Impromptu Dread and How to Cure It

What’s your least favorite type of public speaking? If you said “impromptu speaking” (speaking with little to no preparation), you’re not alone. Yet, we speak spontaneously all the time in casual conversations, meaning that we’re continuously coming up with content while words are spilling out of our mouths. How can we make the process feel a little easier?

Here are some tips to lower anxiety with impromptu speaking, many offered by club member, Patrick K., a longtime Toastmaster who is never at a loss for words during Table Topics.

• Talk about what you know – this lowers the worry about forgetting what to say next. And what do we know better than our own life story? In Table Topics, feel free to modify or completely side-step the question to get to more comfortable terrain.

  • Here’s an article that talks about how to pivot when you don’t want to answer the question (or just watch the average politician!): “Spontaneous Speaking – Tips and Tricks for being a Better Table Topics Speaker.” https://toastmasters.org/magazine/magazine-issues/2020/oct/spontaneous-speaking

• Take a pause before you begin to speak – even better if you couple it with a long, deep relaxing breath. Many of us rush to answer without giving ourselves a moment to create the slightest structure to what we’re about to say. Audiences understand that a little planning time is needed.

• During that initial moment, use a super-fast, easy organizational method to plan out your response. A few popular techniques are:

  
  

  • The Idea-Emotion-Outcome Framework. See “Speaking on the Spot: How to prepare for an impromptu speech.” https://toastmasters.org/magazine/magazine-issues/2025/feb/speaking-on-the-spot

• The What? So What? Now What? Structure. See “Improve Your Impromptu Speaking: Tips to think faster and talk smarter on the spot.” https://toastmasters.org/magazine/magazine-issues/2023/sept/impromptu-speaking

• Another method is to think about your introductory statement and conclusion (where you’re starting from and where you want to wind up) and from there, 2-3 points that you want to make in the middle. Even if you don’t have time to come up with the 2-3 points before you start talking, having these anchors at the beginning and ending of your speech will make it feel organized to the audience, and more purposeful as you’re speaking. 

• Throughout any speech, pauses are your power move – they refocus your audience, they enable better comprehension and recollection… and they give you time to think. Use them liberally in impromptu speeches. Although many of us tend to speed up when nervous (maybe to get it over with?), you are better served by deliberately slowing down.

• Another way to lower anxiety is to recognize “the spotlight effect.” This is the exaggerated feeling many speakers have that the audience is focusing on every mistake, whereas in actual fact most audiences are just scanning for the overall meaning and value of your speech. They are not obsessing over every word stumble, grammar error or slight tremor of your hands. Just knowing about the spotlight effect has been shown to reduce speaker anxiety. 

  
  

  • The Illusion of Transparency and the Alleviation of Speech Anxiety by Kenneth Savitsky and Thomas Gilovich. https://web.archive.org/web/20120313180510/http:/www.psych.cornell.edu/sec/pubPeople/tdg1/Savitsky%26Gilovich.03.pdf

• If you’re thinking, “To heck with public speaking! I get nervous just jumping into social conversations!” – this article is for you:

  • “Be Confident in Casual Conversations" https://toastmasters.org/magazine/magazine-issues/2023/july/casual-conversations

• Perhaps the best news is that frequent practice of impromptu speaking significantly reduces anxiety. A study of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students, who might be assumed to have even more anxiety than native speakers, used a standardized assessment tool for public speaking anxiety for pre- and post-evaluations. Researchers found that thrice-weekly practice over a 15-week course reduced speaking anxiety by an average of 24%.

  • https://www.scholarlinkinstitute.org/jeteraps/articles/Effects%20of%20Sustained%20Impromptu%20NEW.pdf

There are many opportunities to practice. Google “sample table topics questions” and answer the questions aloud – either privately, or with friends (it’s a fun party game). Sign up to give a speech and let the club know that it’s impromptu or semi-impromptu – we’ve all been there, so we understand. Encourage yourself to speak up more often at meetings and social events. 

If you really want to conquer impromptu dread, consider taking improv classes, which I call “Table Topics on steroids!” There are three main improv schools in town (Finest City, National Comedy Theater, and Mockingbird) and at least two of them offer free introductory workshops. If you want more information about this, talk to members Kanad B. or Elaine P.