what is a unprepared speech

• PRO Courses Guides New Tech Help Pro Expert Videos About wikiHow Pro Upgrade Sign In
• EDIT Edit this Article
• EXPLORE Tech Help Pro About Us Random Article Quizzes Request a New Article Community Dashboard This Or That Game Popular Categories Arts and Entertainment Artwork Books Movies Computers and Electronics Computers Phone Skills Technology Hacks Health Men's Health Mental Health Women's Health Relationships Dating Love Relationship Issues Hobbies and Crafts Crafts Drawing Games Education & Communication Communication Skills Personal Development Studying Personal Care and Style Fashion Hair Care Personal Hygiene Youth Personal Care School Stuff Dating All Categories Arts and Entertainment Finance and Business Home and Garden Relationship Quizzes Cars & Other Vehicles Food and Entertaining Personal Care and Style Sports and Fitness Computers and Electronics Health Pets and Animals Travel Education & Communication Hobbies and Crafts Philosophy and Religion Work World Family Life Holidays and Traditions Relationships Youth
• Browse Articles
• Learn Something New
• Quizzes Hot
• This Or That Game
• Train Your Brain
• Explore More
• Support wikiHow
• About wikiHow
• Log in / Sign up
• Education and Communications
• Communication Skills
• Public Speaking

How to Give a Great Impromptu Speech

Last Updated: March 19, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Lynn Kirkham . Lynn Kirkham is a Professional Public Speaker and Founder of Yes You Can Speak, a San Francisco Bay Area-based public speaking educational business empowering thousands of professionals to take command of whatever stage they've been given - from job interviews, boardroom talks to TEDx and large conference platforms. Lynn was chosen as the official TEDx Berkeley speaker coach for the last four years and has worked with executives at Google, Facebook, Intuit, Genentech, Intel, VMware, and others. There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 408,582 times.

Most speeches are the result of careful planning, revision and practice. There may be times, however, when a situation demands that you give an impromptu speech with little or no time to prepare. When you find yourself in an unexpected public speaking scenario, you’ll be improvising what you say, which means you’ll have to be able to think on your feet. Following a basic structure, pacing yourself and staying composed will help you deliver an oration you can be proud of, or at least survive with minimal embarrassment.

Setting Up an Unexpected Speech

• Most of the time when you’re giving an impromptu speech, you’ll be singled out to say a few words on the spot. Since you’ll only have a few moments, preparing yourself is more about getting yourself in the right state of mind than it is knowing exactly what you’re going to say.
• If you really need to milk it, you can buy yourself some extra time by shaking hands, exchanging pleasantries or adjusting the microphone stand before speaking.

• Assume that everyone around you wants to see you succeed. This will help put you at ease. Expecting yourself to fail will only destroy your composure and make you more fearful of your audience.
• Confront the reality of your situation to avoid being blindsided by panic. Accept that you have to give a speech and then focus all your resources on giving a good one.

• Oftentimes, the more confident you make yourself appear, the more confident you’ll feel.
• Relax! Speaking in front of a crowd is not that big a deal. Even if you make a mistake, it’s not the end of the world.

• Don’t just jump right into the main idea of your speech. Test the waters by getting used to speaking and sharing a little about yourself first.

Delivering an Effective Speech

• Use simple sentences that follow a logical progression and enunciate your words carefully to keep yourself from getting tongue-tied.
• Slowing yourself down a little will give your mind time to catch up and formulate new ideas.

• Two minutes will fly by once you start speaking. Despite your reservations about being put on the spot, you may actually find it harder to give a short speech than a long one.

• A good way to give your speech a solid beginning, middle and end is to present details chronologically. For example start with “when I first became friends with John, he…”, follow that up with “now that we’re coworkers, we have more fun than ever…” and conclude with “I have no doubt that the future of our friendship will be just as entertaining.”
• When describing personal experiences, avoid sharing opinions on irrelevant controversial subjects.

• Humor is a great icebreaker and also makes it easier to hold your audience’s attention.
• Be sure any jokes you make are suitable for the age and demographic of your audience, as well as the occasion itself.

Ending on a High Note

• As with the rest of your speech, keep your conclusion brief. It’s alright to sign off with a simple “thank you for your time” or “let’s hear it for the newlyweds.”

• If you’re planning on making a specific request or appeal, as for a business conference, the end of your speech is the proper time to do it.
• The conclusion is the perfect occasion to come out with something especially heartfelt. Emotions will run high and the crowd will be moved by your sentiments.

• You don’t have to thank every important figure at the event individually. A general expression of gratitude is all that’s needed.
• Be clear who you’re supposed to hand the microphone or floor off to so that you don’t end your speech by looking around in confusion. [11] X Research source

• Impromptu speeches are mostly appraised by the willingness of the speaker to rise to the occasion. There’s no sense in being too critical of your performance since you’ll have had no time to work on it beforehand.

Expert Q&A

• Practice for unexpected speaking scenarios by volunteering to give impromptu speeches at casual events. Thanks Helpful 17 Not Helpful 2
• If you're using a microphone, stay within optimal range for your voice to be amplified. Don't move the microphone too close or too far away from your mouth. Thanks Helpful 14 Not Helpful 2
• While brainstorming, quickly come up with three or four main points to cover. Thanks Helpful 18 Not Helpful 4

Tips from our Readers

• Speak clearly and be confident. This will make you seem more credible even if some parts of your speech aren't as strong as others.
• Don't waste your time by writing full sentences, write bullet points and then expand on them when you give the speech.
• Make sure not to be too cocky or sound sarcastic, or you might not win over the audience.
• Use your own stories. Relate the topic to some of the moments in your life.

• Steer clear of subjects you don't know much about. Thanks Helpful 13 Not Helpful 2
• Be careful not to offend your audience. Not only is it bad form and will make your speech be perceived as a failure, it could actually harm your standing among your acquaintances. Thanks Helpful 12 Not Helpful 3
• Take a moment to get your appearance in order before presenting yourself. Steal a quick glance in the mirror or have a trusted friend tell you if your hair is a mess, your shirt is untucked, you have food stuck in your teeth, etc. Thanks Helpful 10 Not Helpful 3
• Don't use generic, pre-written speeches pulled from the internet or oration guidebooks. These can easily come off as stilted and inorganic. Your audience will be able to tell if you're simply going through the motions. Thanks Helpful 9 Not Helpful 4

You Might Also Like

• ↑ Lynn Kirkham. Public Speaking Coach. Expert Interview. 20 November 2019.
• ↑ http://wittcom.com/how-to-develop-confidence-speaking/
• ↑ http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/how-to-impromptu-speech/
• ↑ http://www.askmen.com/money/body_and_mind_150/192b_better_living.html
• ↑ http://www.write-out-loud.com/how-to-use-humor-effectively.html
• ↑ https://speakingwithoutnet.wordpress.com/2012/02/08/ending-on-a-high-note-the-last-sentence/
• ↑ https://www.workingvoices.com/insights/presenting-how-to-react-when-you-make-a-mistake/

About This Article

• Send fan mail to authors

Reader Success Stories

Bridget Harris

Mar 1, 2023

Did this article help you?

Veeraraghavan. Santhanam

Jul 21, 2017

Dharyl Bizu

Mar 27, 2017

Apr 30, 2017

Sameed Ahsan

Jan 28, 2019

Featured Articles

Trending Articles

Watch Articles

• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Do Not Sell or Share My Info
• Not Selling Info

Get all the best how-tos!

Sign up for wikiHow's weekly email newsletter

• Internet , Productivity

15 Best Impromptu Speech Tips (With Examples)

An impromptu speech is often the scariest type of speech you can make because you don’t get to prepare or predetermine what you’re going to say.

The speaker only gets a topic given in the form of a quotation, object, or proverb, and they have to do their best to deliver long-awaited answers.

Impromptu speech doesn’t have to be a full speech on its own. It can be a combination of answers to short quotations or terms provided during interviews or live discussions broadcast on the television.

While you can’t prepare yourself for the impromptu speech since you might not have any idea what you’ll be asked, you can still work on improving your speech and dialog with the help of the tips below!

I have also listed some great examples of impromptu speeches to give you an idea of what I am talking about.

Also Read : Common Weaknesses List & Examples

15 Best Impromptu Speech Tips

These 15 tips will let you know exactly how to behave during an impromptu speech, how to know what and when to say, and how to guide your speech without having too many pauses or breaks in between.

1. Hold it Together (Be Confident)

Impromptu speeches might happen suddenly for many reasons, and often, you might find yourself in front of the audience without even agreeing to it.

No matter what happens during the speech, you have to assure yourself that you’ll be alright. This means you should look up, never avoid eye contact, and breathe deeply. Thinking about something positive is a confidence boost you might need to get through the speech.

2. Focus on Your Audience

When you’re starting your impromptu speech, keep in mind that you’re not going against the audience, yet the audience will be on your side.

Therefore, you should work with the audience and focus your speech around something positive and helpful to the audience.

The goal is to have the audience listen and understand what you’re saying in your impromptu speech but also respond to the things you’re saying. Being confident in front of the audience is one thing you should do, while the other is to focus on the audience and plan a structure you’ll learn in the next tip.

3. Plan a Structure

Even though you might not be prepared for a speech, you will still be able to quickly develop a speech structure in your head as soon as you hear the topic, question, or object you’re given to talk about.

Every speech structure should include three steps and the speech can be structured around almost anything. The most popular structures are:

• Past/present/future
• Cause/effect/remedy
• Before/the event/the result

Think of the structure as a guideline of your speech that will help you get from start to finish as smoothly as possible. Another thing to keep in mind is that you can tell your structure/plan to your audience so they can easily keep up with your speech and know what to expect from it.

Check Out : Professional Development Goal Examples

4. Don’t Ramble

When you come up with a quick structure for your impromptu speech, you’re left to deliver the speech, but one thing you should keep in mind is not to ramble.

Rambling won’t get you anywhere; you’ll feel unease, and your audience won’t follow your speech easily.

Instead, it would help if you stuck to the “less is more” saying, stick to the target, and keep things short and to the point.

With a proper structure plan, you’ll have three key points (no matter what they are), so by splitting your speech into three sections, you’ll be able to judge how much time you should spend talking about each section.

5. Stand Out

Many try to stand out by actions, gestures, and confidence during their impromptu speech. While this is also important, there’s something even more important.

The first and the last sentence are the most memorable. It’s all about the primacy and recency, and most of the audience will most likely remember the first and the last thing you say.

Therefore, starting and finishing with powerful sentences that go well with your given topic and are linked to the message you deliver in the speech is super important as it will have the biggest impact if properly executed.

6. Talk as if You Were Talking to a Friend

Talking in front of the audience can be scary, but without preparation, talking in front of the audience can be even scarier.

Instead of feeling the pressure, feeling uncomfortable, or sweating buckets, you should go on with your impromptu speech as if you were talking to a group of friends.

You don’t have to fake anything, as the audience will see right through it. Instead, be yourself and try to do your best as this will always provide a better result.

Also Read : Best Executive Summary Examples

7. Tell a Relevant Story to Personalize Your Speech

The great thing about impromptu speeches is that they can go in your favor. If you don’t know what to talk about or what to include in your speech, here’s one tip that can help change the way you do your speech.

Try to think of a personal story that will be relevant to the subject of your impromptu speech. This will give you a topic to talk about, you won’t have to do any research or try to come up with facts that you will have to somehow back up, and your audience will love a personal story.

Personal stories are always easier to follow, and they’ll always go down well with any audience. Another piece of advice is to include a personal story in the middle section of your speech, but you can place it somewhere near the beginning of the speech.

8. Pay Attention to Your Voice Tone

When you take care of everything else before the speech and during the speech itself, many speakers forget to think of the voice tone.

There’s not much to overthink and you should speak slowly. Rushing might get you near the end sooner, but your speech won’t be a smooth ride.

Instead, take your time, focus on your breathing, rely on pauses, and have an impact while you deliver the key parts of the speech.

9. Make Sure to Follow Your Speech with Confident Actions

Confident actions are the most powerful body language actions that are not hard to get right, yet you might have to remind yourself to be “presentable”.

Standing tall on both your feet, not slouching over, keeping eye contact, using hand gestures, and avoiding fiddling are some of the things that will make you look confident.

Such confident actions will go well with your speech structure, confident voice tone, and relaxed, personalized speech.

Learning a couple of hand gestures will also put you at ease as you won’t have to wonder what to do with your hands during the speech.

10. Don’t Aim for Perfection

Every speaker wishes for their speech to be perfect, but an impromptu speech is the worst time to expect a perfect speech from yourself.

Therefore, it’s okay to lower the bar and focus on the execution and let the main goal be the smooth flow.

Setting the bar too high will only put you under pressure. In reality, most impromptu speeches happen due to unpredicted reasons, so if you’re put under the spotlight unwillingly and unprepared, the audience will notice, and they’ll understand, so there’s nothing to be afraid of.

Explore : Goal vs Objective – Difference & Examples

11. Practice Beforehand

You might not ever be prepared for a specific impromptu speech, but if you’ve been put into the spotlight once, you can be put under the spotlight again.

What you can do is practice quickly coming up with a speech structure on any given topic. Even if you have only a couple of minutes, you can develop a quick and concise structure and rehearse it in your head or in front of a mirror before you go in front of the audience.

And if you have a couple of hours, you can do a lot of practicing and even go through all these tips and be fully ready, no matter what the audience throws at you.

12. Use Humor to Break the Ice

No matter what the speech is about, you can always add a bit of humor to it. Don’t overdo it, but even a tiny bit of humor can help you make a better connection with your audience, ensure they pay attention to what you’re saying, and that they’re intrigued to hear what’s next.

Followed with a personalized story, you’ll have the audience hooked up until the end of the speech.

Of course, humor should come naturally, and you shouldn’t do it if you feel like you have to force it. But keep in mind that humor can be a great ice breaker, so it’s never a bad idea to keep it as a “secret weapon”.

13. The Meaningful Pause

Unfortunately, you’ll likely feel stuck or not know what to say next during your impromptu speech.

Just the thought of this can paralyze many speakers who are put under the spotlight. However, there’s a quick tip you can use to turn the block in your head into an advantage.

Instead of worrying if your audience noticed, try to “fake” a meaningful pause whenever you’re feeling stuck. During this pause, you can relax, and sooner than you know it, you will think of something.

The best thing is, your audience will never notice that “something’s wrong”, and yet this will also give them a breather and help them continue following your speech.

14. Keep Things Short

Less is more, and during impromptu speeches that can go extremely wrong, it’s better to cut your speech short and yet deliver everything you believe is valuable to the audience.

In other words, it’s better to regret not saying something than to say too much and then be on the spot from where you can’t turn back.

Also, keeping things short will help you stay in control of your impromptu speech and even look a lot more confident during your performance!

15. Try Turning the Impromptu Speech into Q&A Session

Since most impromptu speeches happen unexpectedly, not only will you have to come up with something from nothing, but you’ll also have to give the audience something you’re looking for.

Therefore, depending on the setting of your speech, you might try and turn your impromptu speech into a Q&A session, just like the journalistic interview type.

This will help you think less about what your whole speech will look like and focus on things the audience asks you in pieces.

You’ll still have full control over the answer, so turning a speech into a Q&A session is never a bad idea.

Check Out : Motivational, Funny, & Uplifting Sales Quotes

Best Impromptu Speech Examples

We’ll now take a look at some of the best examples of impromptu speeches to draw inspiration from.

University of Kentucky – Speech and Debate Team

In this impromptu speech example, the speaker only took two minutes for a quick structure plan from where she was put under the spotlight straight away.

A great start with a personalized story that leads straight into the argument. During the argument, clear signs of uncertainty are visible, but the speaker did well by slowing the speech down and taking a couple of very short meaningful pauses.

Prepared with examples which is a bonus, the speaker went through her speech structure with ease. There were moments where the speaker was nervous, but she kept it well together and even seemed confident in her speech at times.

Use gestures, confident actions, eye contact with the audience, and all other positive things you can learn from the tips above.

Closing the speech without any rumbling and getting the point straight across to the audience is a memorable way to end the speech, which is why this is one of many perfect examples of an impromptu speech.

Interesting Post : Popular Digital Marketing Quotes

Chris Gurrie Impromptu Speech Example

This is a short yet educative impromptu speech example where the speaker, Chris Gurrie, gets assigned a random topic by the audience and then guides the viewers of this video on how to plan a perfect impromptu speech structure.

While you would usually have around two minutes for the planning and practice process, Chris does it in about 30 seconds.

Chris starts his impromptu speech with many questions that come from a personalized story that then leads into the main topic of the speech.

What Chris also does is focuses on his audience and he shares his planned structure.

Chris’s impromptu speech is full of valuable information the audience might not have been aware of, which then ties to things on a larger scale. Even though Chris only took 30 seconds to work on the speech plan, he looks very relaxed, confident, with a strong game right until the end of the speech.

What’s interesting enough is that if you didn’t know this was an impromptu speech, you might not even know. Therefore, this is a perfect example of how good you can get at impromptu speeches without knowing the subject beforehand.

Toastmaster International – Impromptu Speaking

If you prefer learning from a video example, this four-minute video is everything you’ll need to gain the confidence to do an impromptu speech.

In this example, you’ll learn opportunities where impromptu speaking might be required. Of course, all of the opportunities are the ones where you don’t have much time to prepare.

However, with the techniques covered in this example video, you’ll learn how to manage last-minute speeches.

Lastly, the video will teach you all the benefits of holding impromptu speeches.

Even though this is an educational-type video, if you have a better look, you would notice that this whole video is less than five minutes long, and it’s scripted in a way to serve as yet another impromptu speech example.

Therefore, as you learn how to perform an impromptu speech, you’re watching an impromptu speech which is a brilliant idea.

Preparing yourself for an impromptu speech is only half the job, so in this video, you also learn how to deliver your impromptu speech with more useful tips.

Impromptu Speech Example: Thesis-Point-Story Format

Planning a structure for your impromptu speech is super important. The thing about the structure is that you can develop any three- or four-step process that will get you through the speech.

This video is a perfect example of a thesis-point-story format where Chris, the speaker, gets assigned a random topic from where he creates the thesis-point structure, shares it with the students, and gets down to the speech itself.

With word play, Chris slowly introduces the topic to the audience, and while he speaks to his students as his friends, he is getting down to the story’s main point.

As Chris goes through his impromptu speech, you can also notice that he asks the audience plenty of questions, and by answering his questions, he is slowly revealing the whole story behind the point of his impromptu speech.

Even though this example might be a bit complicated to understand, you can also learn from Chris’s body language, how he speaks, and how he controls his speech as he’s a highly skilled impromptu speaker.

Angel Anderson – Impromptu Speech Example

In this four-minute impromptu speech example video, Angel Anderson teaches you exactly what impromptu speaking is, how to practice it, and even shows an example full of important tips that can help you develop the same skills.

Angel uses a question-style topic, after which he sets the timer for two minutes for his impromptu speech.

With this type of question, Angel starts his impromptu speech with a personal story that gets interesting, which ensures that the audience follows him.

Not only did Angel answer a question, but he also shared an anecdotal story, and even then, he shared some more information connected to this story.

By far, Angel’s video is not the perfect impromptu speech, but it’s a real example of how easily you can work on your impromptu speech, practice, and learn as you progress.

Of course, this example is ideal for all interview-type impromptu speeches, which can be as hard as the topic-type speeches.

Impromptu speech can seem scary at first, but with plenty of preparation and practice, you will be able to speak on any topic without much preparation.

These 15 tips are everything you’ll need to start, develop, and finish your impromptu speech while being confident both verbally and nonverbally.

On top of that, these five examples show you how impromptu speech is done first-hand. Remember that you shouldn’t aim for perfection, but even tiny improvements are a good step forward to achieving a decent impromptu speech.

Tom loves to write on technology, e-commerce & internet marketing. I started my first e-commerce company in college, designing and selling t-shirts for my campus bar crawl using print-on-demand. Having successfully established multiple 6 & 7-figure e-commerce businesses (in women’s fashion and hiking gear), I think I can share a tip or 2 to help you succeed.

Impromptu Speech: Meaning, Tips And Skills

Whether it’s tackling unexpected job interview questions or bidding farewell to a colleague, we have all been in situations where…

Whether it’s tackling unexpected job interview questions or bidding farewell to a colleague, we have all been in situations where we were asked to talk about a subject on the spot. These are some examples of impromptu speech, which means exactly how it sounds.

Even though it’s often unexpected, you can always practice impromptu speaking. It not only helps you be confident in your delivery but also makes meaningful speeches that leave a lasting impression on your audience.

Meaning Of Impromptu Speech

The good and bad of impromptu speaking, how to give an impromptu speech.

When you deliver a speech without any prior preparation, it’s known as an impromptu speech. The word impromptu means without preparation or organization. While impromptu speaking may seem intimidating and not as glamorous as a well-prepared speech, it’s an essential skill to master. You may find yourself in various scenarios where you’re asked to share a few words. Here are some common instances that often encourage an impromptu speech:

Small talk at networking events or parties

Exchanging opinions in business meetings

Weddings and other celebrations

Sharing your experience when you’re leaving an organization

A speaker goes missing and you need to fill in at the last minute

As you can see, an impromptu speech can be as professional as sharing opinions in a meeting or as informal as a toast at a party. Either way, you’re expected to say something smart and meaningful.

The Good And Bad Of Impromptu Speaking

In an impromptu speech, you’re in an advantageous position as you get to choose the topics you want to talk about. You can enhance the quality of your speech by using personal anecdotes and real-life examples. As you aren’t prepared, you’re likely to deliver your speech as if you were in a conversation with another person. Speaking with conviction makes you sound confident and impresses your audience.

At the same time, impromptu speaking means not being well-prepared. Collecting your thoughts may be time-consuming if you don’t have much knowledge about the topic. Even if you’re familiar with a topic, your speech may lack relevant details. Moreover, if the audience doesn’t engage or ask questions, you may miss out on significant content.

However, speaking without prior preparation shouldn’t be so difficult. There are several strategies that can help you brush up on impromptu speaking skills and deal with any situation confidently.

Communication is an integral part of our lives and speech is one of its fundamental components. Language wouldn’t have evolved like it has without the help of speech. Impromptu speech, in particular, gives you the liberty to explore ideas, opinions and perspectives while sharing them with an audience. Here are some impromptu speech tips that’ll help you deliver your content confidently while captivating and convincing your audience of your thoughts:

Organize Your Thoughts

If you’re speaking in front of an audience unprepared, the first thing you should do is collect and organize your thoughts. When you start making points in your head, you gain clarity and direction regarding your topic. This further helps you prioritize and filter out unnecessary elements from your speech.

Go With The Flow

While formal situations such as business meetings and conferences may require you to be mindful of the information you share; informal situations like parties and gatherings can be candid and light-hearted. It’s best to be as candid as possible and not force yourself to behave in a certain way. This further helps you feel relaxed and use a conversational tone with your audience.

Share From Personal Experience

It’s best to focus on yourself and your surroundings. When you speak from personal experience, you’re not only familiar with the topic, you don’t require much preparation time. Storytelling is a great way to increase audience engagement. Personal anecdotes and examples can make a huge difference.

Start A Q&A Session

If you’re caught off-guard and you’re unsure about what to say or present, you can start your speech by engaging in a question-and-answer session. An interactive start will not only involve the audience but will also keep them captivated till the end. This is particularly helpful in situations where a speaker is absent and you’re filling in for them.

Use A Written Paragraph Approach

Speaking successfully involves the same outline as a written paragraph. There is an introduction, main idea discussion, supporting examples and conclusion. This structure is generally followed by people who prepare their speeches in advance. Following such an outline can help you organize your thoughts and improve the flow of the speech.

Working on your speaking skills should be a part of your career-development strategy. Harappa’s  Speaking Effectively course will teach you how to strengthen your communication skills and create ever-lasting impressions on people. The PAM Framework will help you understand your Purpose, Audience and Message better, while the Non-Verbal Cues framework will help you exhibit confidence. Be the speaker that everyone takes notice of. Start your learning journey today!

Explore topics such as Art of  Public Speaking , What is  Business Communication , Importance Of  Speaking Skills ,  Presentation Techniques  and  Audience Analysis  from Harappa Diaries to build a personal brand that inspires, motivates and guides others.

Improve your practice.

Enhance your soft skills with a range of award-winning courses.

45 Impromptu Speech Topics and Ideas

October 29, 2017 - Dom Barnard

Impromptu speeches are a great way to practice quick thinking and concise speaking – you usually have only a couple of minutes to  prepare a speech  lasting around five minutes. Even in this shorter form of speech, you still need to have a structure to what you are saying to ensure your message is understood by everyone.

If you struggle with lack of confidence, practicing with these impromptu speech topics can be a great way to build confidence for all types of speeches and conversations, whether you’re talking to someone at a business networking event or speaking at a wedding.

What is an impromptu speech?

For an impromptu speech, you’ll generally have 1-3 minutes of preparation for a speech lasting 5-8 minutes. Tougher speech events can reduce this preparation time down to 30 seconds and require you to plan your speech mentally, without any paper to write notes on.

Impromptu speeches are often given as part of university and college debates.  Oxford Union event  shown above.

These types of speeches are usually found in public speaking courses, speaking organisations such as Toastmasters and  debating competitions  (both professional and student based).

They are a great way of testing a range of communication skills, from organisation to clarity to creativity, and are becoming a popular way to practice general public speaking skills.

Practice Impromptu Speaking

Practice your impromptu speaking skills by talking about a series of random slides for 30 seconds each. Receive feedback on your performance. Learn More

Tips for picking an impromptu speech topic

Here are some quick tips and considerations for picking an impromptu speech.

• Pick a topic you are familiar with, have knowledge of and want to talk about. Personal experience on that topic is a bonus as you’ll be able to speak more naturally about it.
• Your organisational skills will be tested to come up with a powerful introduction and conclusion in your preparation to back up your argument.
• Pick a topic where the scope is limited (or you can easily limit it) as you’ll only have 5 minutes to discuss it.
• Your goal is to either inform or  persuade your audience  so choose a topic that suits these criteria

Impromptu speech topics

There are a huge amount of topic to choose from so we’ve compiled a short list of interesting topics below, some of which will hopefully inspire you or give you talking points you hadn’t previously considered.

• A non-biased news site is impossible
• The Romain Empire was the most important empire to have existed
• Keyboards will be replaced by speech-to-text technology in 10 years
• Performance enhancing drugs should be allowed in sport
• Colour affects the way people feel
• Poor health begins in the mind
• Team sports build strong individuals
• Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
• Poverty is a state of mind
• What characteristics make an ideal villain?
• How would you describe an average person?
• In what situation is lying a good idea?
• Who has been the most influential person in your life and why?
• Pets are for people who don’t have children
• Real learning doesn’t occur in a classroom
• It is better to be influential than rich
• Do violent video games contribute to youth violence?
• School uniforms removes individuality
• Children should not watch television
• Art is not important to the future of the human race
• Future conflicts will be confined to online hacking
• Social customs are a waste of time
• My biggest concern for the future is…
• Climate change is a natural occurrence
• What is the most important skill for starting a business
• Space exploration advances the human race
• Parents are the most influential factors in our lives
• Sports people salaries are justified by viewing figures
• Reading fiction is a waste of time
• Going to university / college is not necessary anymore
• Facebook makes society less happy
• Anyone can be a millionaire if they work hard enough
• No extra-terrestrial species have found us because…
• Translation technology will replace the need to learn a language
• Colonizing Mars is necessary to ensure human survival
• Presidential / Prime Ministers time in office should be lengthened
• Social circles and friends are the most important factors for happiness
• Real wealth is not measured in money or possessions
• The minimum wage should be doubled
• Should adults have the right to carry a concealed handgun?
• Is sexual orientation determined at birth?
• Junk food’s popularity relies on marketing
• Both snooker and darts are sports
• Being a vegetarian is healthier than eating meat
• Renting a house is better than buying

Use any of these topics for your next impromptu speech or just as personal practice to improve your communication skills.

• Games, topic printables & more
• The 4 main speech types
• Example speeches
• Commemorative
• Declamation
• Demonstration
• Informative
• Introduction
• Student Council
• Speech topics
• Poems to read aloud
• How to write a speech
• Using props/visual aids
• Acute anxiety help
• Breathing exercises
• Letting go - free e-course
• Using self-hypnosis
• Delivery overview
• 4 modes of delivery
• How to make cue cards
• How to read a speech
• 9 vocal aspects
• Vocal variety
• Diction/articulation
• Pronunciation
• Speaking rate
• How to use pauses
• Eye contact
• Body language
• Voice image
• Voice health
• Public speaking activities and games
• About me/contact
• Impromptu public speaking topics

-200 first-rate impromptu speech topics 

By:  Susan Dugdale  

• 50 impromptu topics
• Yet another 50 random speech topics
• Then 50 more good impromptu speech topics
• And finally, 50 funny impromptu speech topics.
• Plus links to more impromptu speech topics and activities.

The topics cover a broad cross section of subject matter. Use them for table topics at your Toastmaster's Club, with your high school public speaking class as practice for debate competitions or, by yourself.

Some of them are quirky and funny.

Many are deliberately provocative to stimulate a response from both you, the speaker and, your audience!

Others are open-ended or neutral to allow whatever occurs in your mind to fit the topic. You could use those ones to tell a true story; a personal experience, share your personal bloopers, or talk about the meaning of life!

Any one of the 200 will make a good subject for an excellent impromptu speech.

These types of speeches, off the cuff and without much time to prepare, are a great way to polish communication skills. And, most importantly, they're fun!

Are you in a hurry & needing impromptu speech topics ready for use now?

Solve your problem in 5 minutes. Get the first list of 50 impromptu speech topics on this page plus 48 more in an instantly available print-and-go pdf. 50 + 48 = 98 impromptu speech topics!

Quick tips for practicing by yourself:

• Choose a good topic, one that appeals to you from any one of the lists below.
• Give yourself a strictly monitored preparation time of no more than one minute in which to note an opening, a couple of main points with examples and, a conclusion.
• Deliver your speech while timing and, if possible, recording it. Aim to speak for a couple of minutes.
• When you play the recording back, listen for speech structure, (Is there one?), content and fluency. Each of these combine to create the overall impact of your speech.

If you're using these impromptu speaking topics with a friend or in front of an audience in a classroom, use the same method but skip the recording.

Be sure though to allow enough time to give and receive feedback. Along with regular practice, it's a vital part of improving!

Ideally once you or your class has become more confident, you'll allow less preparation time.

The ultimate goal is to be given a speech topic, do some quick thinking and to begin speaking on the subject coherently and easily, almost immediately.

Literally, you get given the topic, the green light, timer or stop watch is flicked on, you open your mouth and go!

Get help with impromptu speaking formats

If you've arrived at this page on impromptu public speaking topics without having seen my impromptu speaking tips page, pay a visit there too.

You'll get really useful information on structural patterns as well as delivery tips.

If you're new to making this kind of short duration speech, both will help a great deal.

The 7 patterns, in particular, are invaluable. They'll stop you from blundering aimlessly around blurting whatever occurs to you first! Something I remember doing quite frequently before I found them. ☺

Return to Top

50 impromptu public speaking topics

• My biggest concern for the future is...
• Real wealth is never measured in money or possessions.
• Conservation is survival.
• Real love is not the stuff of pop songs.
• If I were an animal I'd be a...
• Plants have feelings too.
• Junk food's popularity relies on marketing.
• To err is human. To forgive is divine. Discuss.
• The world is a smaller place these days.
• The more we communicate, the less we really say.
• When I grow up...
• The best letter of the alphabet is...
• Goals are good for you.
• The most important lesson of my life so far...
• Intelligence is not enough.
• If I ruled the world...
• Color affects the way people feel.
• Ill health begins in the mind.
• Team sports build strong individuals.
• Laughter is the best medicine.
• Fools and their money are easily parted.
• Discipline is not a dirty word.
• Beauty is always in the eye of the beholder.
• Children learn what they live with.
• My favorite day of the year is...
• What characteristics make an ideal hero and why?
• What and who is an average person?
• Being young is over-rated.
• In what situation is lying a good idea?
• Does money make the world go round?
• What human quality do we need more of and why?
• Who has been the most influential person in your life and why?
• How we look is unimportant. It's who we are on the inside that counts.
• Fashion victims I have known.
• Pets are for people who don't have children.
• Summer is the best and worst of times. Why?
• The media controls how and what we think.
• Advertising targeting children is immoral.
• Talking to someone and talking with someone are two different activities.
• Real learning doesn't occur in a classroom.
• What would you rather be - wise or intelligent?
• True wisdom comes from experience.
• A sense of humor is essential.
• Uniforms stifle individuality.
• What is normal is decided by the society we live in.
• Manners matter.
• Children should not watch television.
• Art is essential to life.
• Cities are for people not cars.
• Peace is possible.   

Grab 'n go for busy people - Printable Speech Topics

Impromptu Speech Topics on the RUN

Get the first 50 topics on this page PLUS 48 more. It's a Serendipity (little-bit-of everything) Selection in an instantly available printable format: 14 topics per A4 page.

Preview an extract. See the 14 topics on page 5 of 7.

98 printable impromptu speech topics

Select, print, cut-and-GO!

50 excellent random impromptu speech topics

Here's the second list of 50. If a topic ends with an ellipsis, (...), replace it with a word or phrase of your choice.

E.g. 'I wish I was...' might become 'I wish I was sitting on a beach with my best friend.', or 'I wish I was more courageous.'

• What has more impact? Being beautiful or being kind?
• I wish I was...
• The color yellow reminds of...
• Swear words are satisfying to say.
• Share one important memory.
• What have you said that you immediately regretted?
• Explain how to withstand peer group pressure.
• The only certainties in life are death and taxes.
• Nationalism fuels wars.
• Doing what you want, when you want, does not build character.
• Every woman needs a husband.
• Love is exploited by manufacturers and shopkeepers.
• The Christmas season has been hijacked for profit.
• Vital medicines should be free.
• Social service should be compulsory.
• Being poor is not a crime.
• Love is not always the answer.
• What does it mean to be in a black mood?
• We should have Thanksgiving every day.
• When is stealing necessary?
• What is unforgivable?
• Being wrong is good for us.
• Who is the enemy? Why?
• Ignorance is a root cause of violence.
• What I loved doing most as a kid.
• A saying I’ll never forget is...
• The most important lesson I learned from my mother.
• What foreign language should we learn.
• If you could be a famous person for a day who would you be?
• The silliest thing I ever saw.
• An idea is never original.
• Copying other people is not bad. It’s the way we learn.
• Social media is both good and bad.
• The item I value most.
• We procrastinate because we are fearful of being wrong.
• Learning not to pre-judge a person is very difficult.
• The last book I read.
• My favorite time of the day.
• If I changed my name I’d change it to...
• People in my family never...
• Something I want to believe in but can’t.
• Becoming educated is a life-long mission.
• Learning to be grateful for what we have makes us happier.
• Sexual predation is never acceptable.
• Real friends love us, despite our faults.
• How to tell the difference between real and fake news.
• Describe an everyday miracle.
• Being different makes the world a richer place.
• Green washing is a modern crime.
• The contents of my bathroom cupboard.

Another 50 good impromptu speech topics

And here's the third list!

• Comfort food: what is the food that makes you feel good.
• How I got my name and what it means.
• What would happen if I had to be without my phone.
• An everyday hero.
• What qualities makes a person a leader?
• It’s OK to be wrong and it’s OK to fail.
• My favorite clothes: what are they, and why have you chosen them.
• My favorite song: what it is, and why is it your favorite.
• My favorite place: the place where I feel best.
• The worst food I’ve ever eaten.
• My favorite season of the year.
• How being locked down over Covid has changed how we learn.
• How the Covid pandemic changed my life.
• What country I want to visit and why.
• How to break a bad habit.
• The best trick I ever played.
• A skill I want to learn.
• The difference between liking and loving someone.
• Why keeping up with national and international news is important.
• The sport that seems strangest to me.
• Cars reflect their owners.
• The clouds in the sky sometimes remind me of...
• We need to take cyber-security seriously.
• How can you tell if someone is telling a lie.
• Trees communicate with each other.
• What I collect, and why.
• Curiosity underpins inventions.
• I wish someone would explain to me why...
• What I am most proud of about myself.
• If you could go back in time, what time and event would you return to?
• Three convincing reasons for not completing your homework.
• Tell two truths and one lie. Ask the audience to pick the lie.
• Why is it important to look someone in the eye?
• What is the absolutely best way to relax?
• Is there truth in the saying: “Clothes make the man”?
• In what ways can sport be seen as a religion?
• The three most annoying habits of people in my family.
• How to sound and act like an expert.
• Is it immoral for the immensely wealthy not to use their money to help people living in poverty?
• Is there any truth in the saying: “Fake it until you make it”?
• Why do some people behave as if they are superior to others?
• My secret ambition is to become...
• Name three words setting your peer group and generation apart from your parent’s generation? Eg. GOAT, dope, sick. What do they mean? How are they used?
• Why girls should be allowed to play contact sports.
• Why vaping should be banned along with cigarettes.
• Why is it important to vote?
• Who is the best person you have ever met? Why are they the best?
• What would you do if you could do anything?
• Explain these sayings: “take a chill pill” and “all that glitters is not gold”.
• In what major ways has the world changed in the last 20 years?

Finally, 50 funny impromptu speech topics

• What I wish I'd said. Responses I would have given if I was quick enough.
• If you could choose a theme song, what would yours be and why?
• If my pet could talk, this is what they'd say about me.
• If you ran the news outlets, what would your top headlines for today be?
• Tell us about the worst hair cut you ever had.
• What clothing choices have you made in the past that you now regret?
• If you were a hero for the day, what would you do?
• Why does Murphy's Law (Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong) kick in when we're under pressure? 
• What kinds of things are you a secret snob about?
• Three reasons why I decided to take up extreme knitting.
• Why sports cars should only be driven by young beautiful people.
• What are the worst chores you've ever had to do around your home.
• What is the funniest personal habit you've witnessed in your friends or family?
• Three funny facts about your home country.
• What's wrong with saving the best for last?
• The best trick that's ever been played on me.
• The real reasons why I decided to become a pop star.
• Which celebrity would you invite to dinner?
• What 'funny story' gets told over and over again in your family?
• What food did you dislike the most as a child and why?
• What's the silliest situation you've even been in?
• Share an amusing situation where you read someone's body language wrongly.
• What eccentric habits are you going to adopt?
• If you could become someone else, who would you be and why?
• What three things bore you the most?
• What personal habit has caused you the most trouble?
• Why is your daily horoscope always right?
• What is the best day of the week, and why?
• How to become an expert procrastinator.
• Three things I wish my mother had told me.
• Fascinating trivia - the useless facts I know.
• How to recover from embarrassing yourself publicly. 
• What's the real story behind the saying: "to beat around the bush" or "to take the cake"?
• What would you invent if you could?
• If you could meet a person from the past, who would it be, and why? 
• What's your three top tips for living well?
• If you could only have the same food every day, what would you choose?
• What happened on your best 'worst' date?
• The top ways to make people like you. 
• The real reasons why people do not talk to each other on public transport.
• The reasons why I will bequeath my fortune to my cat.
• What item of clothing do you own that makes you feel good?
• If you had a personal logo, what would it be? 
• What words or phrases do people use that let us know who they mix with, and how old they are?
• What is the silliest or most trivial problem you currently have?
• If 'looks can kill', who would you most like to see in front of you and why? 
• What thing have you kept for sentimental reasons? Why?
• What words do people frequently use that annoy you immensely?
• What is something you've misplaced or lost that had inconvenient consequences?
• What online sites frequently cause you to lose track of time?   

EVEN MORE good impromptu speech topics!

10+ themed sets of fun impromptu speech topics fresh from the creative, wild and wacky department! 

If you're looking for inspiration for your public speaking class or you need table topics for Toastmasters, these are contagiously silly subjects:  lighthearted and nonsensical. (Like the bumper sticker wisdom quote illustrated below.)

Fun Impromptu Speech Topics   to get them laughing - the best way to learn ☺

Here's four themed sets of 20 table topic questions : Christmas, music, life-lessons and thought-provoking topic ideas. There's a printable for each set, plus an overview of table topics: its benefits, how a Toastmasters table topics session is run, what makes a good topic, the value of feedback, and more. 

Another option are these 150 1 minute speech topics . They are split into 3 groups of 50: those suitable for kids, 50 work/career themed suggestions and another 50 just for fun. You'll also find 3 sample speech outlines and example speeches: text and audio. Plus a free printable speech outline.                

See example impromptu speech outlines

Click for example impromptu speech outlines . See how to take a topic and develop it into an outline for a speech. You'll find e xamples of seven different structural patterns: PREP, Problem - Solution, Cause - Effect - Remedy, Before - The Event - The Result, Past - Present - Future, and two more.

Each comes with a printable outline for your own use, which seems like an oxymoron doesn't it? In the same league as 'lead balloon' and 'civil war'. When did war become civil, or balloons filled with lead actually fly? They didn't.

Impromptu speaking and completing an outline only makes sense if you regard the outline as tool to help you commit the pattern to memory. Once you've got it, you'll no longer need to write your key points and their transitions out.

Go to impromptu speech outline patterns .

Fun activities for practicing impromptu speaking

For more impromptu speaking practice ideas visit this page of public speaking games . 

While some of these activities are drama based you'll find all 10 of them useful and FUN! They are especially good if you're a teacher looking for ideas to help you plan impromptu public speaking lessons for your class.

The One Minute Speeches activity featured below is included in the collection however it's minus the pdf of instructions, game variations and printable topics.

One minute speeches - 368 topics + instructions!

368 topics, instructions for introducing and running a session on One Minute Speeches, plus activity variations in an instantly available format. A great reusable impromptu speaking resource for busy teachers! Have a look: One Minute Speeches

Impromptu speech activities bundle

And for those of you who want more than one activity check out this  comprehensive bundle of   17 proven fun and effective impromptu speech activities , complete with full guidelines and printables. 

speaking out loud 

Subscribe for  FREE weekly alerts about what's new For more see  speaking out loud  

Top 10 popular pages

• Welcome speech
• Demonstration speech topics
• Impromptu speech topic cards
• Thank you quotes
• Farewell speeches
• Phrases for welcome speeches
• Student council speeches
• Free sample eulogies

From fear to fun in 28 ways

A complete one stop resource to scuttle fear in the best of all possible ways - with laughter.

Useful pages

• Search this site
• About me & Contact
• Blogging Aloud
• Free e-course
• Privacy policy

©Copyright 2006-24 www.write-out-loud.com

Designed and built by Clickstream Designs

How to Give An Impromptu Speech When You Have Zero Prep Time

• Communication and Preaching

It freaks everyone out, but at some point or another, you’re going to be called to give an impromptu talk.

Maybe it will be in front of eight people in the boardroom after the boss taps you on the shoulder and says, “What do you have to say about that? Get up and tell us!”

Or maybe you’re speaking at an event and you learn the keynote speaker’s flight was canceled, and they call on you at the last minute to talk to the audience .

Or maybe you feel like the talk you prepared isn’t the right one, and you need to take things in a whole new direction, and you’re up in five minutes.

As a full-time communicator, I’ve been there…in almost every scenario you can think of.

In any scenario, cue most leaders’ worst nightmare: Giving a talk with zero prep time. How do you not just panic, throw up, freeze like a deer in headlights, or ramble on like someone who had their brain removed?

Here’s How It Can Happen To You

I was twelve years old when I gave my first impromptu talk. I was supposed to give a five-minute talk to our church family about the camp I’d been to that summer. Someone else was cued up to speak ahead of me,  and she basically said exactly what I was going to say.

So what did that twelve-year-old kid do? According to my dad, I walked on stage, made up a bunch of new points, and no one knew the difference.

What started at 12 has happened more times than I can count since.

Here are three quick examples:

• Numerous times at events, I’ve watched the previous speaker cover points I was going to make. At that moment I know I have to pivot, and I’m up next. Apparently, this doesn’t only happen to 12-year-olds.
• A few years ago, I was at a conference when I learned the night before that the keynote couldn’t make it. I got asked to step in…in front of 3000 people.
• Years ago at our church, we were in a video series with Andy Stanley and the video playback died. Just died. Right in the middle of the service. I’d heard the message at the previous service, but with literally 30 seconds’ notice, I got pushed onto the stage. The lights came up. I explained to the congregation that the video had died so I was up with zero prep, having heard the message once before. Then I proceeded to do the best I could to recite what I remembered from Andy’s message and improvised my own take. After the 40-minute message was over, people cheered.

How do you carry yourself in moments like those?

Look, I have a huge preference for writing messages months and weeks ahead of delivery, and highly recommend that.

I outline an entire process for delivering amazing sermons and talks in my course, The Art of Preaching . So 99.9% of the time, go with that.

But at some point, with zero prep, you’re going to be pushed onto a platform to speak.

How do you simply not freeze or stumble all over your words, or just meander your way to disaster?

Here are 5 ways to handle that moment when it comes.

1. Don’t Panic

The biggest enemy you have when you’re called on at the last moment and you panic is you .

Your emotions will threaten to hijack your brain. You’ll convince yourself that you’re not able to do a good job, that this is unfair, or you haven’t got it in you to rise to the occasion.

Start believing that, and the voices in your head will be 100% accurate.

Except they’re not. You can do a good job. And no, it’s not unfair (people want to hear from you) and you’ve got this.

The best way to deal with your natural fear is to push past it. So push past it.

After all, this is happening, and you’re more ready than you think.

2. Think About What Your Audience Needs

So, where do you start?

Left unchecked, you’ll only think about yourself. (You’ll invent 100 new insecurities on the spot. See #1 above).

So, shift your view for a moment and think about what your audience needs.

Who’s the room?

What are  their  issues?

What do you possess that might help them?

How can you empathize with what they’re going through?

Speakers who care about their audience will always have a more engaged audience.

3. Focus on what You Already Know

Great…so you’ve thought (even momentarily) about your audience and tried to silence the panic in your head and heart.

Your mind might naturally want to focus on what you  don’t  know. After all, you couldn’t prepare. No research. No carefully crafted phrases. Zero prep.

Your head will go back to this: Clearly, I can’t tackle this.

You’ve got a few decades of life under your belt, and you know  something .

Focus on that.

For professional communicators (preachers, leaders), you’ve likely got a few talks under your belt that you can cherry-pick from. Do it.

Pull from that sermon you preached last September or that talk you gave in June. It’s not unfair. And it’s not cheating. It’s called serving your audience well .

And if you go with what you know, you’ll be coherent.

A coherent you is better than a rambling you.

Even if you’re not in the habit of speaking, you know a lot about some things. Draw on that knowledge.

When you panic, you’ll be tempted to focus on what you don’t know. Focus on what you know instead.

You know way more than you think.

4. Pretend You’re Having a Conversation…Because You Are

In all impromptu talks, here’s a principle that simply works: Pretend you’re having a conversation . Because you are.

Why does imagining you’re having a conversation work?

Because you do it every day. Think about it.

How much time do you prepare for the conversations you have every day? For the most part, unless you’re asking for a raise or having a tough intervention, the answer is “Well, I don’t.”

That’s the thing about conversations….you just have them.

So, go have one.

Pretend you’re talking to one person and just explaining your thoughts, ideas and feelings.

You’ll be amazed at how easy it is.

A conversation has a natural flow. Go with that flow. Your accumulated lifetime experience of interacting with other people will move you toward forming an introduction, a main point (or points), and an ending.

The pressure of speaking in front of a live audience will help you stay focused, sharp, and concise.

So…you have conversations all the time that you never prepare for. And you’re fine in them.

This time, a bunch of people just happened to show up.

5. Finish Early (It’s Okay…Really)

Of all the things communicators struggle with, this is one of the worst: we convince ourselves we don’t have enough to say to fill the time.

First, that’s almost never true. Most speakers and preachers go over time, every time. Cue the buzzer for that habit.

Second, the audience is almost  always  grateful when a speaker finishes on time and extra grateful when the speaker wraps up early.

If you run out of things to stay (and you might), stop. Even if you’re done early.

Worried you’re disappointing your host? Just say, “It’s been a joy to share this impromptu moment with you, I think that’s all I have to say. Thank you.”

Cue the thunderous silent applause going on in every audience member’s head.

People are incredibly grateful when communicators realize they’re done.

A communicator who knows they’re done before the audience senses they’re done is a wise communicator.

You’ve prepared your sermon. You’re ready for Sunday... Or are you?

The #1 factor people look for in a church is the quality of the preaching. In fact, 86% of people choose a church based on that.

So if you step back and take a look in the mirror for a moment...

• Does your sermon prep get the time it deserves?
• And when was the last time you took a big step forward in becoming a better preacher?

Most Pastors aren't happy with the answers they give to those questions.

How to preach more engaging, memorable, and relevant sermons—starting as early as this week.

Now, take a minute to imagine feeling confident that your message would connect on Sunday morning, knowing you’d deliver it clearly and truthfully .

It’s time to ditch the random, stressful, and last-minute approach to becoming a better preacher and communicator.

Get a proven method to preach sermons that reach more people and grow your church in The Art of Preaching. It's the only program trusted by 3,000+ pastors over 5+ years—no matter the denomination or church size—that will transform your preaching from preparation to delivery.

• You’ll save hours each week with a better sermon prep process.
• You’ll write messages people remember for months… or even years.
• You’ll deepen your own connection with the text , seeing things you never noticed before.
• You’ll be able to (finally) deliver your message without using notes .
• You’ll preach sermons that reach more people and transform the lives of churched and unchurched people alike .

Carey Nieuwhof

Carey Nieuwhof is a best-selling leadership author, speaker, podcaster, former attorney, and church planter. He hosts one of today’s most influential leadership podcasts, and his online content is accessed by leaders over 1.5 million times a month. He speaks to leaders around the world about leadership, change, and personal growth.

50 Topics for Impromptu Student Speeches

Illustration by Catherine Song. ThoughtCo. 

• Homework Tips
• Learning Styles & Skills
• Study Methods
• Time Management
• Private School
• College Admissions
• College Life
• Graduate School
• Business School
• Distance Learning
• M.Ed., Education Administration, University of Georgia
• B.A., History, Armstrong State University

For the many people who break out in a sweat at the very idea of speaking in front of an audience , the prospect of speaking on an unknown topic with little to no preparation is likely terrifying. But you don't have to be afraid of impromptu speeches. As it turns out, the secret even to off-the-cuff speeches is preparation.

Impromptu Speech Tips

• Decide on your topic
• Come up with three supportive statements related to your topic
• Prepare a strong conclusion

Use this list of impromptu speech topics to practice making a quick speech outline in your head. For each of the topics below, just think of three main points you'd like to make. For example, if your speech topic is "Your least favorite chores," you could quickly come up with three statements:

• I don't know anybody who likes to fold laundry, so the first task on my list of unhappy chores is folding laundry.
• Taking out the trash is another chore that most people dread, and I'm no different.
• The worst chore in the entire household has to be cleaning the toilet.

If you go into your speech with these statements in your head, you can spend the rest of your time thinking up supporting statements as you speak. When you've identified your three main points, think of a great finishing statement. If you end with a great closer, you'll really impress your audience.

Start Practicing With This List

• My three favorite animals.
• What you would find in my closet. Make something up.
• What you'd find under my bed.
• The best letter of the alphabet.
• Why your mom/dad is special.
• A day that stands out.
• The best surprise ever.
• If I had a million dollars to give away.
• If cats/dogs ruled the world.
• A trip to remember.
• My favorite day of the year.
• If I could only eat three foods forever.
• If I could design a school.
• Why books are important.
• Three surprising facts about me .
• How to impress your parents.
• How to plan a party.
• A job I'd love to have.
• A day in my life.
• If I could have dinner with anyone.
• If I could travel through time.
• My favorite book.
• An important lesson I've learned.
• What I've learned from cartoons.
• The smartest cartoon character.
• Three things I'd change if I ruled the world.
• Why sports are important.
• The worst chores at home.
• Why I deserve an allowance.
• If I were in charge of school lunches.
• If I had invented school.
• The best theme park rides.
• Whom do you admire most?
• What is your favorite animal?
• How to achieve your dreams.
• Why you need a baby brother.
• How to annoy an older sister.
• How to save money.
• Three things that scare me.
• Great things about snow days.
• Things you can make out of snow.
• How to spend a rainy day.
• How to walk a dog.
• Great things about the ocean.
• Things I'll never eat.
• How to be a slacker.
• Why I like my town.
• The best parts of a parade.
• Interesting things you see in the sky.
• Things to remember when you're camping.
• An experience with a bully.
• 100 Persuasive Speech Topics for Students
• 50 Argumentative Essay Topics
• 10 Math Tricks That Will Blow Your Mind
• 100 Persuasive Essay Topics
• Chemistry Pick Up Lines to Try on Your Crush
• How to Give an Impromptu Speech
• Practice Speaking Skills With Impromptu Speeches
• 5 Tips on How to Write a Speech Essay
• Impromptu Speech Activities
• How to Write and Structure a Persuasive Speech
• Speech Topics to Meet Oral Communication Standards
• Memorable Graduation Speech Themes
• Writing a Descriptive Essay
• Writing Prompts for Elementary School Students
• How to Write a Great Essay for the TOEFL or TOEIC
• 10 Warm Ups for Lesson Plans

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

Chapter 5: Presenting Your Speech Module

Four Types of Speeches

Speeches can be categorized into four broad areas depending on the amount of preparation that is undertaken and depending upon the nature of the occasion.  The four types of speeches are manuscript, memorized, extemporaneous, and impromptu.  Our aim is to acquaint you with these four different modes of delivery, to provide suggestions for when you are asked to make impromptu remarks, and then to focus most your time on the preparation, practice, and presentation of extemporaneous speeches.

Manuscript Speech

When you listen to the President deliver a State of the Union message, you listen to a well-crafted speech being read from a teleprompter. The speech has been polished by a staff of speechwriters and has been practiced many times. The President will know how to anticipate the reaction of the audience and will know when to pause for applause and when to expect laughter. This form of speaking is used when the exact words matter and when much time and energy is expended on getting everything just right. There are times when people who are not leaders of countries deliver manuscript speeches as well. They are used when people testify before Congress, when people read important statements in a public setting, or when people deliver reports at professional meetings. All call for exact words in the correct order.

While the President has access to a staff of speech writers and a teleprompter, most of us do not. If you were given this type of assignment, you would have to read your manuscript speech from printed notes. In that case, you would want to ensure that you had prepared your manuscript carefully, using large fonts so you could read it easily without burying your nose in the pages. Reading the speech does not allow you to skimp on the preparation. Practice the speech many times. This allows you to make changes, if needed, and to select the best words to communicate your exact meaning. Remember to speak clearly and naturally -strive for a conversational tone. It shouldn’t sound read -even if you are reading. Also, remember to speak slowly; there is a natural tendency to speed up when we speak in public. Delivering a speech is not a race; you do not receive bonus points for finishing early.

Unless you are specifically told by your instructor to prepare and deliver a manuscript speech, you should never write out the entire speech. Spend your time developing your outline, organizing your ideas, and determining where you can best insert your supports. Then practice using the outline while speaking.

Memorized Speech

When you were in elementary school, did you ever have to memorize a poem or a part of a speech? If you are like most students, the answer is “Yes. ” There is nothing wrong with memorization. But if you try to memorize a speech, you risk forgetting what you planned to say and coming across as completely unprepared. Memorizing your speech is even worse than reading it. All the objections that apply to the read speech also apply to the memorized speech. Spontaneity is gone. The speech can sound stilted. Often, delivery is too rapid. Concentration is on the words, not the ideas. Sometimes the speech sounds too formal, like a written essay. There is minimal feedback or other contact with the audience. And what happens if your mind goes completely blank or if an audience member interrupts? The entire presentation will likely fall apart. Memorizing a speech puts entirely too much pressure on the speaker.

That said, there are a couple of parts of the speech that you may want to have memorized -or practiced so well that you can deliver them almost as if memorized. These include:

Your introduction:  It sets the stage for the entire speech. The words should be well chosen and rehearsed. You may find that as you repeat this portion of the speech during your rehearsals you do come to memorize it word for word. If so, this is fine. After all, once you have determined the best way of saying something, why not use it? Just make sure the presentation does not sound memorized. Your conclusion:  The summary and call to action are the final words that your audience will hear. As with the introduction, if you practice this repeatedly you will develop the best way to say what you want and you will probably have perfected this portion of the speech.

Impromptu Speech

There will come a time for all of us when we are asked to “say a few words ” without much preparation.  You haven’t prepared any notes, you haven’t practiced what you’ll say, and you’re being asked to “wing it. ” While this may seem incredibly scary, impromptu presentations are the most common type of public speaking. You’re in class and suddenly the professor wants to hear how group projects are going. You, as the leader of your group, are asked to stand and briefly discuss what the group is doing and how much you’ve completed so far. That’s an impromptu speech. You didn’t know when you headed to class that day that you’d be speaking in public, but you did it. No sweat! Or maybe you’re in a meeting at work and the boss announces that he wants you to brief everyone in the meeting on the new equipment being installed that afternoon. Again, no prior planning, no notes, you just do it. That’s impromptu speaking.

Extemporaneous Speech

The focus of most college courses in public speaking is the extemporaneous speech.  This is because this is the type of speech used most in business, education, preaching, and political affairs. Few of us will ever have a professional staff of speechwriters or ever deliver a speech with the aid of a teleprompter. But when you do have a speech or presentation to deliver, you’ll want to sound prepared, authoritative, and clear.

Simply stated, an extemporaneous speech is one where you will have time for preparation and practice but will not be expected to read from a manuscript or to have the speech memorized.  The question most students ask is, “How much time should be spent in preparation and practice? ” Perhaps Mark Twain said it best. When speaking about preparing for an impromptu speech, he noted, “It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech ” (King). While celebrated as a humorist, there is much truth in his words. To appear to be speaking off the cuff, and to do it well, you must prepare thoroughly and practice to perfection. When you speak extemporaneously, it means you’ve had ample time to prepare and research and that you have rehearsed your speech (many times) using an outline or notes to remind you of the progression of ideas you wish to present. You will follow all the normal steps outlined in the earlier chapters. Choose a topic, narrow appropriately, analyze your audience, choose your supports, and create an outline. You will know your speech so well and will amaze your audience!

Fundamentals of Public Speaking Copyright © by Lumen Learning is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book

• Speech Writing
• Delivery Techniques
• PowerPoint & Visuals
• Speaker Habits
• Speaker Resources

Speech Critiques

• Book Reviews
• Browse Articles
• ALL Articles
• Learn About Us
• About Six Minutes
• Meet Our Authors
• Write for Us
• Advertise With Us

How to Ace the Impromptu Speech

Several readers sent in questions related to impromptu speeches, including Matthias K.:

I’m pretty comfortable when I have days or even weeks to prepare a speech, but I REALLY struggle when I’m asked to speak at a moment’s notice. Do you have any tips for impromptu speaking?

In this article, you’ll find a set of tips that will make you shine the next time you are asked to speak on the spur of the moment.

Impromptu Speech Scenarios

Impromptu speaking may not be as glamorous as prepared speaking, but it is an equally vital skill simply because there are so many scenarios where you find yourself speaking without more than a few moments of preparation. It’s no surprise that “impromptu speaking sessions” are found within Toastmasters meetings , college communications courses, and public speaking seminars.

Consider just a few situations where you find yourself speaking off the cuff:

• The scheduled speaker is unavailable (or late), and you’ve been asked to fill in.
• You are sitting on a panel answering questions from the audience.
• You are fielding questions after your own talk (yes, your Q&A session is impromptu speaking)
• You are being interviewed on television, radio, webinar, or telephone.
• You are invited (at the last moment) to say a few words at a company gathering.
• You are asked to provide a brief status report for your project at a department meeting.
• You are motivated to join the debate at the parent association meeting for your child’s school.
• You decide to give an unplanned toast at an event with family or friends.

It’s also worth noting the irony that the better you are at giving prepared speeches, the more often you will be invited to speak with no time for preparation at all. Your friends and colleagues will recognize your speaking skill, and when they need “someone” to say a few words… you’ll be that someone!

Winning Strategies for Impromptu Speeches

Although you may only have a few seconds to prepare for any particular impromptu situation, you certainly can prepare yourself to be ready when called upon.

Here are a few strategies you can use:

Anticipate situations where you may be called upon to speak. For example, if you are attending an engagement party for a close friend or family member, there’s a reasonable chance that you might be asked to speak. Similarly, if one of your close colleagues is scheduled to speak (e.g. your boss, your peer, or your report), it’s also reasonable to assume that you will find yourself speaking. As you head to the event, do a few mental exercises, trying to guess what you might be asked to speak about, and how you would respond. Even if your guess isn’t accurate, it’s amazing how those prior thoughts will help you think on your feet when you are asked to speak.

Wrap your response around a simple template, or framework. If you practice this a few times, you will find that your mini-speeches are much more polished and coherent. A few easy frameworks include:

• P.R.E.P. (Point. Reason. Example. Point) – Start off by clearly stating your point. Share the primary reason (or reasons, if you have more time). Then, share an example (preferably in story form) where your main point or reason is supported. Finally, conclude by summarizing your central point again. The template works well in many situations, and is easily adapted.
• Issue, Pros vs. Cons, Conclusions  – Start off by framing the issue. Talk about the benefits, and then talk about the drawbacks. Conclude with your recommendation.
• 5W – In this pattern, you cover your topic by addressing the Who, What, When, Where, and Why elements. For example, if you’ve been asked to speak briefly about a fundraising initiative, you could talk about [1] who started it, and who is involved now; [2] what the goals are; [3] when it started, and the schedule for the future; [4] where does it take place; and [5] why are you involved. This template works nicely, largely because the “why?” comes last, because this is often the most critical information.

Turn your impromptu session into a Q&A session. In situations where you are asked to fill in when the schedule speaker is absent, it may not be wise to launch into a 45 minute impromptu speech. Even the most accomplished speakers are prone to meander in that situation. Instead, reframe the session as a Q&A session, which breaks it up into a series of very small impromptu speeches that are probably easier for you to answer individually. Plus, the content comes directly from the audience, so you are guaranteed to deliver what they are seeking.

Use personal stories. Storytelling is an essential skill for prepared speaking, but it is equally useful for impromptu speaking as well. Stories are emotional, real, and interesting. If you stick to personal stories, you’ll find that it is much easier to speak (even without preparation) because the events happened to you.

Avoid the tendency to go on, and on, and on.  Craft a coherent message, and then be quiet. Rambling on will only weaken your overall speech. If you must fill more time, shift into a Q&A.

Go easy on yourself. We all want to speak perfectly every time, but demanding perfection from yourself in an impromptu speech is setting the bar too high. The audience (probably) recognizes that you’ve been thrown in at the last minute, and they will understand.

Your Turn: What’s Your Opinion?

Do you have any proven strategies for mastering the impromptu speech?

Please share in the comments .

Please share this...

This is one of many public speaking articles featured on Six Minutes . Subscribe to Six Minutes for free to receive future articles.

Image credit: Four Aces by FreeImages.com/B S K ( license )

Add a Comment Cancel reply

E-Mail (hidden)

Subscribe - It's Free!

Similar Articles You May Like...

• How to Deliver Group Presentations: The Unified Team Approach
• Leading the Perfect Q&A
• How to Prepare for Presenting to Senior Executives
• 10 Phrases Savvy Speakers Never Say
• How to Manage 8 Tough Personas in a Group Discussion
• How to Lead a Discussion Group

Find More Articles Tagged:

21 comments.

Great ideas – and I like the simple structures PREP, I-P&C-C, 5W – quick tools to put structure into your talk 2 minutes before standing up.

The real challenge is closing an impromptu speech – so often the lack of preparation of a good opening leaves it difficult to do a great closing – and you end up with a tepid “well… that’s it… thanks”

Always try to be prepared for the “Impromptu Speech.”

A Police Chief once told me he takes it as a given that when attending Chamber and other events, the emcee will usually say, “And let’s hear a few words from our city’s Top Cop. Come on up here, Chief!”

I like your idea, Andrew, of the Q&A Session. If you don’t know the answer, or just want to involve more people, the answer to the question can be thrown back to the audience.

Thanks for the Post!

I have always been an impromptu speaker. I loose my confidence when I prepare my speech. Which I do well, but at times, I miss out on important issues and also I can’t time my speech

At one point in my career, I was constantly confronted with impromptu speaking situations–the speech literally being planned between chair and podium.

The challenge was how to make the speech coherent and focused with no time to labor over an outline.

One speaker suggested simply picking an object on the way…and using the elements of that object as points for the speech. We might use an object that has an obvious connection with the topic, say a “ball point pen” used for points on communication, but that is not necessary, a shoe or a flower arrangement could be used as well.

So, it begins, “this common shoe tells us everything we need to know about time management…..” –first, like a good shoe, it has to fit you and your distinctive personality… –second, like the sole, it must both protect you from the dynamics of the outside world, and give you traction… –Finally, like the shoe in its totality, you must use it or it cannot fulfill its function no matter how well designed…

This actually works so well, I have used it to create outlines for writing and prepared speeches…a structured brain storming.

God bless and Merry Christmas

hi thanks so much for addressing an issue I had requested for too, only not so articulately.

If it is impromptu it is a not really a speech. It is more you giving your off the cuff thoughts about something. By the very nature of being unprepared you can be prepared for them. But you can learn to be good communicator and share your well organized thoughts about something *whenever* you are asked.

An “impromptu speech” is no different than a coworker or a spouse asking you your opinion about something.

The ‘template’ advice is spot on Andrew. A well structured speech will always sound professional. To what you’ve said here I’d add that when time to prepare is short, make best use of it by working out the opening (an arresting attention getter) and the close (something they’ll always remember). Somehow you’ll be able to speak your way from one to the other!

excellent suggestion! Will give it a go 🙂

I always enjoy your write ups. Impromptu speaking is the monster in many people’s nightmares. . . Your suggestions are very valid.

Nice! I remember my speech teacher getting me to use the 5W’s when doing impromptu speeches years ago. I’ve never been as strong with impromptu side of things in comparison to prepared speeches, so thanks for sharing your excellent strategies! Will use.

I really have a hard time getting my confidence. I thank you for sharing this knowledge and may help any body who wants to be a good public speaker. May God Bless You!

hi your articles are really great.they will be helpful during the public speaking competitions

I have an impromptu speaking competition coming up. I get any topic in the world from the adjudicator and have 5 minutes of preparation. I must speak for at least 2 minutes. I had a practice round yesterday, but it went really badly. My topic was ‘Know Your Limits’ and it came out a bit disastrous. Do you have a fully formed plan or something I could follow in regards to any topic that could come up? Thank you.

Hey Ashley, I realize you posted your comment months ago, but I also have an impromptu speaking competition coming up in days, just like yours. You must have finished your competition by now, and I was wondering whether you have any tips you could give me? I have the same problem you do. Thanks.

If you start with an intro Attention Getter – grab your audience Thesis – what is my topic Preview of Points – then talk about each point specifically then conclude with Review – what did i just talk about Thesis – what was the topic and a Tieback to the attention getter

This helps my students succeed. At least a minute of talking with an introduction and conclusion and a minute on each point, you have a minimum of a 4 minute speech! Just think, process and come up with points about your topic and you will do great!

I find the articles very interesting and informative.

I SOMETIMES EXPERIENCE SOME CHALLENGES WHEN REQUESTED TO GIVE AN IMPROMPTU SPEECH. I WOULD BE GLAD TO SUBSCRIBE SO THAT I CAN EQUIP MYSELF WITH SKILLS OF PUBLIC SPEAKING.

IMPROMPTU 1 Pick topic from here and now–I usually talk about talking impromptu 2 Quickly pick ending to guide your talk–I usually invite them to give an impromptu talk soon.

Love these tips. Spot on!

I have developed this website for practicing impromptu speech with an active time. Please feel free to use it impromptuspeech.net

This was helpful for a project in working on for the next few days

Recent Tweets

How to Ace the Impromptu Speech – https://t.co/lDPj5JHbRB — Rainmakers (@RainmakersIndy) Oct 28th, 2015

#CentralDelhiTM #TableTopicsContest TIPS to Ace the Impromptu Speech https://t.co/b6mgrbfoP3 by @6minutes — @CentralDelhiTM Mar 8th, 2016

Leaders: You are always on stage. Be ready! https://t.co/mFOuZ4n1Nw — @KurtGreene Jun 13th, 2016

#WednesdayWisdom Good article by @6minutes about impromptu speeches. Be confident off the cuff! https://t.co/zeLiJ8jY07 — PitchVantage (@pitchvantage) Jun 15th, 2016

How to Ace the Impromptu Speech https://t.co/vEKxFQcUED by @6minutes — @MarysReflection Oct 20th, 2016

https://t.co/pE1a9QxnEL この記事のP.R.E.P. (Point. Reason. Example. Point)の部分をPPAP的なノリで参考にしようと思った(意味不) — @mikueigo Nov 2nd, 2016

very helpful https://t.co/aPNHorseHb — @jonmarc_gordon Feb 21st, 2017

How to Ace the Impromptu Speech https://t.co/6yAangvFFJ by @6minutes #publicspeaking #coaching — @Seb_n_CHS Oct 17th, 2017

https://t.co/f9ZHdZCGH6 — @SpeakClearComm Jul 27th, 2018

Love the idea of using an (ironically-named) acronym – PREP – to give structure to impromptu speeches. @6minutes, d… https://t.co/EDuBwglGL9 — @speakupcamb Jul 31st, 2018

4 Blog Links

How to Ace the Short, Impromptu Speech | EFL Tips - Resources for EFL Students — Jan 19th, 2012

Impromptu speaking – strategies for winging it « Speak well, do well! — May 10th, 2012

Useful resources to help you get ready for the contests « Toast of CIBC Toastmasters Blog — Sep 12th, 2012

Donn King's Corner » Blog Archive » Prepare to speak without preparation — Nov 12th, 2012

Featured Articles

• Majora Carter (TED, 2006) Energy, Passion, Speaking Rate
• Hans Rosling (TED, 2006) 6 Techniques to Present Data
• J.A. Gamache (Toastmasters, 2007) Gestures, Prop, Writing
• Steve Jobs (Stanford, 2005) Figures of speech, rule of three
• Al Gore (TED, 2006) Humor, audience interaction
• Dick Hardt (OSCON, 2005) Lessig Method of Presentation

Books We Recommend

Six Minutes Copyright © 2007-2022 All Rights Reserved.

Read our permissions policy , privacy policy , or disclosure policy .

Comments? Questions? Contact us .

• EXPLORE Random Article

How to Give a Speech Without Preparation

Last Updated: May 29, 2023 Approved

This article was co-authored by Lynn Kirkham . Lynn Kirkham is a Professional Public Speaker and Founder of Yes You Can Speak, a San Francisco Bay Area-based public speaking educational business empowering thousands of professionals to take command of whatever stage they've been given - from job interviews, boardroom talks to TEDx and large conference platforms. Lynn was chosen as the official TEDx Berkeley speaker coach for the last four years and has worked with executives at Google, Facebook, Intuit, Genentech, Intel, VMware, and others. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. In this case, 88% of readers who voted found the article helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 63,376 times.

Public speaking is daunting for many people, and having little time to prepare just increases the pressure. If you're called on to give a speech at a wedding, funeral, or other similar situation, stick to pre-set ideas like personal anecdotes and quotations, and keep things brief. If you have to give a speech in a professional situation, follow a tried-and-true method for quickly organizing your thoughts to keep things to the point. Take a breath, stay confident, and you can deliver an effective speech on the spot.

Using an Anecdote

• At a wedding, you could tell a funny story about growing up with the bride or groom.
• At a funeral, you could tell a story about how kind or generous the deceased was, or about how they influenced you.

• For example, imagine you're giving a toast at Frank's 70th birthday. You could say something like: “They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Frank here's proving them wrong. Who else would have the courage to start running marathons in retirement?”

• For example, if you're toasting the groom at a wedding, stick to just two good stories about your friendship.
• If you see people in the audience do things like turn away, talk to each other, check their phones or watches, or fidget in their seats, you might be rambling on and losing their attention.
• If this happens just quickly cut to your main point and say “thank you” as a way to close.

• You can also look out in the audience and find a few friends or people who seem supportive, and focus on them.
• If you're nervous, you could also try the old standby of imagining everyone in the audience naked!
• Above all, just remind yourself that most people will naturally admire the courage of someone who shows the confidence to get up and speak in front of a crowd.

Creating a Quick Speech Structure

• If you don't have time to write even a few notes, just make a quick mental outline, telling yourself something like: “First I'll say how generous Jim is. I'll tell the story about the time he fixed my flat tire in the middle of the night, then the one about how he baked me a birthday cake when I was sick in bed with the flu.”

• A moving story
• A convincing fact or statistic
• An inspiring quotation

• Begin by saying that casual Fridays boost morale, lead to greater productivity, and will make your company seem up to date.
• Follow up by acknowledging that casual Fridays mean that employees will appear less professional at the end of the week, and that they may need guidance on what kind of casual clothing is acceptable.
• End with your position that since most client meetings happen early in the week, casual Fridays overall will be good for your company and not create a disruption.

• You could start off with something like: “I know we've all been thinking about casual Fridays, and there are a lot of opinions out there. Let's get the conversation going by airing some of those. Does anyone have any questions, or want to share their point of view?”
• You can also call on someone in particular, if you want or need to: “Frank, you've been with us the longest. Why don't you start?”

Using the PREP Method for a Topical Speech

• Begin by saying you think casual Fridays are good because they boost employee morale.

Expert Q&A

You Might Also Like

• ↑ Lynn Kirkham. Public Speaking Coach. Expert Interview. 20 November 2019.
• ↑ https://debate.uvm.edu/NFL/rostrumlib/impcox0998.pdf
• ↑ https://www.thoughtco.com/impromptu-speech-1857493
• ↑ http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/how-to-impromptu-speech/
• ↑ https://www.toastmasters.org/Resources/Video-Library/impromptu-speaking

About this article

Reader Success Stories

May 17, 2021

Did this article help you?

Masarath Fatima

Oct 8, 2017

Sep 26, 2017

• About wikiHow
• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Do Not Sell or Share My Info
• Not Selling Info

Most people have the following reactions when they have to give an unprepared speech- there’s fear, nervousness and anxiety, and sometimes with a mixture of excitement. There's different types of ; sometimes it can be a kind of ‘prepared for’ version of an unprepared/impromptu speech, wherein the speaker learns before hand that they will be required to do one. This type is often done in school competitions. They are prepared for because the speaker knows in advance that they are going to do it, but the topic will usually be a surprise. But sometimes you are just put on the spot – your name is called out at a function and you are requested to say a few words. The best way to prepare for an impromptu speech is to analyze the nature of the function you are attending and examine any possibilities of someone asking you to do something or say something. Always be prepared. If it is a close friend, relative’s or a work function, be prepared for any “Mr./Ms. X, would you please say a few words”. 1. Ask yourself: “if this situation does occur, how would I like to handle it?” That way you are exchanging worry for advanced planning, thinking and courage. 2. The best way to be ready for impromptu speeches or any public speech for that matter- is to invest in a good public speaking book or audio. They are a very good investment since most of us will be called out to speak unprepared at some stage in our lives. 3. Have a few opening lines, quotes or humor, up your sleeves, just in case. Better still, have a funny phrase about being put on the spot. 3 Ways to Structure a Speech the Professional Way Hrideep barot. Public Speaking , Speech Writing The Public Speaking sector has grown and soared. We all know what Public Speaking is and at some point in our school or work life have been faced with the challenge of presenting something or more popularly – talking about yourself or some other similar topics. Sometimes you get a chance to prepare sometimes you don’t. Regardless of that fact, what you speak leaves an impression. Let’s try to make sure that it is a good one! Structuring your speech is a way to consolidate information in a manner to make it more understandable and engaging. It is a great way to build up to important points and make your transitions more seamless and natural. How do we go about this? Public Speakers have different communication styles and even though every style has a unique approach and every speaker has their own process, we are going to try and explore some methods and tricks which can help you build and structure your speech in a more organised and systematic manner. Since Public Speaking has been integrated into our lives so firmly, I thought it best to focus on the two main umbrellas of Speeches – Prepared and Unprepared. No. This does not reflect the prepared of the speaker. Prepared Speech Have you ever been asked to speak at an assembly, give a keynote address or at the most basic level: seen a speaking competition? These types of speeches give you time to prepare and are usually on a topic which has educational or entertainment factors. Prepared speeches are well researched, rehearsed speeches. The speaker receives the topic / is intimated about the speech well in advance to make the content more concise and relevant to the audience. Prepared speakers have the luxury of working on their speaking skills and build them based on what their speech demands. Be it their tonality, body language, voice modulation and all the other things that work into creating and executing a great speech. If you are looking to build on your voice modulation and tonality, then look no further! We’ve written an expensive article just on that: 8 Essential Tips on Voice Modulation and Tonality. How to Structure a Prepared Speech 1. stick to the classic. What is the classic way? Let’s go back to school. Do you remember the time when you first learned to write an essay? Maybe this will jog your memory: Introduction Body Conclusion Yeah, I think that should about do it! 🙂 This method of structuring your speech is the most basic and direct way of structuring your speech. It lays a solid foundation but there is a lot more than three topics that need to be covered while structuring your speech so my advice would be to check out the other methods as well. Introduction An introduction holds about 10-15% (it is an estimate, I am a public speaker not a mathematician, give me a break) of your speech’s content and time. A solid introduction can make and break your speech. Now there are millions of ways you can begin your speech, lets look the ones which help you build a strong foundation. 1. Audience Engagement There is no surprise in the fact that you need to engage your audience. However, it isn’t really necessary to get them and keep them hooked from the very first word you utter because believe it or not, they will zone out. So how do you engage the audience? Simple. Understand their demographic. Find out what interests them, figure out a way to connect their interests to your speech. Pro Tip: Try not to create or imply a disconnect with your audience. Even if you are 50 and your audience is 13 or vice versa. It is best not the address the obvious. You may accidentally create a disconnect in your speech. For example: “Your generation was/is used to XYZ and (TOPIC) may not be of great importance to you but let me try to show you why it (the topic) is of significant importance.” Why should we not create a disconnect? To engage your audience you need to be able to connect with them, in other words: find common ground and by establishing a difference between the two parties doesn’t really work. Don’t forget the fact that you are the only active participant and a differentiation highlighted from your end may not work to your advantage. Understanding and analysing your audience can go a long way for you when preparing for or delivering your speech. Check out our video to figure out how to analyse your audience. 2. Answer the who and why. To complete your introduction the two main questions you need to answer are: Who are you and Why are you here? Who are you? The answer is pretty simple right? Not really. We need to find a way to make you sound qualified and yet not boastful all while keeping this section of your introduction to a sentence or two at the most. Remember, the Master of the Ceremony would have already introduced you. There is no need to state every achievement. Instead what we can do is find out your most relevant achievement / qualification and mention that in brief. Why are you here? As much as the narcissist in you and I wants to believe that this question expects an answer specific to the speaker, we are wrong. Speaking about a sliver of the topics you are going to touch in your speech is a great start to your introduction. Pro Tip: Following up with this after the previous question gives you a great chance to shift the focus from yourself and segue into the topic at hand. Here is the meat of your speech and it is the section your audience will be in contact with the most. Lets work on a sound way to go about getting the most out of it. 1. Research You have had the chance to work on and build your content the best you can and even though the procrastinator in you wants to watch one more episode. Lets get cracking! A well researched speech can do wonders for you! For starters, it can boost your credibility and make the audience actually invested in the content you are providing and another added benefit is that your confidence would be at its peak because you are sure of all the stats, all the data and information. Sounds really promising doesn’t it? Try it. The hours you put in hunched over books or starting at screens just to build the right form of content with everything fact checked will be worth it. 2. Organisation You have your data ready, how do you organise it? Check out the chart below: Personal Anecdote Topic Sub-topic – relevant to your area of expertise Current Trends / Career / Anything you found cool Your experiences Build to a general conversation By following the above chart you can build a great body which will cover all possible topics and sub-topics of your speech and will also give you the opportunity to hit multiple touch points. Pro Tip: Always hold back on a little information instead of spilling all the beans if you are having a Q&A session after or during your speech. It will help satiate the audience and you would still be able to get your point across with the same confidence and surety as you did in your speech. Remember, just because it is a different section of your speech doesn’t mean that the tips and ideas of the other sections do not apply. Conclusions are simple. Even though there is this unbelievable pressure to make a lasting impact, sometimes I believe, if you content is engaging enough, you don’t need the flare and pompous show of quotes, rhetorical questions, cliff hangers and other techniques. These techniques albeit extremely helpful and when used and combined aptly give out amazing results, lets focus on the main content of your conclusion: People usually say that your conclusion should summarise your whole speech, but how do you go about doing that? Do you list things down that you covered? Screen the outline of your speech? Please. Don’t. Here is an example of summarising and building to a close to help you get an idea of how to go about it: With the end of the world seeming like a very plausible occurrence, we need to do something for mankind’s survival, and do it sustainably. The windmills, the solar energy innovation, the plastic free lifestyle, they are all just small individual measures taken by small, tiny species on a small, tiny planet. It is time we face the music and realise that we aren’t killing nature but ourselves. Nature is dynamic. It can adapt and survive. We have become so self-centred that we think just because we can’t live, nothing can. Notice the various topics (windmill, solar energy, plastic free lifestyle) were mentioned and got together but the conclusion isn’t just that, it brings out the essence of the topic – climate change. The last line isn’t a quote but a simple observation which is sufficient to close a conversation but it still gives the audience something to think about, something to connect with while building their own opinions. If you are interested in checking out closing lines and quotes, honestly, there is nothing wrong in that. They are a tool just like others. It is up to you to figure out what suits you the best. Here is an extensively researched article by us on the same: 50 Speech Closing Lines (& How You Can Create Your Own) The Ultimate Guide. 2. Points and Lists Working on structuring your speech can be taxing and fun at the same time. Some people are a natural, some learn with experience and some find a little bit of research to go a long way. The Intro | Body | Conclusion method is the most popular one and a favourite among professionals. But after a few years of experience people tend to get used to writing speeches and stop segregating their speech. But then how do they write it and divide it so perfectly? Here is how: When using this method, you need to have your research and content ready and in place. Along with that study the demographic as well. The next step is to follow a systematic order. How do you find out the order? This section may sound tricky but is fairly easy. Introduction to the Main Theme. Introduction to your area of expertise (do not focus on you but what you work on). Current Trends and other sections of the topic that you think would help your audience. What is the future of the given topic? Go back to the main theme. While this is a rough outline of what you can work on, lets make it less vague by working on points for the example given before about climate change. Here is how the points might look: 1. Climate Change 2. Latest affect (major) of it on humans – Ozone Layer, Rashes, Asthma, Etc,. 3. What can we do about it? 4. Renewable Energy 5. Windmill – Benefits and usage 6. Solar Energy – Benefits, projects, innovation. 7. What can an individual do? 8. Plastic free lifestyle – what it is and how does it help? 9. Working on things and speaker’s point of view. Now that you have know the points you need to cover and speak about it becomes fairly easier to build your speech. The added benefit of this method is that you don’t really need to work on transitions because as and when you move from point to point you begin to find a way to connect the previous one to the next one. Please remember that just because there are 5 points listed here as the possible avenues you can take, it does not mean you limit yourself at 5 or force yourself to reach 5. Each topic, each speech, each speaker is different and you are the best judge for your speech’s preparation. Who knows when inspiration may come knocking. It is best to keep an open mind and door. 🙂 Unprepared Speech Have you been ever called up in class randomly to speak about a topic? Or at a new job to “introduce yourself”? Well what you just did there was give an unprepared speech. To make it more clear, it is known by multiple names: impromptu, improv, extempore, JAM (just a minute) and even as simple as on the spot speech. An unprepared speech is usually for a short duration (1-2 minutes) and is on an easy topic that doesn’t require much preparation or research. Topics could be personal like an introduction or they may be related to current and popular trends. Check out this article to get various impromptu speech ideas! How to Structure an Unprepared Speech You can follow a simple flow: For a better understanding, I have written this short speech to help you build your skills on impromptu speeches. The topic I have taken is: “What defines you?” What is a definition but something that limits you? It is strict, rigid and set in stone. If I define myself to be a person of life and joy, does that mean I don’t ever have low days? If I define myself to be hardworking, organised, focused, am I suddenly not allowed to relax, unwind, make mistakes and be human? I am life, I am colour, I am the gloomy rain and I am the storm that comes with it, I am many things but what I am not is a definition. PS. I had time to write this out and fit it perfectly to the 4 points given, remember that even with experience, many people don’t usually get this sound a structure. It takes a lot of practice and consistency to become an efficient speaker and no one expects the other to be one. It is okay to fumble and mess up, as long as you keep working towards your goal! Organising your thoughts In the moment there will be multiple things that will rush through your mind. Here is where your decisiveness comes into play. Pick something that you know your can build on and work from there. You may also be given some time to think about what you have to speak, use that to build on your topic and decide a direction. Once you have a train of thought all you need next is to work on your speaking skills which after all develops with practice and practice alone. Final Thoughts Structuring you speech the way the professionals do it is a great way to build and challenge yourself. A structure maybe be one element of a speech but if even one point is out of place it sticks out like a sore thumb. At the end, all you need to do is practice because I can’t claim anything about other things but in Public Speaking, practice is what makes perfect. Enroll in our transformative 1:1 Coaching Program Schedule a call with our expert communication coach to know if this program would be the right fit for you Crisis Leadership 101: Cultivating Empathy While Exercising Authority  Lost Voice? Here’s How to Recover Sore Throat and Speak Again 7 Keys to Emcee Like a Pro: Unlock Your Hosting Potential [email protected] +91 98203 57888 Get our latest tips and tricks in your inbox always Copyright © 2023 Frantically Speaking All rights reserved Unprepared Speech Topics for Grade 10 Students Public speaking is a valuable skill that plays a crucial role in personal and professional development. As students progress through their academic journey, the opportunity to engage in public speaking becomes more frequent, challenging them to convey their thoughts, ideas, and opinions effectively to an audience. One way to foster this skill is through unprepared speech topics. These impromptu speeches encourage students to think on their feet, enhance their communication abilities, and build self-confidence. In this article, we will delve into the significance of unprepared speech topics for grade 10 students and provide insights into how educators and parents can support the development of this essential skill. The Importance of Unprepared Speech Topics Selecting unprepared speech topics, supporting students in developing impromptu speaking skills, what is the effect of automation on the economy in recent decades, mastering diary entry writing for grade 12 students, a deep dive into the philosophy of education, civic education ambassadors: nurturing informed and engaged communities, caliber education: pioneering excellence in personalized learning and innovation, leave a reply cancel reply. Mindset Network Unprepared Speeches English First Additional Language LS - Formal Prepared Speeches Planning speeches LS - Listening for Information LSC - Statements and Sentence Structure WP - Writing Informative Paragraphs LS - Listening for Opinion LSC - Expressing Emotions RV - Literary Texts 1 and 2 WP - Writing Imaginative Paragraphs LS - Giving Opinions WP - Writing Letters and Dialogues LS - Reading Comprehension LSC - Direct and Indirect Speech RV - Literary Texts 3 and 4 WP - Writing Narrative Essays LS - Listening to Song Words and Story Telling LSC - Revision of Verbs RV - Reading Graphs, Newspapers and Magazines WP - Writing Reviews Term 01 General Focus on Process Writing LS - Explaining Visual Texts LSC - Conjunctions WP - Writing Explanations LS - Formal Researched Speech LSC - Concord in Context RV - Literary Texts 5 and 6 RV - Humorous Texts WP - Personal Recounts LSC - Figurative Language and Rhetorical Devices RV - Reading for Critical Awareness WP - Creating Adverts and Recommending Books Term 02 General Focus on Process Writing LSC - Logical Connectors and Conjunctions RV - Simple Arguments WP - Writing Arguments and Business Letters LS - Introducing Formal Debates LSC - Paragraph Structures RV - Literary Texts 8 and 9 RV - Literary Texts 10 and 11 WP - Writing and Justifying Opinions LSC - Meta Language RV - Literary Text 12 Term 03 General Focus on Process Writing RV - Critical Language Awareness WP - Writing a Letter to the Press LS - Note Taking RV - Literary Texts 13 and 14 WP - Writing Notes into Full Sentences LS - Listening for Appreciation LSC - Polite Forms and Stock Phrases of Thanks WP - Writing Letters of Appreciation LS - Informal Discussions LSC - Dictionary Work Term 04 General Focus on Process Writing RV - Literary Text 1 LS - Unprepared Public Reading RV - Literary Text 2 LS - Listening for Summaries LSC - Nouns RV - Summarising Informative Texts WP - Writing Point Form Summaries LS - Prepared Public Reading WP - Writing Narrative Texts LS - Listening to Different Texts WP - Writing and Interview or Dialogue Term 01 General focus on Process Writing LSC - Preopositions RV - Directions from a Literary Text WP - Writing Factual Descriptions LSC - Paragraphs Structures RV - Reading Informative Texts WP - Writing Agendas and Taking Notes LS - Debating and Listening for Position WP - Creating an Advert LS - Panel Discussions and Interviews RV - Reading for Summary WP - Writing Arguments LS - Discussing Issues Related to a Literary Text LSC - Verb Tenses RV - Literary Texts 7 and 8 WP - Writing Descriptive, Narrative and Reflective Texts LS - Formal Prepared Speech LSC - Formats related to Writing RV - Mass Media Shorter Texts WP - Writing a Notice or Announcement LSC - Images, Symbols and Literacl and Figurative Meanings LS - Listening for Pleasure RV- Literary Text 9 WP - Writing Shorter Texts in Response LSC - Passive and Active Voice LS - Critical Listening of Recorded Text RV - Reading for Critocal Language Awareness LSC - Verbs and Chronological Order LS - Listening for Sequence WP - Rewriting to Remove Prejudice LSC - Polite forms and Stock Phrases of Thanks RV - Literary Text 14 Exam Preparation LSC - Formal Structures LS - Discussing Texts with Purpose and Structure RV - Skimming and Scanning WP - Summary Notes, Letters to the Press and Press Notices LSC - Passive Voice and Indirect Speech LS - Listening for Research RV - Literary Texts 2 and 3 RV - Intensive Reading LSC - Verb Tenses and Concord LS - Listening for Comprehension LSC - Paragraph Structure in Discursive Writing LS - Themes and Messages in Visual Texts WP - Changing Visual Text into other forms RV - Reading Multimodal Texts WP - Writing Emails and Webpages LSC - Meta-Language in Multimodal Texts LS - Listening to a Job Interview LSC - Passive Voice RV - Reading and Advert WP - Writing Covering Letters and CVs WP - Writing Summaries LSC - Emotive Writing LS - Formal Speech on Visual Media RV - Viewing and Reviewing Films WP - Writing Pursuasive Letters RV - Literary Text 10 LSC - Logical Connectors and Conjunctions and Generalisations LS - Listening to Media for Bias LSC - Pronouns RV - Reading for Critical Language Awareness WP - Writing Formal Letters of Apology LSC - Formal Style Elements LS - Setwork Discussion WP - Writing an Essay LSC - Style Elements Related to Written Work LS - Discussions for Exam Preparation Disabled Feature This functionality is only active if you sign-in with your Google account. Related Resources Connect with social media Sign in with your email address. Create new account Request new password How to Write an Impromptu Speech Jordyn mcmahon. Impromptu speeches are some of the hardest to prepare and give, particularly since you generally have little or no time to write a speech or even an outline. Teachers often create assignments that prompt students to speak candidly on a topic in the interest of instructing them to think on their feet. While it's rare that you have time to write an entire impromptu speech, there are tips for outlining and delivering the best speech possible. Explore this article Delivering a Great Impromptu Speech Think carefully about the topic Outline the topic Incorporate an intriguing hook Avoid hackneyed phrases Finish as strongly as you started things needed Index cards or paper (if applicable) 1 Delivering a Great Impromptu Speech 2 think carefully about the topic. Think carefully about the topic you've been given for your impromptu speech, focusing on what you know about it. If you are allowed to choose your topic, select one that you're fairly familiar with and can speak freely about. 3 Outline the topic Outline the topic if you have a chance on index cards or a piece of paper. You won't have the opportunity to write an entire speech, so jot down key points. You must prepare quickly, but be calm and take pride in the pieces of information you know. This will give you confidence in your speech delivery. It's a generally good idea to have three key points regarding the topic. 4 Incorporate an intriguing hook Incorporate an intriguing hook to get listeners interested right off the bat. The hook is one of the most important parts of the speech. Additionally, add humor or brief anecdotes to keep the audience listening, and save your most important point until last to end with a bang. 5 Avoid hackneyed phrases Avoid hackneyed phrases such as "The topic I am going to speak about is..." or "I really think that..." These types of statements immediately make the audience feel that it's listening to a novice speaker. Instead, strongly assert facts and opinions. If you can think off the bat of an expert who shares your point of view, cite that person in your speech. 6 Finish as strongly as you started Finish as strongly as you started. Just as your first lines are intended to hook the audience, your final lines are intended to make your message resonate in their heads. About the Author Jordynn McMahon specializes in travel, technology and health articles. She currently works as a marketing specialist in the software industry. McMahon has a B.A. in English from UC Santa Barbara, as well as an M.A. in English literature and composition from San Jose State University. Related Articles How to Give a Good 8th-Grade Speech How to Deliver a Beautiful Eulogy for a Loved One How Would I Write an Introduction for a Speech for... How to Give Good Speech Presentations in College How to Write an Argumentative Speech How to create a Toastmasters speech in 30 minutes How to Write an Eagle Scout Speech How to Do a Good English Oral Presentation How to Make a Toast to Remember the Dead How to Write a Demonstration Speech Outline What Is an Analytical Speech? How to Pass a Speech Class How to Give a Good Lecture How to Write a Baccalaureate Speech How to Make an Informative Speech Longer How to Write a Good Introduction to a Speech How to Close a Debate Speech How to Write a Summary of a Speech How to Write a Speech Critique Paper How to Introduce a Famous Person Regardless of how old we are, we never stop learning. Classroom is the educational resource for people of all ages. Whether you’re studying times tables or applying to college, Classroom has the answers. Accessibility Terms of Use Privacy Policy Copyright Policy Manage Preferences © 2020 Leaf Group Ltd. / Leaf Group Media, All Rights Reserved. Based on the Word Net lexical database for the English Language. See disclaimer . Things you buy through our links may earn Vox Media a commission. I Know What the Apple Vision Pro Is For The headset is already changing disabled users’ lives. In her childhood bedroom, Maxine Collard had a PC connected to a cathode-ray tube monitor so massive it bowed her desk into a smile that grew deeper every year. Collard has oculocutaneous albinism, which means that her hair is naturally bleach white, her complexion maximally fair, and she has uncorrectably low visual acuity with limited depth perception. In order to see the screen, she had to crane her neck until her face was two inches from the monitor. When Collard was in middle school, her mother bought an iMac for the family. Collard spent hours messing around on the new machine, her nose pressed almost to the glass. One day, deep in the computer’s accessibility settings, she discovered that if she held down the control key while spinning the mouse’s scroll wheel, she could instantaneously zoom the entire screen to whatever magnification level she wanted. There was a rudimentary magnifier app on her Windows computer, but she found the interface difficult to use, and the low-res image on the zoomed-in PC screen, she said, was pixelated, hard to read, “disgusting.” Her experience on the iMac, which allowed her to magnify the entire screen into a much clearer image, came as a revelation. Earlier this year, Collard had a similar aha moment when she tried the Apple Vision Pro for the first time. Some critics of the AVP were skeptical of a device that pressed two high-resolution micro-OLED screens within millimeters of one’s eyes for hours at a time. But to Collard, the ability to (as she put it) “strap an iPad to my face” was instantly appealing. Collard is now in her sixth year of a combined Ph.D.-M.D. neuroscience degree at UC San Francisco. When I visited her at her lab in late May, she showed me her workspace: a standing cubicle in a small hive of carrels she shared with her colleagues, a pair of 27-inch monitors on her desk. Zooming her entire screen has its liabilities in a social setting like this: One day she was reading her DMs on Slack, magnified so much that the words were two inches tall. A co-worker sent her a spicy message, something she would have preferred to keep private, or at least in 11-point type, but instead it was broadcast for all her colleagues to see. After she got an AVP, she had unprecedented control over her visual environment. She took her lab’s Slack channels and enlarged them to the size of a refrigerator, and set them off to her right. Then she opened her code editor and set it in front of her — inches from her eyes, like usual, but five times the size of her external monitors, and her posture was ramrod straight — no more craning. Finally, she opened a browser window, stretched it to the size of a door frame, and loaded the documentation for a tricky data-analysis function she could never remember, and set it off to her left. Collard has strabismus — her eyes don’t align the way typical eyes do — which would confuse most eye-tracking algorithms, but in the AVP’s accessibility menu, she turned on “single-eye tracking,” so the device wouldn’t get confused by eyes that point in different directions. The device can lessen the effects of her nystagmus — involuntary eye “wiggles” that have confounded eye-tracking devices she’s used in the past. The AVP has a range of accessibility features for other disabilities as well: Blind users can use VoiceOver, a screen reader that will speak text, using a custom set of hand gestures to navigate through apps. People with mobility disabilities can make selections through a variety of alternative methods: with their voice, or using a switch or joystick (easier for some users with motor disabilities), or with a feature called Dwell Control, which allows a user to make a selection simply by “dwelling” their gaze on an item . With sound actions, a user can make a selection with a custom noise (like a cluck or a pop ). In lieu of eye gaze, the pointer can be controlled with one’s head, wrist, or finger, and most of the accessibility features users are familiar with from other Apple products — reduced motion, color filters for color-blindness, and hearing-device support — are included. Because of her reliance on large monitors, Collard could never comfortably join her colleagues to debug code in a coffee shop or in the shared kitchen one level down from their sixth-floor lab. That’s all changed with the AVP. “As a disabled person,” she wrote in a blog post, “the ability to finally sit back with my feet up on a bench out in the sun while working on my laptop — or more accurately, while working on a 30-foot-wide 4K screen floating in exactly the perfect ergonomic position, one that I can reposition anywhere I want it to be in any moment — is the answer to decades of prayers to the accessibility gods.” Mission Bay was warm and breezy in late May, and Collard led me down to Koret Quad, where she now loved to sit and work. Inside her headset, a code editor the size of a garden shed floated above the grass. As she worked, she saw the window begin to shimmer and a shadowy figure troubled the lines of code. Then a man, smiling and looking right at her, strode through the window of her workspace and stopped. This sort of thing happens to Collard whenever she takes her AVP out in public — she has caught numerous people taking surreptitious selfies with her in the frame. “Hi there,” she said preemptively to the smiling man, who was clearly drawn by the novelty of seeing an Apple Vision Pro en plein air. He looked at Collard and said, in a lightly mocking tone, “How’s that working out for you?” Collard has struggled with her identity as a disabled person, resisting alien-seeming assistive tools like the monocular lenses that low-vision specialists tried to get her to use in school. But she sees the AVP as a liberatory device, and no arch tech skeptic on the quad could dampen that feeling. She fixed his gaze with her digital SeeThrough avatar eyes and answered him with emphatic cheer: “ Really great, in fact!” The initial response to the Apple Vision Pro has been mixed. There are widespread complaints about the headset’s weight and battery life and its price — $3,500 for the lowest-end model. Sales have reportedly been sluggish. Kevin Roose , a technology columnist for the New York Times , recently wrote that he “couldn’t really figure out what it was for.” For many disabled users, however, the answer is clear: The Vision Pro is made for them. About ten years ago, Steve Coulson, a creative director in New York, began losing his hearing, and today he has profound hearing loss. This made his work — constant in-person meetings, often in noisy environments — increasingly difficult. Like many people with disabilities, Coulson found the pandemic isolating, but he embraced certain elements of remote access: He had more control over the audio in virtual meetings, not to mention real-time captions and auto-generated transcripts. Still, he missed the easy, dynamic exchanges of his pre-pandemic brainstorms, and his hearing loss made it difficult to reproduce that feeling in person, even with hearing aids. Now, meeting with his business partner in Spatial FaceTime on Vision Pro, he says, the feeling he’d lost has been restored. “It feels like I’m in a room again,” he said. “We can just sit together in a meeting, and I can hear. ” This technology, Coulson said, “is life-changing in a way that a hearing person might not understand.” Michael Doise, who works as an accessibility specialist and app developer in Austin, has optic-nerve hypoplasia — his optic nerves didn’t fully develop when he was born. When he’s with his family, he rarely sees their facial expressions, since it would be awkward to hold a portable magnifier up to their faces while they hang out. Even on his computer, he has trouble magnifying their images efficiently. But on a group video call, wearing his AVP, “I could actually see their facial expressions,” he said. “It’s a remarkable feat of engineering for someone who’s blind. Are they happy? Smiling? Knowing what all that looks like is huge for me.” Neurodiverse users have also found value in the AVP. “I generally feel a lot better after having worn it for a while,” a user with autism and ADHD told me. “It’s like a reset for the brain.” When I chatted with them, they’d just drained their AVP’s battery by spacing out in the immersive lunar environment. “My brain just is hyperfocused on whatever stimulus comes in, so whatever I can do to manually cut those stimuli off helps me tremendously,” they said. “The Vision Pro is noise-canceling headphones for my eyes.” Ryan Hudson-Peralta, who was born with no hands and short legs he’s unable to walk on, remembers his first computer, in middle school. He would go from class to class with a bulky ’90s-era Windows laptop on his wheelchair, typing notes and using rudimentary dictation software to complete his assignments. But he had to contort himself just to log in: “I was literally putting my lip on the control button, using my nose or arm to tap the other button,” he said. Then someone showed him an Apple computer, which had a function called Sticky Keys, allowing him to temporarily lock multiple keys on the keyboard, freeing him from gymnastic approaches to chorded commands. Today, Hudson-Peralta drives his adaptive SUV to his job in downtown Detroit, putting in long hours as a principal designer at Rocket Mortgage, where he designs the company’s apps and websites using a traditional mouse and keyboard and his Mac’s accessibility features. One morning this spring, though, his back flared with pain. “I was having trouble getting around that day,” he said, so he took the day off and did work for his consulting agency, Equal Accessibility, from bed, wearing the Vision Pro, surrounded by screens he controlled with his eyes and a series of custom mouth-sounds that triggered selections. “As I get older, and this happens more often for me,” he said, “I envision myself working virtually with the AVP even more.” For now, though, he mainly uses the AVP for entertainment, watching immersive videos on the headset, where he takes the perspective of a player running across a soccer field, or standing in a recording booth next to Alicia Keys. “Having a disability, I never ran in my life,” Hudson-Peralta told me. “I was sitting on the floor when I watched the Alicia Keys video, and I really felt like I was standing.” He knew it was an illusion, but the immersive tech gave the illusion a visceral veracity. I asked him what he thought of the disabled critique of Avatar, which seemed to suggest that its paralyzed protagonist’s life was only worth living when he was liberated from his wheelchair. He had no patience for this argument. “The other characters who could walk, they were jumping into avatar suits, too,” he said. The impulse toward escapism is universal. The same week I visited Maxine Collard at her lab at UCSF, I went to Cupertino to meet some of the disabled software engineers who’d helped build the accessibility features on the Apple Vision Pro. I was ushered inside Apple Park by a Deaf member of the company’s accessibility PR team who spoke to me through an ASL interpreter. Seeing my white cane, he explained that he was speaking ASL and that the voice I heard wasn’t his. (Though I’m legally blind, I have enough residual vision that I’d clocked the interpreter myself; still, I appreciated the gesture.) Strolling along the curved-glass perimeter of Apple’s massive ring-shaped corporate headquarters felt like walking on a treadmill. We ambled along for several minutes, the curved-glass wall unchanging on our left, the trees rolling languidly past on our right. I was there the week of Global Accessibility Awareness Day, which Apple was observing, in part, by holding a series of internal-facing events to raise awareness among its 150,000 employees about their work in the field. It wasn’t inevitable that Apple would evolve to be so inclusive. Gregg Vanderheiden, an early accessibility consultant at the company, recalled a conversation he had with an engineer in the mid-’80s. The engineer confessed to Vanderheiden that he was worried he’d be fired for working on Sticky Keys. Vanderheiden asked why. “Because Sticky Keys is priority seven,” he replied, “and we’re under strict orders to focus on priorities one through three.” Today, the company seems truly committed to accessibility and not just for the goodwill it might generate. After all, one in four Americans have a disability — a market any corporation would be foolish to ignore. It required no great leap for Apple to serve this population: All technology, in the most basic sense, is prosthetic. We reached the conference center, where someone handed me an Apple Accessibility Passport, a single folded page with six colorful icons printed in a raised, textured material so they were tactilely discernible (and labeled in braille), representing the five main categories of Apple’s accessibility offerings: vision, mobility, speech, hearing, and “cognitive” — plus, perhaps a bit hopefully, a category devoted exclusively to Apple Vision Pro, which was represented on the passport by a raised-line silhouette of the goggles. The room was set up like a science fair with stations representing each category. After visiting each of the six stations, employees received a tactile bump-dot sticker to place on their passports. One of my minders, another member of the accessibility PR team, cheerfully insisted on applying my tactile bump-sticker every time I visited a booth. I smiled and nodded through our first stop at the Vision station as an Apple employee dutifully showed me how to use the magnifier app that I’d used at the airport that morning to read what was for me the illegibly distant menu at an airport café. Another worker showed me an iPad set to Assistive Access mode for users with cognitive disabilities. The normally dense screen of apps was reduced to five huge buttons, and each of these apps had its complex functions hidden or renamed. I saw a demonstration of how, using Apple Home and a smart bulb, d/Deaf or hard-of-hearing users can have their lamp change color when the doorbell rings or alert them visually or haptically to the sound of a baby crying or a fire alarm. Making my way around the stations, it struck me how many of these features were also available as specialty assistive devices. But these devices tend to be overpriced and undersupported, and their producers go out of business or stop supporting products with alarming frequency. It would cost me about as much as an iPhone to buy a portable video magnifier with all the features of Apple’s built-in magnifier app, and whatever advantages I’d find in a device built explicitly for a person with low vision I’d lose in my need to carry an extra gadget around. A speciality device would also inevitably have inferior construction, not to mention the weirdness of pulling out an unfamiliar device in public, as opposed to the same little brick everyone else at the airport is waving around. The AVP isn’t as familiar as the iPhone, but, as I experienced with Collard, in public people are more likely to ask for a review than an explanation. Under the hood, however, it’s as specialized as any bespoke piece of disability tech. At the AVP booth, I met Dan Golden, a software engineer with low vision who works on accessibility at Apple across platforms. Golden told me that during the development process, he had trouble using eye-tracking. One of his fellow engineers was working on pointer control — a way of turning off eye-tracking on AVP and making selections by pointing one’s head. They shared this incomplete feature with Golden, who immediately began using it in his own testing of the device, in turn giving his colleague feedback to refine it. As Golden spoke, I was struck by his resemblance to Collard. His story echoed hers in many ways, down to the epiphanic childhood discovery of the iMac’s full-screen zoom shortcut, which a teacher showed him when he couldn’t follow the flying letters on a learn-to-type program. After that, he begged his parents for a Mac, and has been “an Apple person” ever since. There is an adage in disability-rights circles, “Nothing about us without us,” which suggests that the only way equity and inclusivity for disabled people — which is another way of saying real accessibility — will be realized is if people with disabilities are a part of the design process. Here, I felt with sudden force, was a stark instance of this ethos in action: a low-vision software engineer with strabismus who had helped to design and test the Apple Vision Pro, and on the other end of that equation was Maxine Collard, with a similar suite of disabilities, who could barely contain her enthusiasm at this tool that allowed her to do her work with a freedom and ease she’d never imagined for herself. This epiphany had, of course, been orchestrated for me by Apple, with its accessibility PR team guiding me through the experience room, stamping my passport, then introducing me to Golden, the visually impaired engineer. But both things could be true: This was well-orchestrated PR, but it was also a real part of Apple’s corporate culture. Nearly every blind person I knew had an iPhone because it provided unparalleled ease of access to information compared with any other option on the market. Online, disabled users still grumbled constantly — updates frequently break beloved features and often take too long to fix. Many blind people have wondered with annoyance why, for instance, a $3 trillion company can’t get the screen-reader on its desktop and laptop computers working half as well as it does on its phones. But these are largely the gripes of devoted consumers. The AVP is still a first-generation product, and there are bugs. Usman Haque, a Phoenix-based data-science manager at a large insurance company, also goes by @TwoFZeroT on social media — a.k.a. Two Fingers, Zero Toes. He’s a below-elbow, below-knee bilateral congenital amputee. Haque bought an AVP eager to test-drive its accessibility features. As soon as he turned it on, he said, “I was floored. I just spent $3,500, and I’m not giving it back. This is amazing.” That first impression, however, soon soured. The AVP calibration process requires its users to hold up their hands so it can recognize and begin tracking them for the pinching gestures that allow one to select items. But the AVP didn’t recognize Haque’s atypical hands, so he had his daughter stand behind him and pinch at the appropriate times to let him turn on Dwell Control. This worked well for a while, but often when Haque would wake the device after a break, Dwell Control would be deactivated and he’d have to go through a frustrating series of troubleshooting moves to turn it back on, sometimes needing assistance from his family. “I apologize for using this term,” he said, “but it felt crippling .” The device had offered Haque a thrilling sense of freedom, where he could control a vast, dazzling digital ecosystem with just his eyes — but then that freedom was suddenly yanked away. This was enough to douse his feelings of amazement. “It’s not ready for me yet,” he said. “I gave it back.” For Ryan Hudson-Peralta, the designer at Rocket Mortgage, his problems started with unboxing the AVP: he found that he couldn’t independently press the digital crown, which is required to set up the device. To generate his “Persona” — the uncanny digital avatar that the AVP shows to FaceTime callers when a user is wearing it — you hold it out in front of you, at arms’ length, so it can capture your likeness. But because Hudson-Peralta needed his son to hold it up for him, the angle was off, and as a result his Persona looks even stranger than most users’ — it erased his neck. Others are waiting for upgrades. Collard submitted a feature request to open up the AVP’s zoom feature to the pass-through cameras — at the moment, users can only magnify digital objects generated by the AVP and not their surroundings — like the departures monitor at an airport, for instance, or the text on a prescription-medication label. So far, Apple hasn’t changed the feature. At Apple Park, I walked with Dan Golden, the low-vision software engineer, into a conference room where Jordyn Castor was waiting for us on a FaceTime call from Colorado. Like Golden, Castor works on vision accessibility, doing quality-assurance testing. Unlike Golden, she’s completely blind and uses VoiceOver, the screen-reader that’s built into all of Apple’s operating systems, including on her Vision Pro headset. Castor told me that accessibility is a core value at Apple, a human right.  She described the exhilaration she felt using VoiceOver on the Vision Pro to demo a game that allowed her to play a virtual hand pan drum. She had the same wonder in her voice that sighted users express when the butterfly lands on their fingers in the device’s flagship demo, Encounter Dinosaurs. “I was playing the drums with my hands like I’m playing the drums on the table in front of me!” Castor said. “It was unlike anything I’ve experienced in the accessibility realm.” It’s easy to look at accessibility as a binary — a device either has screen-reader functionality or it doesn’t; captions are either available or they’re not. But digital accessibility exists on a spectrum, and what works for some users won’t work for others. Castor is the only blind person I’ve been able to find who uses the Vision Pro’s screen reader reliably. Most low-vision users — including myself — who use VoiceOver on our phones or computers find it too chaotic and unwieldy on the Vision Pro. Watching Collard use her AVP, I was struck by her expertise — she drew on decades of IT troubleshooting and a bone-deep familiarity with the Apple ecosystem that she leveraged to surmount numerous small obstacles that arose as she demoed her workflow for me. The first time I wore an AVP, I was astonished by how intuitive it was to use — within a minute or two, I was opening and closing and resizing windows, dialing down my surroundings and turning up a Joshua Tree landscape. A college student I met on InSpaze, a spatial chatroom where AVP users hang out, told me that the first time he let his older brother, who has Down syndrome, use his AVP, his brother independently played video games on it for two hours. But this native intuitiveness can fall away the further a disabled person might stray from the typical, mainstream user. I don’t doubt that Castor is able to fluidly use her AVP entirely with audible feedback, but she’s also a lifelong screen-reader user with a B.S. in computer science, not to mention a full-time engineer at Apple. Users with less expertise can struggle to figure it out. It’s also worth noting that within the chronically underemployed and impoverished disabled population, these users represent a rarefied subset who can drop a few thousand dollars — often with professional interest — on this class of first-gen tech toy. Still, my brief experience with the AVP allowed me to imagine a future version where, for instance, the price comes down, Apple opens up the front-facing cameras to developers, and what is already a powerful low-vision device could become the ultimate tool for blind and low-vision people. When I play the complicated tabletop games my son adores, and press a game’s card to my nose to read it, I often find myself wishing I could tap on the blocks of indecipherable text the way I can with a paragraph of text on my iPhone and hear it read aloud. It’s easy to imagine a non-distant future where I could wear a fourth-gen AVP, leveraging whatever comes after GPT4o, and tap one of the game cards with my finger, and hear a readout of the text printed there, along with a description of whatever illustration is on the card, too. If I preferred to use my residual vision, I might casually use two fingers to zoom in on the card (or my son’s face) the way you’d enlarge a photo on your iPhone. Accessibility operates, to use the language of computing, in a stack. In the example above, the game is only accessible if the AI app that’s describing my video feed can be used by a blind person. And as a blind user, I can only access that app if the operating system it’s running on is built with a disabled user in mind. If any of these links in the chain fail, then the whole system crashes. In May, when Sonos, the smart-speaker company, updated its app, its screen-reader accessibility regressed significantly, making the app — which one needs to control the company’s speakers — unusable for its blind users, threatening to turn thousands of dollars’ worth of high-end audio gear into expensive, silent sculptures. Everyone relies on fallible technologies, but disabled users are in an especially precarious position, and this experience of a smoothly functioning stack suddenly imploding with a developer’s capricious update happens constantly, including from companies that have demonstrated a commitment to accessibility in the past. (Sonos has since pledged to make accessibility improvements by mid-June.) In April, an analyst with sources from inside Apple’s supply chain reported that Apple had slashed AVP shipment projections for 2024 after “demand in the U.S. market [had] fallen sharply beyond expectations.” If it doesn’t find a market, and Apple discontinues the AVP, then many disabled users will see their accessibility stacks implode. Maxine Collard’s bedroom in San Francisco is dominated by the double-bass she played in orchestras growing up. “It’s an albino,” she said with a grin, pointing out the unusual blond-wood design, “just like me.” In high school, she tried a tragicomically long list of adaptations to read her music while simultaneously maintaining the proper posture the double-bass requires — she couldn’t lean her face into the music stand the way she could with her computer screen. In the end, she just memorized an astonishing amount of Brahms. Now, wearing her AVP, she can stretch her sheet music to the size of the wall and years of orchestral struggle are erased with a flick of her wrist. I asked about a glowing piece of tech sitting on a table next to the bass. Perched next to a record player, it looked like a device from a 1950s electronics lab but with contemporary manufacturing. “Oh, that’s a big tube amp,” she told me. “With turntables, the whole argument that somehow they sound better is, like, quantitatively not true,” she said. “Vinyl’s not going to do a better job of reproducing audio than digital is. There’s good math that proves it.” She gazed at the amp through the black-mirrored surface of her AVP. “What is true,” she said, “is that the particular way in which it is worse — it’s better. The distortions this amp gives to the sound, they’re actually just way more pleasant-sounding, if you’re a human.” This idea illuminates an important aspect of accessibility: There is a quantitative way of looking at disability, where without hands, or working eyes, you’re mathematically lower on the human number line (priority seven, rather than two or three, in the logic of software development). It seems like common sense that using a keyboard with Sticky Keys, or reading email with a screen reader, or browsing the web with a joystick, should be a second-class experience. But when the tools work, and the signal comes through clearly, whatever minor distortions exist can feel as warm and invisible as surface noise on a vinyl record. At the end of my visit to Apple Park, I sat in the ring building’s central garden with Sarah Herrlinger, who’s advocated for people with disabilities within the company for more than 20 years. When she told me that Apple aims to re-create “surprise and delight” for all its users, including those with disabilities, I brushed the comment aside as more Jobsian marketing copy. But the next day, in Collard’s apartment, watching her demonstrate how she used to play video games (knees pressed against her TV console, nose almost to the 60-inch screen) and how she does now (lying on her bed playing Metroid Prime on a screen the size of her ceiling), I saw her point. The Vision Pro wasn’t giving Collard superpowers, or correcting her vision, or erasing her disability. It just gave her access to the same experience — of efficiency, competence, and pleasure — that most mainstream users accept as a given. Correction: This story has been updated to more accurately describe Dan Golden.  More on apple vision pro Apple’s Vision Pro Isn’t for Everyone — But It’s Still a Home Run No-Fun Authorities Warn Against Driving With Apple Headset Apple Vision Pro Owners Are Struggling to Figure Out What They Just Bought apple vision pro silicon valley Most Viewed Stories The Tupac Cop The Supreme Court’s Make-or-Break Decision on Trump Who’s the Trump VP Pick? Latest Odds for Every Shortlist Candidate. ‘Horrible City!’: Why Trump Trashed RNC Site Milwaukee Sixteen Kids and a Hit Man For a Billionaire, Trump Flies a Crappy Plane Editor’s Picks Most Popular The Tupac Cop By Greg Donahue The Supreme Court’s Make-or-Break Decision on Trump By Elie Honig Who’s the Trump VP Pick? Latest Odds for Every Shortlist Candidate. By Margaret Hartmann I Know What the Apple Vision Pro Is For By Andrew Leland ‘Horrible City!’: Why Trump Trashed RNC Site Milwaukee By Margaret Hartmann Sixteen Kids and a Hit Man By James D. Walsh For a Billionaire, Trump Flies a Crappy Plane By Jeff Wise What is your email? This email will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us. Sign In To Continue Reading Create your free account. Password must be at least 8 characters and contain: Lower case letters (a-z) Upper case letters (A-Z) Numbers (0-9) Special Characters (!@#$%^&*) As part of your account, you’ll receive occasional updates and offers from New York , which you can opt out of anytime. Share full article Advertisement What Modi’s Dwindling Support Says About Democracy Worldwide Lydia polgreen on why indian voters asked for change.. This transcript was created using speech recognition software. While it has been reviewed by human transcribers, it may contain errors. Please review the episode audio before quoting from this transcript and email [email protected] with any questions. My name is Lydia Polgreen, and I’m an opinion columnist for “The New York Times.” I was a correspondent for “The New York Times” based in India. And I have continued to travel to India, keep up with friends there, and follow the news over the past decade. [MUSIC PLAYING] Last week, India announced the results of its parliamentary elections. And going into the election, as someone who’s been following India for quite some time, I had been expecting, and many other people who follow India had been expecting, that Narendra Modi, who’s been the prime minister of India for the past 10 years, and his polling has always been very strong as an individual, we had all been expecting that he was just going to kind of cakewalk into a third term as prime minister. And he was feeling so confident that he and his party had actually asked the electorate to not just re-elect him, but to re-elect him with a huge supermajority. None of that happened. And I think this just came as a tremendous surprise to a lot of people. In fact, the party lost support, and they lost support to such an extent that Narendra Modi will not be able to form a government and be prime minister, just on his own, with his party. They’re going to have to find coalition partners. There’s very little doubt that he’s going to be able to do that. But he has really, really experienced a sharp rebuke. And I think it’s really a chastening sign for his brand of politics in India. This is a big year for democracy. There are dozens and dozens of elections happening all around the world. These elections are coming at a time when there’s a strong feeling that authoritarianism has really been on the march. Organizations like Freedom House, which kind of monitor the strength of democracy globally, this is the 18th year that they have measured freedom as being in decline in countries across the globe. And India has actually been a really big part of that. India is a country where Narendra Modi and his party have enacted a bunch of policies that have limited freedom of the press, that have increased religious tensions, and jailing political opponents and other types of actions that have really kind of constrained the space of democracy in India. So I think a lot of people were looking to this election in India to see which way is the wind blowing. Are voters going to ask for more of the same, or are they going to want change? And there was clearly a decisive vote for change. They sent a message that they wanted a very clear check on his power in government at this time. It’s really important to remember Modi has really built his appeal on this idea of a kind of strong, muscular, Hindu-centric India. And India is a very diverse country. There are lots of different religious groups. There are lots of different linguistic groups. But Hindus are definitely the majority. And a lot of his appeal has been built on top of this idea that Hindus should rule India and should be in charge, and that restoring a kind of muscular, powerful, forward-leaning, almost ethnic nationalist posture for India was going to be a formula for success in the country. And I think that what happened in this election is that voters, after 10 years, said, OK, what else? What else are you going to give us? We understand that you’ve delivered economic growth, but that economic growth is spread incredibly unequally. That growth is really strongly skewed to the very, very richest of Indians. You have huge masses of people in rural India, which is where the majority of Indians still live, where they are just not feeling the effects of that economic growth. And at the same time, they’re experiencing rising prices, and especially rising prices for basic things like food. And so, on some very basic terms. I think it’s a little bit of, kind of, “show me the money.” Where are the results? We’ve seen all the rhetoric, but ultimately, are our day-to-day lives getting better? Do we have jobs? Are we able to afford food? Are prices going up. Those are the basic kind of nuts and bolts kitchen table issues that I think a lot of Indian voters were focused on. So I wanted to just mention one place that I think illustrates what has happened to Modi and his support, and that’s the city of Ayodhya. Modi chose to have a kind of unofficial kickoff of his campaign in Ayodhya. And Ayodhya is a very important place for a number of reasons, but it is believed by many Hindus to be the birthplace of Lord Ram, who is a very important deity in the Hindu constellation of gods. But on the very spot where some Hindus believe that Ram was born, there was also a mosque for many years. And this had been a real kind of religious flashpoint for a long time in India. And one of the core platforms of Modi and his party has been that they were going to build a temple to Lord Ram on this spot. I had been to Ayodhya before. I actually went there in 2009 after the government had issued this big report about communal tensions there. And this had been a place where there had been a contestation between Hindus and Muslims for many, many years, and in the aftermath of the destruction of the mosque there. And I had noticed that there really wasn’t a lot of hoopla on the spot. People just weren’t that focused on these inter-communal religious tensions. So you fast forward to Narendra Modi in 2024, basically kicking off his campaign with the opening of this new temple complex. And I thought, oh, that’s a really, really dramatic transformation. But it was really interesting to me that when the election results were announced, in the city of Ayodhya itself, his party actually lost that seat. So not only did they lose a huge number of seats across that entire state, but in the very place where Modi had gone to have this kind of triumphant moment of proving that he could deliver on his promises, that he is a man of his word, that he’s a master builder, that he’s going to vault the country forward. That in that very place, they lost the election, felt to me like it really underscored the trend in the dynamic that was happening in this vote. I think the thing that I take away from this election is that you should never assume that the trend lines are going to stay the same. And you should also never assume that all is lost. One of the things that really impressed me, just following the coverage and really looking closely after we learned the result, was how assiduously the opposition, A, managed to come together and stay united. But they also, I think, stayed really focused on kitchen table issues. And while a lot of people, I think, really do care about Indian democracy and care about the preservation of freedom of speech and secularism and all of these kinds of things that are enshrined in the Constitution, the reality is that Indian voters, like voters everywhere, they’re voting based on their interests. They’re voting based on the things that are most proximate to them and the concerns that are most animating for them. And I think you really saw the opposition in India focusing on those kinds of issues and just relentlessly talking about unemployment, relentlessly talking about inflation, talking about the failure to deliver for the poor. And that message clearly won out at the end of the day. And I think the big takeaway for me is that — and I think this is something that political parties here in the United States should really be thinking about — is that sometimes you just have to meet voters where they are, and you have to focus on the issues that they care about most. By Lydia Polgreen Produced by Vishakha Darbha After a weekslong election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India and his party won a third term but lost their majority in Parliament. The surprising rebuke gives strength to the voice of the opposition and the Indian public in a country that has drifted toward authoritarianism in recent years. The Opinion columnist Lydia Polgreen argues that this election result matters beyond India — and raises the importance of meeting voters where they are. (A full transcript of this audio essay will be available within 24 hours of publication in the audio player above.) Thoughts? Email us at [email protected] . This episode of “The Opinions” was produced by Vishakha Darbha. It was edited by Alison Bruzek and Kaari Pitkin. Mixing by Pat McCusker. Original music by Sonia Herrero, Carole Sabouraud and Pat McCusker. Fact-checking by Mary Marge Locker. Audience strategy by Shannon Busta and Kristina Samulewski. Our executive producer is Annie-Rose Strasser. The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] . Follow the New York Times Opinion section on Facebook , Instagram , TikTok , WhatsApp , X and Threads . Lydia Polgreen is an Opinion columnist and a co-host of the “ Matter of Opinion ” podcast for The Times. 407 IMAGES Unprepared Speech: 15 Marks • Teacha! THE IMPROMPTU: Unprepared Speech THE IMPROMPTU: Unprepared Speech how to write an unprepared speech how to write an unprepared speech 🐈 Unprepared speech topics for grade 10. Unprepared Speech Topics For VIDEO UNPREPARED SPEECH EDITION 🙆🏾🔥BASKETHIGH👩🏽‍🏫🏫 Speech at the farewell dinner organised by the Solomon Islands community in Suva The unprepared speech 😄….. #motivation #failureispartofsuccess #post #pictionary #pictures #world Do a 30 min unprepared speech in Afrikans or listen to keyboard warrior ft Emtee COMMENTS How to Give a Great Impromptu Speech: 12 Steps (with Pictures) Confront the reality of your situation to avoid being blindsided by panic. Accept that you have to give a speech and then focus all your resources on giving a good one. 3. Project a confident aura. Face your audience boldly and smile. Make eye contact with those closest to you. How to Give an Impromptu Speech, with Examples Tips on giving an impromptu speech. If you are about to make an impromptu speech and have a few minutes to prepare, follow these two tips: 1. Make some quick notes. The first thing you should do when asked to speak is to grab a pen and a piece of paper (or napkin - whatever you can find to write on). Jot down a few initial ideas, or even just ... How to Give an Impromptu Speech (Public Speaking) Grab a pen and a piece of paper. If you have a few moments before your speech is expected to begin, grab a writing utensil and something to write on, whether it's a napkin, envelope, or the back of a receipt you have on hand, and jot down a few thoughts. Highlight a few interesting or significant points. Keep in mind, your impromptu speech ... Impromptu speaking Impromptu speaking is a speech that a person delivers without predetermination or preparation. The speaker is most commonly provided with their topic in the form of a quotation, but the topic may also be presented as an object, proverb, one-word abstract, or one of the many alternative possibilities. While specific rules and norms vary with the organization and level of competition, the ... How to Deliver an Impromptu Speech: A Comprehensive Guide 1. Practice at Home With Your Family. The best way to deliver an impromptu speech is to practice more. Ask your family members to give you a topic on-spot every day. It can be a short 5 min session where you practice one topic or one-hour session where each family member takes turns and speaks on any given topic. 15 Best Impromptu Speech Tips (With Examples) Thinking about something positive is a confidence boost you might need to get through the speech. 2. Focus on Your Audience. When you're starting your impromptu speech, keep in mind that you're not going against the audience, yet the audience will be on your side. Therefore, you should work with the audience and focus your speech around ... Examples of How to Give an Impromptu Speech Talk about experiences from your life. Keep the speech short and don't take up too much time. Start with a story. Make eye contact with portions of the audience, not individual people. Do this by dividing the audience into halves or quarters. Don't tell the audience you were asked to give an impromptu speech. Impromptu Speech: Meaning, Tips And Skills Impromptu speech, in particular, gives you the liberty to explore ideas, opinions and perspectives while sharing them with an audience. ... If you're speaking in front of an audience unprepared, the first thing you should do is collect and organize your thoughts. When you start making points in your head, you gain clarity and direction ... Impromptu speech outline: 7 structural patterns with examples How to use these structural patterns: guidelines for practice. About the printable impromptu speech outlines. How to reframe a topic: examples of openings showing how to adapt a topic. The patterns are: Point, Reason, Example, Point (PREP) Past, Present, Future. Problem, Solution. Pros/Cons, Positives/Negatives, For/Against, Advantages ... 45 Impromptu Speech Topics and Ideas For an impromptu speech, you'll generally have 1-3 minutes of preparation for a speech lasting 5-8 minutes. Tougher speech events can reduce this preparation time down to 30 seconds and require you to plan your speech mentally, without any paper to write notes on. Impromptu speeches are often given as part of university and college debates. Impromptu Speaking Skills 3. Slow Down. Last-minute speaking opportunities can make you feel stressed, unprepared and anxious. Learn to think on your feet, so that you remain calm, cool, and collected. If you only have a few minutes to prepare before you speak to an audience, take several deep breaths to slow down and relax. Impromptu public speaking topics: 200 good speech ideas See example impromptu speech outlines. Click for example impromptu speech outlines. See how to take a topic and develop it into an outline for a speech. You'll find e xamples of seven different structural patterns: PREP, Problem - Solution, Cause - Effect - Remedy, Before - The Event - The Result, Past - Present - Future, and two more. How to Give An Impromptu Speech When You Have Zero Prep Time First, that's almost never true. Most speakers and preachers go over time, every time. Cue the buzzer for that habit. Second, the audience is almost always grateful when a speaker finishes on time and extra grateful when the speaker wraps up early. If you run out of things to stay (and you might), stop. 50 Topics for Impromptu Student Speeches Things I'll never eat. How to be a slacker. Why I like my town. The best parts of a parade. Interesting things you see in the sky. Things to remember when you're camping. An experience with a bully. Cite this Article. This list of speech topics plus tips for making impromptu speeches will help students learn to feel comfortable making a speech ... Four Types of Speeches But if you try to memorize a speech, you risk forgetting what you planned to say and coming across as completely unprepared. Memorizing your speech is even worse than reading it. All the objections that apply to the read speech also apply to the memorized speech. Spontaneity is gone. The speech can sound stilted. Often, delivery is too rapid. How to Ace the Impromptu Speech Craft a coherent message, and then be quiet. Rambling on will only weaken your overall speech. If you must fill more time, shift into a Q&A. Go easy on yourself. We all want to speak perfectly every time, but demanding perfection from yourself in an impromptu speech is setting the bar too high. 3 Ways to Give a Speech Without Preparation 4. Speak clearly and calmly. [3] Even practiced speakers can get nervous when asked to give a talk on the spot. Control your nerves by taking a deep breath before you begin, and taking brief pauses every so often while you are talking. Focus on pronouncing your words clearly, and not speaking too quickly. [4] 5. PREPARING FOR AN IMPROMPTU SPEECH (unprepared speeches) The best way to be ready for impromptu speeches or any public speech for that matter- is to invest in a good public speaking book or audio. They are a very good investment since most of us will be called out to speak unprepared at some stage in our lives. 3. Have a few opening lines, quotes or humor, up your sleeves, just in case. 3 Ways to Structure a Speech the Professional Way An unprepared speech is usually for a short duration (1-2 minutes) and is on an easy topic that doesn't require much preparation or research. Topics could be personal like an introduction or they may be related to current and popular trends. Check out this article to get various impromptu speech ideas! Unprepared Speech Topics for Grade 10 Students South Africa Conclusion. Unprepared speech topics are a valuable tool for grade 10 students to develop their communication skills, critical thinking abilities, and self-confidence. These impromptu speeches simulate real-life scenarios where individuals need to communicate effectively on the spot. By selecting relevant and thought-provoking topics and ... Unprepared Speeches In this lesson we learn about unprepared, or impromptu, speeches and you'll see that they can actually be fun. By the end of this lesson, you should be able to plan an unprepared, or impromptu, speech and approach it with confidence. Learner Video. English First Additional Language / Grade 10 / LS - Formal Prepared Speeches. How to Write an Impromptu Speech Impromptu speeches are some of the hardest to prepare and give, particularly since you generally have little or no time to write a speech or even an outline. Teachers often create assignments that prompt students to speak candidly on a topic in the interest of instructing them to think on their feet. While it's ... Unprepared Speech Topics What is an unprepared speech? An unprepared speech is a form of public speaking where the speaker is given the topic right before they speak. It can sometimes be daunting for children because there is not time to prepare an answer beforehand. Doing an unprepared speech is a great way for children to improve their public speaking and work on ... How to Prepare For a Speech: 7 Practical Tips Step 1: Exercise and Physical Preparation. Exercise and physical activity is a great way to reduce stress and improve performance, not only in speaking but in general. Keeping in good shape will help keep down anxiety in general, so try to get into a routine if you're not already. The unanswered questions surrounding the tragic death of Dr Michael In 2019, Dr Mosley revealed that he had temporarily lost his memory after swimming in the freezing cold sea in Cornwall. "I didn't have any obvious signs of physical or facial weakness, nor ... 'Horrible City!': Why Trump Trashed RNC Site Milwaukee Preparations are being made at both Mar-a-Lago, his home in Florida, and in Milwaukee, the host city for the convention next month, should Trump either choose to make appearances from afar or be ... Internet backs Megyn Kelly as she slams Sunny Hostin for claiming Nikki H ARTFORD, CONNECTICUT: A fiery debate erupted this week between two veteran TV hosts over a speech given by presidential contender Nikki Haley.Former Fox News host Megyn Kelly took aim at 'The ... What Is the Apple Vision Pro? A Lifesaver for Disabled Users For many disabled users, however, the answer is clear: The Vision Pro is made for them. About ten years ago, Steve Coulson, a creative director in New York, began losing his hearing, and today he ... What Modi's Dwindling Support Says About Democracy Worldwide This transcript was created using speech recognition software. While it has been reviewed by human transcribers, it may contain errors. Please review the episode audio before quoting from this ... assignment essay homework paper phd report resume review speech thesis