Public Speaking
Debating | Beginner Resource
A quick guide to Impromptu Speaking
In the realm of public speaking, there are few things considered more daunting than impromptu speeches, particularly for school age students! With that said, there are many ways to prepare for impromptu speeches that can make the activity less taxing for students and allow them to develop some very important extemporaneous skills at the same time.
Don’t ad-lib, but be careful to balance preparation with improvisation
Some brave speakers attempt to approach impromptu speeches and add excitement by speaking totally ‘off the cuff’ to their audience. This approach often means that they reject the idea of preparing for their impromptu speech at all under the guise of creating a more spontaneous and potentially ‘enter- taining’ performance.
While it is true that spontaneity and entertainment CAN sometimes be the outcome that is achieved from the delivery of a totally unprepared impromptu speech, it is unlikely that the lack of preparation was key to the success of the speech and, rather, that the speaker was confident in the delivery of their material or had a more than average ability to think on their feet.
Don’t take a fully prepared speech into an impromptu section
As tempting as it can be to fully prepare a speech or a set of speeches that can be adapted to a given impromptu topic phrase, we advise against it. The logic of this type of thinking is similar to pre-preparing an essay for a final exam (a strategy which is very regularly used by students!). The core difference between the approaches is that in an exam, you know the general topic area and the texts involved, whereas, you can never accurately guess what an impromptu speech topic phrase will be!
What does a balanced approach to impromptu speaking look like?
A balanced approach means that the speaker prepares a set of concepts or ideas that they are ready to adjust to the topic phrase that they are given on the day. This could look like researching several articles or current events that they can draw on in order to suit the set topic phrase. It is important to remember that the key to integrating matter in a good impromptu speech is not to remember specific targeted facts, but to instead have a good general overview of the material that you want to raise for discussion.
In terms of identifying the type of content that could be integrated into an impromptu speech, there are a few golden rules:
Don’t try to go too ‘big’ with your chosen content area. Impromptu speeches are at their best when a small idea or example is focused on in order to build to a conclusion, rather than trying to break a
big idea into smaller parts. The major reason for this is that there are very strict time limitations with impromptu speeches (both in terms of preparation and delivery) and you simply won’t have enough time to do justice to most big issues.Try to move away from obvious mainstream ideas. This doesn’t mean searching the internet for obscure facts and starting points, but rather, use the impromptu as an opportunity to talk about areas that you care about that aren’t discussed in the media daily. A speech on the decline of formal handwriting linked to falling literacy national standards could very well be more impactful than a speech on modern day slavery!
Keep an open mind. Impromptus are great—in the fact that they give a speaker the ability to muse over ideas in a short speaking time, potentially coming to conclusions that are fresher and more interesting than in a prepared speech. Almost any content can be used for an impromptu speech, you just need to be creative!
A great example of a starting point for an impromptu — the ‘Big Bird Bandits’
This story follows two (presumably) young men, who ‘liberated’ a Sesame Street costume from a performing troupe in South Australia. After a public outcry, the men returned Big Bird to the troupe unharmed. This is a great impromptu starting point because it allows the speaker a variety of directions for how the content in the speech could be approached and, in the case of the audience, a story like this can get them interested about where, exactly, the speaker will go with their message.
If the topic stimulus given was ‘The First Time’, for example, the ‘Big Bird Bandits’ story could be used to frame the topic through the lens of how society should expect the police to deal with offences such as petty theft.
For instance, the speaker could argue that, although it looks like a fun escapade by first time offenders, the ’Big Bird Bandits’ actually shouldn’t have been allowed to laugh off their crime—they trespassed, stole a valuable object, denying the actors their costume, and gave the object back without revealing themselves.
In another approach, the speaker could use the ‘Big Bird Bandits’, likely first offenders, as a lighthearted example of the futility of wasting resources on minor crime, then resolve the speech into an analysis of the expectations of the police force regarding more contentious societal issues such as youth crime or Indigenous incarceration.
Or a speaker could take this example and analyse it from the perspective of a police officer surprised on the first day of their job by having to hunt the ‘Big Bird Bandits’! This speech could evolve into an examination of the complex role and experiences of any individual member of the police force—from minor (amusing) incidents through to tragic crimes—and how we should value those individuals for serving the public under constant stress.
Combining a novel stimulus with an interesting perspective or lens gives room for the speaker to be able to move through the speech in a fresh and interesting way, using the stimulus as an advantage, whereas, preparing an entire speech ahead of time would have resulted in a speech that was likely to be poorly linked to the stimulus, less well received by the audience and that is overall less of a genuine attempt at engaging with the activity.
Remember: The approach to an impromptu speech should always be
one that best displays the speakers’ personality, personal preferences and speaking style. Because of its ‘semi-prepared’ nature, the impromptu speech provides an opportunity for a speaker to present their most genuine and authentic, personal voice in an interesting and engaging way.