Thomas Skipwith
The little book
of speaking
off the cuff
Impromptu speaking. Speak
unprepared without fear!
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Copyright © 2014 by DESCUBRIS PRESS, DESCUBRIS Ltd.
Cover Design: Diana Jeger, Nuremberg
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-0716-6
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Neither the author nor the publisher shall have any liability to anyone with respect to any instructions contained in this book.
Speaking makes a difference.
To my parents, family and friends, including Sue Roberts, Peter Brechbühler, Ömer Güven and Diana Jeger-Daiber.
Foreword
Has this happened to you before? You participate in a meeting. The boss is looking for a volunteer. He is supposed to report from the meeting with the client. Nobody in the team is prepared. Nobody says anything. The first thought that comes to your mind: “I hope he doesn’t pick me.” Then the boss picks someone else. Your second thought is: “I feel sorry for the guy.” Your third thought is: “He, he, let’s see how he does.”
Let humor aside: To speak without preparation is tough for many of us. If next time you want to give an impromptu speech that will dazzle your audience, then all you need to do is apply one of the many techniques in this little book. In addition, there are a lot of additional valuable tips. Some of the tips are also useful for those who have no trouble speaking off the cuff.
Prepared vs. Unprepared
Rest assured - it occurs only very rarely that you really need to give an unprepared, impromptu speech. A speech in which you have to come up with something just like that or to make something up out of thin air. This is because the person who asks you to say something thinks you know something about the topic. For example, your colleague asks you how you felt about this year's congress. Or your boss asks what you expect from your current project. These are all topics about which you can say something.
In addition many can follow their gut feeling. It warns you days in advance. The warning? “You might have to say something.” Now, if your gut feeling is nice enough to warn you, then why not just listen to it? Take five minutes of your time to think about what you would say if you were asked to say something. With that it is no longer an unprepared speech – to your advantage. You don’t need to rub it into your audience’s face that you were prepared. Eloquent politicians do the exact same thing. What looks like an impromptu speech was prepared in advance. Given many times before. Mark Twain put it into the following words: “It usually takes me more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.” In other words the experienced politician thinks about what he is going to say, then rehearses it and then says it.
Regardless of the above: This little book reveals in particular one technique, with which you can say something in (almost) every situation to (almost) any topic. Even if unprepared.
Play for Preparation Time
If the situation allows, you can of course try to play for some minutes of preparation time. (”Please let me think for a few minutes.”) You might want to take down a few notes about the things you will want to say. There are times though when you have to speak without delay. It is the latter situations that this little book is about.
Once in a Blue Moon: “No Comment”
Of course, there are situations where and when you cannot or don’t want to say anything. In these cases you can say things like: “I am not the right person for this question. I recommend you speak to the manager.” Or: “I prefer not to comment on this topic at this moment.” Or, often seen on TV, short and blunt: “No comment.”
These situations are more the exception than the rule. In 99 cases out of 100 it is possible to make a contribution, respectively to say something. Also keep in mind that if you are a leader, it usually doesn’t look good if you keep silent.
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