication.
Firstly, flat orgs directly spur the need for off-the-cuff talks. In the past, CEOs and execs relied on formal speeches to reach staff, with speechwriting taking months. But now with fewer levels, any employee can step up as a leader, requiring more open and organic messaging.
Additionally, tech developments enable this shift. With closer employee ties and democratized info access, we trade takes faster, needing leaner and more improvised interactions. Where once CFOs delivered data via long-winded speeches, now they convey key points convincingly from memory.
Finally, our “always on” globalized digital lifestyle fragments work, preventing long-form communication. Many leaders have ditched formal remarks, instead guiding teams through informal impromptu exchanges via email, meetings and calls.
So these three transformations together have spiked the need for impromptu talks as our premier influence tool. As a reader, the author’s argument really resonates with me here. I believe every leader should cultivate impromptu skills to seize those leadership moments and truly maximize impact.
And to become an outstanding impromptu speaker, we must be fully prepared both mentally and technically.
Firstly, we gotta shift our mindset. The book shares a prime example — when newly appointed Canadian PM Justin Trudeau was asked in 2015 why he picked a gender imbalanced cabinet, he instantly fired back the now iconic “Because it’s 2015”. His brilliant response displayed sharp thinking while earning widespread praise for spreading on social media. It was a true leadership moment.
Secondly, cultivating listening ability is key. The book notes dogs have the most acute hearing, using their ears to pinpoint sounds. An experiment even found dogs could decipher whispered phrases like “Wanna go for a walk?” This shows listening matters hugely even for animals. So as higher order animals, we need to actively listen with our bodies, minds and emotions or speeches lose meaning.
Next, staying authentic is crucial. Great leaders can genuinely share their ideas, feelings and vulnerabilities. Look at SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk — his success stems from sticking to his original visions and proving wrong the doubters who mocked his ideas. That hard-fought authenticity also helps make him one of today’s greatest business speakers.
Lastly, always be respectful. The book gives a cautionary example — one CEO publicly read out an anonymous critical staff letter at a year-end meeting, tacking on his own disparaging remarks. This severely damaged organizational unity, causing several key employees to leave. So we must remain considerate as leaders to spread positivity.
With ample case-backed guidance, the book equips us thoroughly in both mindset and tactics for ace impromptu talks.
Now let’s dive into the book’s crown jewel — the “Impromptu Speech Script” framework. This four-step method arms us with a super valuable tool for nailing off-the-cuff remarks across situations.
So what is this so-called “script”? Essentially it’s a formula to organize thoughts and share views when caught on the spot, including the parts of “grabber”, “message”, “structure” and “call to action”. Mastering this playbook means we can tackle any speaking scenario with poise.
Part one is the attention-grabbing “grabber”. A compelling grabber is punchy and leverages topics or questions the audience finds intriguing, like “What holiday surprises stuck with you all this year?”
Step two lays out the central “message”, the crux recommendation or view for our talk. Boil this down into one clear, not wishy-washy sentence like “I believe supporting our staff’s career growth should be the top priority for our company right now.”
Next, part three provides two to three points to back up that message — the “structure” of proof. Tailor these to best fit the situation, whether using causation, cases, data or other means. Just keep it concise regardless.
Finally, make a clear “call to action”, stating the next move and requesting they act on it to drive progress. Maybe we ask for decision-making support or rally volunteers.
With examples for assorted settings, the book really clarifies applying this four-part approach. Like for a meeting to solicit employee ideas, a CEO could pose an open question first as a grabber, share their view as the message, explain the reasoning behind it for structure, and finally encourage others to contribute ideas as the call to action.
So the grabber, message, structure and call to action provide an awesome framework for impromptu speeches by being both wonderfully simple AND fully equipping our ability to organize language.
Earlier we covered the impromptu speech script framework. Now let’s run through how to apply off-the-cuff remarks across three common scenarios as robustly detailed in the book — meetings, job interviews, and toasts.
First up — meetings. Impromptu meeting talks mainly cover progress updates and responding to surprises. For updates, rather than basic stats, the book advises focusing on the positives like issues solved. It shares a poor example — a project manager tasked with a digital transformation once just dutifully reported delays early on. Now he’d instead frame the project’s importance and benefits first before noting it’s steadily advancing despite some challenges, and asking for robust support to keep momentum going.
Meetings also demand handling real-time requests like leaders asking for sudden reports. Here too we can employ the trusty grabber, message, structure, call to action system to organize thoughts. If say asked to abruptly showcase some policy results at a year-end meeting, we’d likely fumble for words on the spot previously. But now given 2 minutes, we could outline the policy goal; 3 minutes on execution and issues; then 2 minutes proposing improvements.
Next up — job interviews and socializing. Both require readying self-sales material ahead of time. Like for interviews, thank the interviewer upfront, share your fit midway, and close with a few proofs you match the role. The book gives the example of a product manager candidate preparing three selling points — praising the company product first before linking their background as a perfect fit.
Advancing careers via networking also means researching talking points on key folks we meet. Another example covered is an employee completely freezing two years ago when he lucked into a elevator ride with the CEO. Now after Googling the CEO online, he’d be armed with a relevant topic for their precious next chance encounter.
Finally, impromptu toasts. These too need “leader’s four steps” — an enthusiastic opening; expressing a noble toast theme; one or two vivid examples as proof points; then summarizing with well-wishes. Just as with JFK’s excellent off-the-cuff Martin Luther King Jr. eulogy highlighted in the book, this four-part method frames remarks flawlessly.
So the book provides abundant examples across assorted impromptu scenarios for us to emulate through repeated practice, ultimately unlocking on-point responses. That’s the surest path to leadership!
Impromptu talks often include Q&As that make even greater demands on speakers’ adaptability and ability to organize thoughts. Fortunately the book “Impromptu” equips us with super valuable advice here.
Firstly, prepare in advance! Mainly by: fully immersing in company and industry details; brainstorming likely questions and responses as an asker; and when posed questions, patiently take in the full context before chiming in. On CNBC, a seasoned Wall Street analyst spent time estimating what he’d be asked about market outlooks. So when the host inquired, he smoothly analyzed with facts and data, perfectly answering because he put in the work before going on air.
Secondly, leverage our trusty “leader’s four steps” when responding: Step one — appropriately open by directly addressing factual questions. Step two — transition from your opener into a visionary viewpoint. Step three — provide two to four proof points backing your theme. Finally, step four — explicitly recommend follow up actions. This method shone in a public official’s interview when asked about a local initiative with poor results. The candidate artfully applied the steps — transparently stating the effort’s intention upfront; expressing government should nobly prioritize public welfare; giving two examples of how improvements would benefit citizens; and closing with urging relevant agencies to strengthen oversight for delivery. The structured reply made an impression on the panel.
Lastly, steer clear of common pitfalls like: one — repeating negative phrasing from the question itself; two — critiquing the question or asker; three — admitting you lack handy details and are still gathering info; four — if questions contain inaccuracies, point out the facts first before answering. For example, when a reporter accused a company of falsifying data at a press conference, the executive didn’t echo the skepticism. He calmly clarified the absolute data integrity first before continuing to detail product quality improvements, fully displaying composure and leadership.
With ample vivid anecdotes explaining these tips, my favourite positive example covered was a leader prepping his annual financials Q&A by predicting likely investor concerns, then preparing responses with key data and constructive solutions for each. As a result, he fielded queries smoothly in the investor call, offered reassurance and achieved a stabilizing stock uptick.
So the author walks us through integrated questioning techniques for talks. I believe preparation plus applying the four steps method will help every one of us stand out with substance and poise when queries start flying!
After that comprehensive overview, I think y’all have a solid handle on this book’s core contents now. It fully and systematically breaks down impromptu speaking skills, making for a hugely valuable starter guide.
The crown jewel concept is the “Leader’s Speech Script” four-stepper. The grabber, message, structure and call to action provide the basic building blocks to frame our remarks — it’s wonderfully simple AND brings out our ability to organize thoughts and logic. So I strongly advise committing this formula to heart and applying it regularly in life until it becomes second nature.
Of course, technique also matters hugely. We need coherent language flow plus ample imagery through comparisons and examples to boost appeal. And in daily life we must keep training on sample speeches for assorted settings. I believe that with relentless effort, anyone can morph into a standout orator!
Lastly, I warmly welcome y’all to share struggles and lessons learned while putting these public speaking tips into practice. We can swap stories and collectively up our games in the process. I’d also love to see some of your speech work if the chance arises — no doubt we would all gain tremendously from that exposure.
Well folks, that wraps things up for now. Next time, I’ll be recommending an awesome book on parenting called “Raising a Thinking Child” with a slew of invaluable child-rearing advice. Thank you for your listening and goodbye!
The last but not least, I share book reviews centered on family, personal development, mental health, and business finance — aiming to aid busy urban readers who wish to benefit from books but struggle to find the time.
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