Effective Speaking in Spontaneous Situations

Jul 16, 2024

Effective Speaking in Spontaneous Situations

Introduction

  • Excited to talk about effective speaking in spontaneous situations.
  • Interactive and participative workshop.
  • Goal: To become better communicators through practice.

Interactive Exercise: Counting F’s

  • Task: Count the number of F's in a sentence.
  • Key Point: Many people miss the F’s in “of”.
  • Analogy: Small things matter in public speaking.

Focus of Discussion

  • Spontaneous speaking, not planned speaking.
  • Examples: Introductions, feedback, surprise toasts, Q&A sessions.

Agenda

  1. Managing anxiety
  2. Ground rules for interactivity
  3. Core techniques for spontaneous speaking:
    • Getting out of own way
    • Seeing speaking as an opportunity
    • Slowing down and listening
    • Using structures

Managing Anxiety

  • 85% of people are nervous speaking in public.
  • Anxiety is ubiquitous but manageable.

Techniques for Managing Anxiety

  1. Greeting Anxiety: Acknowledge feelings of nervousness.
  2. Reframing the Situation: Seeing it as a conversation, not a performance.
  3. Presence Orientation: Be present; use physical or mental exercises to stay grounded (e.g., tongue twisters).

Interactivity and Experiments

  1. Shout the Wrong Name Exercise:
    • Aim: Get out of own way.
    • Dare to be dull: Ease off pressure and just perform.
  2. Gift Exchange Exercise:
    • Aim: See speaking as an opportunity, not a challenge.
    • “Yes, and” principle from improvisation.
  3. Spelling Conversation Exercise:
    • Aim: Slow down and listen truly.
    • Emphasizes understanding before reacting.

Importance of Structure

  • Structure increases processing fluency.
  • Two effective structures:
    1. Problem-Solution-Benefit: Clearly define a problem, propose a solution, and highlight the benefits.
    2. What-So What-Now What: Define the topic, explain its importance, outline next steps.
  • Practice using these structures for better flow.

Final Thoughts

  • Steps to effective spontaneous speaking:
    1. Manage anxiety.
    2. Get out of your own way.
    3. Reframe situations as opportunities.
    4. Listen carefully.
    5. Use structured responses.
  • Useful resources: Book