Effective Oral Communication Skills IMPROMPTU SPEECH
Thinking on Your Feet Thinking is a common activity for everyone “Thinking on your feet” means being able to organize one’s ideas quickly and speak about a subject without advance time to prepare. This is known as impromptu speech. E.g. answering questions, giving opinions, sharing knowledge
Organizing the Impromptu Speech It is important to be familiar with different organizational patterns. Such familiarization will enable you to choose the best method of organizing ideas for your topic. a) Past-present-Future Describe hoe something once was, how it has changed, and how it will be in the future. b) Time Describe chronological events or processes in sequential order
Organizing the Impromptu Speech d) Problem-solution Describe a problem and ways to solve it e) Location Divide a topic into different geographical setting f) Cause-Effect Describe a situation and its effects g) Related subtopics Divide a topic into different parts h) Advantage-Disadvantage Describe positive and negative aspects of a topic
Guidelines for Impromptu Speech Stay calm and begin slowly in order to give yourself time to think. Begin with an attention-getting opener that is related to your talk. Use humour, quotation etc. If you get confused or forget what you want to say, don’t apologize to the audience. Re-organize your thoughts. Finish your speech gracefully.
Marking scheme Delivery Rate of speech Posture Volume of Voice Content Attention-getting opener Organization Supporting ideas Graceful conclusion Overall (Poor) 2(Fair) 3(Acceptable) 4(Good) 5 (Excellent)