LOST


                                                                     

Yesterday I attended the corporate toastmasters club’s meeting in which COO, who is a distinguished toastmaster himself, played the role of Table Topics Master. Before inviting the speakers, he spoke briefly about impromptu speeches. He stated that when a topic is given out of the blue to even seasoned speakers, they experience the feeling of being LOST momentarily. The novice speakers develop cold feet and are LOST completely. Then he said, LOST is an acronym for

Listening

Organising

Speaking

Thinking

In prepared speeches, speaker has enough time to think before speaking but in impromptu speeches, the speaker speaks first and then thinks. To manage such instances, he advises that one should keep their ears open and listen carefully to what is being said and organise the collected thoughts into some pattern. Then if called to speak suddenly on any topic, the speaker has something in mind to start with.

The key is not to become tongue-tied. Speaking impromptu is not easy, therefore the audience will not judge you too harshly. Start speaking by saying the first thing that comes to your mind and then go on connecting / linking the thoughts.    

Impromptu speeches are only between 1 to 2 minutes but if ever anyone wants to experience time standing still, he/she should go on stage to speak impromptu. I was asked to speak on Are Children Growing Horns on their Heads? My mind became numb on hearing the topic. I spoke for 1 minute 29 seconds but every second was equivalent to a day. I was LOST initially but recouped just in time because of COO’s tip.  When I ended the speech, I was lucky that I had not ended, but was still alive and kicking. 

So, when you are called to speak impromptu, follow the principle of LOST.

-          NZ

27.6.2019

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