Speaking Extemporaneously

Don't be afraid of speaking extemporaneously!

In Toastmasters, we have a part of the meeting called Table Topics, a point at which the Table Topics Master starts talking about the topic of the day and then asks several people in the audience questions for which they have not been prepared.  The speaker then stands and speaks extemporaneously for up to two minutes on the topic they have been asked about.

It is for many people, the scariest part of a Toastmaster meeting. For me, it’s the most exciting. I have been blessed with the skill of speaking extemporaneously, a skill I further developed in college during fraternity and Student Government meetings (surely, much to my colleagues’ chagrin). The ability to speak extemporaneously is a valuable skill to have, as its usefulness is evident whenever someone stands up to speak and stumbles over their words for thirty seconds before sitting down. If you are scared of speaking in front of people, don’t be!  You can learn how to do it.  Here’s how.

First, collect your thoughts. There is no shame in silently standing for a few seconds to collect your thoughts. Usually, while doing so you will grab the attention of the room.  Silence is so rare these days that when someone stands silently, even for a few seconds, people tend to stop what they are doing to pay attention. Silence is not a bad thing. Don’t be afraid of it. Your audience will find themselves on the edge of their seats in anticipation of what you will say. Once you have them there, don’t let them go.

These guys would be a hostile audience.

When you have an idea of where you want to go with what you are going to say, start strong. You will lose your audience immediately if you mumble and fumble your way into your speech. Speak loudly, speak clearly, and state your point at the very beginning. Your audience has just spent ten to fifteen seconds in hungered preparation for what you will say, and it is up to you as the speaker to feed it to them. You want them to know what your point is from the start. Once you’ve stated your thesis, use the rest of your time to frame your oratory around that one, simple thought.

While doing so, be sure you direct your conversation to a subject you can speak on for a few minutes. In other words, don’t talk about things you don’t know about. Too often, I see people who speak on subject from which they have no knowledge, and it is painfully evident from the get go that they will be lost within thirty seconds. Your audience is smart. They will know if you are BS-ing them. I was once asked the following question by an engineering graduate student during table topics: “The philosopher Plato examined the reality of the metaphysical world. His beliefs questioned whether anything in the world is real or merely a construction of our imagination. What do you believe? Are we really here or is all of this a construction of my, or your, imagination?”

Yes, he really asked me that.

It took me a few seconds just to wrap my head around the question. It has been about fifteen years since I studied Greek philosophy, and I have long since forgotten the theories we discussed in my classes. So I stood, gathered my thoughts for a few seconds, and talked about the first thing that popped into my head.

The Matrix.

Yes, the movie.

I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t stand there and try to make up something about Plato’s belief system and whether or not those beliefs were accurate or not. So I started talking about how the allusions Plato discussed were an allegory to the subject matter of The Matrix, and how those who were in the matrix thought their world was real, but it was actually a construct of the machines. (Yes, I still remember the movie’s plotline ten years after it first came out.)

Needless to say, I was pretty happy to sit down after my two minutes were up.

The point of that story is that I didn’t BS the audience trying to make up something about Greek philosophy when I was clearly out of my element. Instead, I steered the topic of conversation to something I could speak about- science fiction movies. You can and should do the same when faced with talking about a subject of which you have no knowledge. Politicians do it all the time- ask them about health care funding and they will move the subject to gun control. Ask them about the deficit and they will answer by talking about privacy rights. A good politician will answer the question THEY want to answer, not necessarily the question that is being asked. And a bad politician will answer a question about Net Neutrality by comparing the Internet to a series of tubes.

Don’t talk about tubes, folks. Speak about what you know.

Finally, as your time is coming to a close, have a definitive finish. Make a point, whether it is a reference back to your original thesis or a joke to close out your speech. I finished my Greek philosophy Table Topic question by positing, “If the question is whether the world is real or a figment of my imagination, I choose the latter, in which case this question was something my mind made up and I no longer feel it is necessary to jump through hoops trying to answer this question.”

Perhaps Homer Simpson put it better. “Alright brain, I don’t like you and you don’t like me. But let’s just do this and I can get back to killing you with beer.”

Principles

With the Presidential campaign season in full swing, I feel obligated to comment on a subject I feel many of our national politicians lack- principle. A principle is a law or rule that has to be followed. A man (or woman) must have firm, unchanging principles which he believes at his very core. This is the problem I see with so many of our elected leaders whose opinions seem to ebb and flow with the public opinion. I’m not talking about any specific politician, though this could easily devolve into a partisan pissing contest, but more the politician in general. They seem to lack principle.

Perhaps my opinion is the effect of the 24 hour news cycle, of being constantly plugged in and bombarded with news from all angles- email, Facebook, twitter, cable. You can’t go far without finding someone’s opinion being blasted in your face, usually at a high volume. But underneath all of the bloviating, I rarely get the sense that someone is politicking for the good of the American People. More often, they are out to win, to make the other side look bad and to lord their superior opinions over their opponents. When did it get this way? When did calm discourse and working to find common ground become a relic of the past?

I long for someone with principles and the ability to move beyond party lines to accomplish what those principles stand for. I don’t necessarily have to agree with someone’s ideals to be able to find benefit in their point of view. Too often politics is a win at all cost, loser goes home with nothing game. It’s not a game. It’s our livelihoods. Our tax dollars. Our health care. Our economy. It’s not a set of talking points, and for once I’d like to see someone stand up there and take responsibilty without doling out the blame and pointing fingers. I’m just so tired of “politics as usual.”

Which brings me back to principles. Principles are the foundation on which all other things can be built. A politician with shifting principles, shifting loyalties will never be able to build something great when his foundation is constantly shifting based on the prevailing winds. Someone who stands firm in his beliefs, whatever they may be, will gain the hearts and minds of the people who are so desparate for something of substance.