Speaking Extempore

By Deepak Morris
Copyright © Deepak Morris, 2004

The first article in this series tackled the prepared speech, where we saw how to “boil” your speech down to the main points, and how to arrange those points into a speech. However, many a time, the executive may be called upon to make an extempore speech. (The word is pronounced ex-tem-po-ray, by the way). An extempore speech is one that has to be made up on the spur of the moment.

Nothing tests a speaker’s calibre like the extempore speech. Strangely enough, the danger with an extempore speech is not that the speaker may run out of things to say, but that he / she may say too much, rambling on and on and speaking around points instead of sticking to them. It is said that Winston Churchill was once asked how much time he needed to prepare a two-minute speech. “Two hours,” said he. Then he was asked how long he needed to prepare a two-hour speech. “I’m ready now,” replied Churchill. This is true of almost any speaker. With enough confidence, a speaker may go on forever, dissecting the topic, exploring shades of meaning, questioning established beliefs, reinforcing new thought, informing the audience of new trends, and so on.

The trick with extempore speeches, therefore, is to know exactly how much to speak, so you don’t bore your audience and everyone can go home on time. The techniques to tackle extempore speeches are also invaluable in settings like group discussions and meetings. At a meeting, if you are given the floor and can bring everyone to your point of view within the allotted time, you are a worthy speaker indeed!

Background Preparation

There is no such animal as a truly extempore speaker. All good speakers have done their homework, even if they appear to speak at the drop of the proverbial hat. How do they do this? The secret is preparation.

But, you might say, how can anyone know what the topic is going to be? Well, in a situation like, say, a Group Discussion for admission into a professional course, or as part of the selection process for a job, it is certainly difficult to predict the topic. However, even in such situations, the discussion is likely to be on subjects pertaining to the course or the job. If you don’t know anything about management, don’t expect admission into a management course. Similarly, if you don’t know anything about advertising, you’re unlikely to be given a job in an advertising agency, no matter how well you speak.

In a corporate setting, the issue is even clearer. No one expects a marketing manager to speak on labour law. It’s just not his field of expertise. The topic, therefore, is most likely to be something that falls within your regular work profile.

Background preparation on matter is thus part and parcel of the executive’s job.

However, as a speaker, one needs to do more than just know the subject. Every speech must be a well-crafted piece, delivered in style. Therefore, the executive who may be called upon to speak on his area of expertise had better know how to begin the speech well, deliver it coherently and end it clearly and memorably.

The article on the prepared speech mentioned some good ways to begin a speech. Stories, astonishing facts, questions, etc., are excellent ways to grab attention and introduce your topic. Since an extempore speaker may know the general area in which he will be expected to speak, but not the precise topic, the trick is to learn up a few good stories that can form an introduction to many, if not all the topics. If handled well, the stories may also double as effective speech endings (but never the same story twice in the same speech!).

You can get your stories from printed collections, from the newspaper, from trade journals and publications, from friends, from just about anywhere! All you need is to be attuned to picking up the story and remembering it. An effective technique in remembering a story is to tell it to the first ten people you meet. Provided they don’t start avoiding you after a while, you’ll soon build up a good repertoire of stories to stand in as introductions and sign-offs to your speeches.

A note of caution, however: use stories only if you can tell them well. If you find that the ten people you tell your story aren’t really interested, it means you can’t handle story-telling. Drop it like a hot potato. Find another way to make your speech interesting. You may want to try questions, or startling facts, or emotional beginnings and endings. How will you know what to use? Ah, that’s where expertise and self-knowledge comes in. Try out various beginnings and endings with friends. Note their reaction. You’ll soon find something that suits your individual personality and style.

Putting it all together

Okay, so you have your repertoire of stories, facts, questions, or other sparklies to make your speech interesting. But how do you structure the speech itself?

Remember that you need about a minute per point in your speech. So select as many points as there are minutes in the speech, after you deduct a minute for the beginning and ending (also called the opening and close of your speech). If you have time, jot the points down on a small sheet of paper or even on your cuff. Incidentally, the habit of some speakers to make notes on their shirt-cuffs gave rise to the phrase “off the cuff remark”. You’ll see that the origin of the phrase also acknowledges that extempore speakers use external memory aids to help them speak.

Now that you have your points, apply the PREP formula. What’s PREP? It stands for:
Point
Reason
Example
Point

Point
Once you’ve given your introduction, you mention your first point. If the topic is, say, “The use of mascots in branding”, and your first point is that mascots are memorable figures, you might say, “Ladies and Gentlemen, a mascot is a memorable figure.”

Yes, put it as simply as that. The simpler your language, the more memorable your speech will be. Contrary to what some people may think, the most effective speakers use the simplest language. They never use one big word when two small words will do, and they never use two small words where one small word will suffice.

Reason
Then you tell your audience why you made that point, or the reason for the point. “Mascots are memorable figures because they are usually line drawings”, may be your reason. So you say it this way. You may repeat yourself (a very effective technique to fix something in your audience’s mind) or you may say, “this is because…”

If you have more than one reason for making the point state the other reasons too. However, try and keep reasons to about three to four. More than that, and the audience begins to lose the thread, and you run into the danger of speaking around points rather than of them.

Example
Then you give an example to buttress your reason. “For example, Gattu is a line drawing. His urchin-like look is most effectively conveyed in a few simple lines”.

Again, saying it in this fashion keeps the speech simple and to the point. The audience understands your point immediately. Of course, once you gain more experience in public speaking, you may experiment with other ways of giving examples.

Point
Then you RE-STATE your point. This may sound silly, but I repeat, it is a very effective way of fixing the point in your audience's mind. (See? I repeat points too!)

So, having stated your point that mascots are memorable figures, stating the reason why this is so – that they are line drawings – and giving an example – Gattu – you re-state your point, “Mascots are memorable figures”.

After this, you are ready to move on to the next point, to which you apply the PREP formula all over again.

Your extempore speech, therefore, is a beginning, followed by as many “PREPs” as there are points, and a memorable ending. It is a good idea to recapitulate the points at the end of the speech, preferably in some kind of staccato fashion, to once again fix the points in the audience’s mind. If, for example, your points in relation to mascots were that they are memorable figures, they are cute and they always use the product, you can end with, “And so, ladies and gentlemen, when it comes to mascots in branding, there are just three things to remember – memorable, cute and using the product”. A “Thank you” after this, to me, seems to be the most powerful ending you can have.