I heard a well-known sociologist give a superb lecture about the effects of social media on interpersonal relationships. He explained the benefits and drawbacks. What most impressed me was his delivery. He spoke for fifty minutes without notes. The audience was fully engaged.
He had learned extemporaneous speaking—speaking from an outline. He tracked his own thinking as he spoke, developing each point from his outline.
This chapter is an invitation to learn to speak extemporaneously. When we read a manuscript, it might seem to some listeners like we are not personally engaged with the subject and the audience. When we speak extemporaneously, we can be considerably more effective. In fact, extemporaneous speaking is the most effective way of delivering most speeches.
Pursue Extemporaneous Speaking
TED Talks are popular partly because the speakers are trained to engage audiences extemporaneously. The program prohibits reading from manuscripts. Of course, there are other stylistic requirements as well—such as using the first person and telling engaging stories—but extemporaneously speaking is critically important in TED Talks.
The cultural trend seems clear: Those who can speak authentically from the heart, without reading a manuscript, have a growing rhetorical advantage. Lecture-like speakers who read manuscripts are losing impact. In effect, audiences are saying, “Don’t lecture me!” or “Don’t preach at me!” Instead, “Speak to me!” “Tell me your story.”
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Common Criticisms of Speakers
Understand Basic Extemporaneous Speaking
Extemporaneous speaking (often called “extemp”) involves speaking from an outline rather than reading a full manuscript or reciting a memorized speech. As the sociologist did, we use a printed or digitally displayed outline to keep us on track. We add to our outline the source quotations that are too long or difficult to memorize and that we need to read word for word.
I write my short, final outline on a small index card and tape printed copies of quotations on the back for reading. Sometimes I just put my outline and quotations on my phone or tablet instead, but I prefer being able to discreetly review my small card, which I hold in my palm.
Well-done extemporaneous speaking takes time. Our outline needs to be excellent. We need to rehearse enough so that we know what we are going to say and how we are going to say it. If we are unprepared, it is easy for us to say things we did not intend to say, come across as disorganized, and simply make fools of ourselves.
Extemporaneous speaking is worth mastering if we are willing to take the process seriously. It carries significant potential advantages.
SERVANT SPEAKING TIP
When preparing to speak extemporaneously, plan on rehearsing three to five times over a few days.
When manuscript speakers—those who read a prepared speech manuscript—realize they are going over time, they start looking through their manuscript to determine what to eliminate. Audiences can usually tell what is happening. Some manuscript speakers even unnecessarily announce that they are running out of time and will have to “skip some material”; the audience wonders what it will miss.
When we write an extemporaneous outline, we prepare for such situations by including items that we can expand on or ignore when delivering our speech. I prepare a slightly longer outline than I will need, knowing I can cut back to stay on time. I mark on my outline which points are optional, in case I need to delete material along the way. I can also adjust how long I take to tell a particular story.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
An Extemporaneous Speech Outline
Learn Extemporaneous Skills
Probably no speaking skill has served me better than extemporaneous speaking. But I had to learn a set of four skills to do it well. Too often, speakers use extemporaneous methods just because they are too busy or lazy to prepare a manuscript. That does not work well. Developing an extemporaneous speech can take just as long as writing out an entire speech manuscript.
When we speak extemporaneously from an outline, we rely primarily on four skills: (1) memorization, (2) elaboration, (3) reflection, and (4) audience affirmation.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Advantages of Extemporaneous over Manuscript Speaking
Memorize an Outline Visually
I asked a terrific extemporaneous preacher how he did it. He showed me his messy one-page outline. Not just sloppy handwriting but colored lines and circles, highlighted phrases, double and triple underlining, cursive and block writing, upper- and lower-case words and phrases. I could not believe he used such a messy page, until he explained it to me.
SERVANT SPEAKING TIP
Mark up your extemporaneous speech outline with different colored inks to make it easier to see and track at a glance where you are on the outline while speaking. As you speak, note which color you are speaking about.
Most of us remember visually. When we look at something repeatedly we can recall it better. As the pastor worked on his outline, he began to visualize what was on the page, with all the visual emphases. He said that a purely textual page was not easy to “see” for recall.
Creating a double-spaced, one-page outline helps us remember what to say and even how to say it. But we need to mark it up for personal memory.
I write out by hand a two- or three-page outline with my points, transitions, and brief descriptions of my examples and illustrations. Then I rework it three to five times. Each time, I recite parts of the speech to myself out loud.
Eventually, I reduce the outline to one fairly clean, handwritten page with numbering, underlines, and some yellow highlighting. That is what I use for visual memorization.
A day or so before the speech, I summarize my outline on one side of a small index card, which I use for the speech. By that time I have memorized visually what goes in the gaps between the brief points on my index card. Even just one word on an index card will remind me of an entire paragraph on the full page. I add a few handwritten marks on the card to help me see the card in my memory. Using color-coded outline sections helps.
Elaborate on Memory
Usually we use concrete quotations, examples, and illustrations in our speeches. When we speak extemporaneously, we elaborate on them without the help of extensive notes. If our example is a story, for instance, we can use a one-word cue on our outline to remind us to tell that story (“party story”). Similarly, we can use a one- or two-word note to remind us what we intend to say about a quotation we will be reading (“loud music”).
To elaborate well, however, we have to rehearse without notes. We keep rehearsing until we know that we can elaborate on each illustration, quote, and the like. Eventually, we feel confident. Then, while speaking, we simply tell the audience what we have been reminding ourselves for days or weeks.
Sometimes it helps to practice elaboration with friends along the way. If we keep a copy of our outline with us, we can glance at it and decide which parts we need to practice delivering to others during a ride home or over a meal.
While speaking extemporaneously, we glance occasionally at our outline. As we look at our outline, we recall from memory what we need to say. As we look back at our audience, we think about what we recall from memory.
In practice, we reflect on the next outline point while the audience is still thinking about what we just said. We do not need to rush. It will seem totally natural to the audience if we are glancing around the room while reflecting on how to express our next point. The audience is not worrying about what we will say next and exactly when we will say it. If we are speaking well, the audience members themselves will be reflecting on what we last said, not merely awaiting our next point. We actually serve them by giving them time to think.
Our goal throughout our extemporaneous speech is to reflect before speaking. If we are engaged conversationalists in life, we already do this. We think about what to say before saying it.
Affirm the Audience
An advanced skill for extemporaneous speaking is affirming the audience’s fitting emotional and intellectual responses to our speaking. When we see audience members moving their heads up and down in agreement or understanding, for instance, we want to acknowledge and affirm it by doing the same, but usually more subtly. When we see and hear the audience laughing at something we said that is meant to be funny, we smile in order to both confirm that the audience understood our humor and to stir listeners to laugh even more deeply.
Once we realize that we do not have to rush, we can be more interactive, even playful, as appropriate. We not only speak to the audience but also spontaneously interact with the audience. We acknowledge that our audience members are serving us—just as we are serving them. The audience’s responsiveness helps us communicate more effectively.
It is like comedic speaking. Most comedians use timing along with verbal and nonverbal cues to signal when they have said something funny and the audience should laugh. Then comedians signal with their faces that the audience correctly laughed—perhaps with a smirk or grin.
A few comedians take it one step further, affirming the audience’s response verbally. For instance, if a comedian comments humorously on a silly human habit, she might wait for the laughter to begin, and then say, “It’s crazy. [Pause] We’re all goofy.” The audience laughs more.
I simply look at the audience with the same kind of nonverbal emotion that I see emerging on listeners’ faces—assuming they are responding appropriately. I smile if they are smiling. I look mildly astonished if they seem to be looking likewise. I even laugh a bit if they are laughing. I let their responses affect me so I can affirm them. It is very natural, especially in extemporaneous speaking, which is more interactive than read-manuscript and memorized-manuscript speaking.
Conclusion
As I discovered with the sociologist who gave an amazing lecture, extemporaneous speaking can be extremely effective. But it takes effort. We should not try to speak from an outline without practice. And it helps to use a personalized outline with visual markups.
American writer Mark Twain humorously said it took him several hours to prepare a good impromptu speech.1 It takes even longer to prepare, outline, and practice an extemporaneous speech. And it is well worth it. No type of speaking gives us more self-confidence for all of our spoken communication.
FOR DISCUSSION