How to Master Impromptu Speaking

Have you ever been caught off guard when asked to speak on the spot?

How did that make you feel?

If you are like me and most people, you probably felt nervous, anxious, or even panicked.

You might have struggled to find the right words, to organize your thoughts, or to deliver your message effectively.

Public speaking often induces more fear than death itself.

From the beginning of the book, one of my personal favourite quotes:

“It usually takes me more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech. — Mark Twain”

…and this says it all. All you need is preparation.

Think Faster, Talk Smarter, by Matt Abrahams, is an amazing book to help you with exactly that: preparation. The author shares his proven strategies for mastering spontaneous communication skills, based on the latest research in psychology, neuroscience, and linguistics.

Who is the author, Matt Abrahams?

I really “met” him because he hosts one of my favourite podcasts, the popular and award-winning podcast “Think Fast, Talk Smart The Podcast”, which I highly recommend.

Matt Abrahams is a passionate, collaborative and innovative educator and coach.

He has published research articles on strategic communication, cognitive planning, persuasion, and interpersonal communication. Lecturer in Organizational Behaviour at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.

Think Faster, Talk Smarter, the Book

Matt Abrahams divides the book into two acts:

• Act I, about the methodology, introducing the six-step methodology to initiate and sustain continuous improvement of communication skills (each step on a different chapter, including “try it” and “drill it” highlights, that work as challenges to the reader); and
• Act II takes you on a journey through the intricate landscapes of specific communication scenarios that you have already lived (at least, some of them) where spontaneity is the key.

In this article, I will give you an overview of the six steps of the methodology (calm, unlock, redefine, listen, structure, focus), taking ideas and insights from the book to spark your curiosity and go and read it all.

1. Keep CALM and face your Anxiety

“With a bit of effort, we can manage our spontaneous speaking anxiety so that it does not manage us.”

You have to speak. You are on the spot. Anxiety is your enemy. What can you do? Actually, a lot.

ABC is your acronym for the symptoms: Affective, Behaviour and Cognitive. Recognising what is going on, is the first step.

Then there are a lot of techniques for minding your anxiety you can pick from: practice mindfulness, breathe, slow your movements, cool your body, salivate, positive self-talk, rewind and question to progress, get rational, inhale to reduce fillers.

You don’t need to use them all, you just have to try to understand which ones work with you and build your own toolkit. Matt Abrahams talks about creating your own AMP, Anxiety Management Plan.

2. UNLOCK your "good enough"

“When it comes to spontaneous speaking, good enough is great.”

There are no “right” or “wrong” ways to speak. “There are only better and worse ways.” And then, there is your way. And you are enough!

Nevertheless, there are some things you should or can do to improve your speaking like be alert to heuristics, dare to be dull, embrace missed-takes, converse, choose informality, dialogue (not monologue), extemporaneous is best.

Matt Abrahams writes, “I firmly believe that all of us have greatness inside of us as spontaneous speakers.” and I agree with him. You should too.

3. REDEFINE your mindset

“You can take back control when put on the spot. It’s all about how you see it.”

When you are put on the spot, think about what does that might mean to you.

The way you view the situation is going to define how you’ll react.

Matt Abrahams suggests in the book to cultivate four key mindset shifts:

1. From a fixed mindset into a Growth Mindset: Making the impromptu speaking an opportunity for learning.
2. From thinking about you into Thinking about the Audience: They are the ones why you are speaking.
3. From “Yes, But…” or “no!” to “Yes, And…”: Listening to others, making the speaking go forward and control your bias.
4. From dwelling on what happened to “Next Play”: When something happens, even if it is bad, “it’s [on] your recovery that you’ve got control.”

4. LISTEN

“Sometimes the best way to communicate is to say nothing at all.”

Communication is both Speaking and Listening.

To increase your power of listening, Matt Abrahams speaks about “the 3 P’s That Impede Us from Listening Well: (1) Physical noise, (2) Physiological noise (fatigue, hunger, and anxiety), and (3) Psychological noise (biases, judging, and rehearsing)”. You have to manage them to reduce the distortion.

About the importance of becoming more attentive and giving time to listening, the author suggests steps (1) slow your pace, (2) make space for reflection, and (3) grace (trust your feelings and listen to the feeling of others).

5. STRUCTURE your anxiety

“When you’re speaking spontaneously, having a road map doesn’t bog you down. It frees you up.”

Matt Abrahams: “A structure as I define it is a narrative or story that logically connects ideas with one another, organizing them into a beginning, a middle, and an end.”, a beautiful definition to start with.

It is almost like storytelling, know your start and know your end. Know what you want to speak. Know what you want your audience to remember.

The author presents some structures in this chapter , but his favourite, the one he calls “The Swiss Army Knife of Structures” is the What–So What–Now What structure.

“I think of What–So What–Now What as the Swiss Army knife of structures. If you only have time to study and remember one structure, make it this one.”

6. The F-Word of Spontaneous Speaking: FOCUS

“Don’t make it hard for your audience to ‘get’ your point. Focus their attention on what matters most.”

When you contemplate your speaking objectives, you may focus on the information you want to share or the ideas you intend to express — your content.

However, it's crucial to recognise that conveying what you want our audience to know is just one aspect of our communication goals.

Equally important are the emotions you aim to evoke in our audience and the actions you hope them to take. That is the impact you want to have on your audience, for sure.

Matt Abrahams identifies four dimensions or qualities of focused messages:

1. Precision: answer these three questions, “What do you want people to know? (2) What do you want them to feel? (3) What do you want them to do?”.
2. Relevance: The “Why?” from the perspective of your audience.
3. Accessibility: Make your speaking as easy to understand as possible. Avoid the “curse of knowledge” (we know too much) and avoid the “curse of passion” (we are too much connected to the content).
4. Concision: Be as short as you can be, speak everything you need to speak.

Matt Abrahams:

Where there is lots of content on speaking that will help you (Go to Resources).

The Podcast:

In one word: A W E S O M E.

Suggested Talks: