"I'm HBR senior editor and producer Amanda Kersey. How comfortable are you giving a speech or a presentation? What about speaking publicly when there's no slide deck, teleprompter, or piece of paper to guide you? When you haven't rehearsed because you weren't expecting to give an update or say a few words of appreciation or pitch an idea, but now people are listening and waiting."
"Absolutely. Spontaneous speaking is prevalent everywhere in our personal and professional lives, and as you said, most of us, if we spend any time working on our communication, it's in a planned sense, when we're writing our agendas for our meetings, or thinking about our slides and our structure for our presentations. But the reality is we are asked all the time to speak on the spot, answering questions, giving feedback, making small talk, we really do need to spend some time focusing on this type of communication."
Spontaneous speaking occurs frequently in both personal and professional contexts. Most communication practice focuses on planned presentations, agendas, slides, and structured remarks. Unrehearsed moments require on-the-spot responses such as answering questions, offering feedback, making small talk, delivering brief updates, or pitching ideas. Remaining calm, crafting concise and compelling messages, and making a positive impression are key skills for impromptu speaking. Focused attention and deliberate practice of impromptu techniques improve effectiveness. Educational programs, workshops, podcasts, and books provide strategies for thinking faster and speaking smarter under pressure.
Read at Harvard Business Review
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]