I attended a dinner last week and was asked to give the introduction for a rather important person to a group of rather important people. I accepted, despite only having five minutes to prepare. Although this is most likely a rare situation, I thought I'd list a few points on what you should do when you find yourself in these situations.
1. Find your bullet points. Since I was only doing an introduction, I was in a relatively easy position. If you are asked to give a quick speech on anything other than an introduction, you are most likely already knowledgable in that area. You should be able to come up with two or three points that you want to make. Once you have those, think of two or three subpoints and you're done. That is your speech.
2. Think of your intro and conclusion. Extemporaneous doesn't mean random and rambling. Think of your high school writing classes when they taught you to write a five paragraph essay; Introduction, three points, and a conclusion. Your introduction and conclusion may only need to be one or two sentences, but have something planned. Memorize your first sentence and your last sentence. This allows you to get comfortable and ease into the speech without the pressure of trying to find something to start with. Then you can close without rambling or trailing off in search of a good way to end it. Too often, when we can't think of anything to say, we never stop talking.
3. Breath. Some people are quite comfortable being the center of attention at all times. Others are not. If you are one of the people who is not comfortable with that, the sudden speech can be nerve-racking. Take a deep breath, relax, repeat your bullet points and go over your first and last sentence. Typically, you are your own biggest critic. So while you're focusing on your own nervousness the crowd is focusing on your words. So why not align yourself with the crowd and focus on your own words as well?
1. Find your bullet points. Since I was only doing an introduction, I was in a relatively easy position. If you are asked to give a quick speech on anything other than an introduction, you are most likely already knowledgable in that area. You should be able to come up with two or three points that you want to make. Once you have those, think of two or three subpoints and you're done. That is your speech.
2. Think of your intro and conclusion. Extemporaneous doesn't mean random and rambling. Think of your high school writing classes when they taught you to write a five paragraph essay; Introduction, three points, and a conclusion. Your introduction and conclusion may only need to be one or two sentences, but have something planned. Memorize your first sentence and your last sentence. This allows you to get comfortable and ease into the speech without the pressure of trying to find something to start with. Then you can close without rambling or trailing off in search of a good way to end it. Too often, when we can't think of anything to say, we never stop talking.
3. Breath. Some people are quite comfortable being the center of attention at all times. Others are not. If you are one of the people who is not comfortable with that, the sudden speech can be nerve-racking. Take a deep breath, relax, repeat your bullet points and go over your first and last sentence. Typically, you are your own biggest critic. So while you're focusing on your own nervousness the crowd is focusing on your words. So why not align yourself with the crowd and focus on your own words as well?
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