Impromptu speech briefly

Written by

Marilyn Pryle

July 22, 2023

8 min read

From its title, you may guess that impromptu meaning is improvised. Yes, it is really improvised. So, your time for preparation is minimal, around a couple of minutes only. This fact can bring a lot of anxiety, especially for a freshman. However, exactly its spontaneous and public character makes the impromptu speech so challenging.

If you are already anxious a little bit, it is actually normal. Many people define impromptu speeches even as frightful. However, on the other side, there are many potential benefits for you. Impromptu speech can make your thinking quicker and boost your creativity. If practiced regularly, your speaking will become more concise. So, having the required knowledge in your possession, it is quite possible to replace your fear with courage and gain new experience. After impromptu speeches, you will tackle any type of speech you may have easily and confidently.

So, all you need is to decide:

• What is an impromptu speech for you?
• How much time are you ready to devote to your practice?

Luckily, there are ready-made approaches to help you. Some of the useful tips and essay topics for this activity are already here.

How to make a good impromptu speech

As you have limited time to prepare your speech, at the start of your practice focus on these main points:

• content;
• structure;
• length.

Content

To make the impromptu speech good, you should have something to say. First of all, do some brainstorming to identify all the valuable information you can say about your topic. In any case, it should be based on your personal experience or knowledge. Instead of making references to any resources, it is better to share your own considerations. To keep all of them in your memory, make some notes to be near at hand during your presentation.

After making your outline, think about your audience. It is a good idea to select among all your ideas things in which your audience will be likely more interested. They will be transformed into your arguments and supporting evidence then.

Structure

The brief nature of the impromptu speech does not cancel the necessity to build an appropriate structure of your speech. After you have formed your main ideas, range them:

• put your main statement closer to the beginning;
• start your impromptu speech with some hook;
• place the strongest arguments first;
• support each argument with your evidence or considerations;
• add some humor, if appropriate;
• form a strong conclusion for your impromptu speech.

Length

Try to be as concise as possible during your presentation. Generally, you will have around 3 minutes to prepare your impromptu speech and around 7 minutes to present it. For tougher speeches, time for preparation can be reduced to 1 minute or even more complicatedly – you have to plan and form your content only mentally. So, keep it short and get rid of any statements that can be omitted without any negative effect on your impromptu speech.

Impromptu speech topics

How to choose your topic

Luckily, there are many various impromptu speech topics and questions to practice. Your topic is the first factor that determines the overall success of your impromptu speech. The following recommendations can help you at this point:

• choose first of all topics you know well – again, all your speeches should be based on your experience and direct knowledge;
• your topic should be easy to research – as you are limited in time, you should be able to do such research promptly;
• customize the chosen topic, if necessary, to your situation or events you are going to speak about;
• make it valuable for people – they will be more likely to listen to your impromptu speech if its topic resonates in some way with their lives.

If you are ready to practice and gain more confidence, you can simply use any online impromptu speech topics generator or choose any topic from the list below.

Impromptu speech topics for you

Personal

• What personal quality do you admire most of all?
• The best job for me is…
• The thing I worry about in the future
• The person I admire most of all
• The most unpleasant thing for me is…
• The thing I will never accept
• My key master competencies
• My biggest dream is…
• How to remain always happy?
• The most pleasant gift I have ever received
• Friendship is about…
• Things I will always remember.

Persuasive

• Do self-driving cars have the future?
• A sense of humor is about…
• This world is small for…
• Limits of any influence
• Etiquette is important for everyone
• Real learning is always outside a classroom
• The harmonious world is possible if…
• Charity experience is important for everyone
• Money-saving is always necessary
• Restrictions are necessary in certain cases
• Buying a house is better than renting

Debate

• Innovations vs. traditions
• Is vaccination important or not?
• Is it necessary to restrict voting rights?
• Feminism in modern society
• Misogyny in modern society
• Is beauty really in the eyes of a beholder?
• From what age is it better for children to start education?
• Is poverty determined by the state of mind or social circumstances?
• Ordinariness vs. distinctiveness
• Importance of money in the modern world
• The best season is ….
• Is it necessary to prohibit violent movies?
• Is there any correlation between wisdom and age?
• The most effective approach for learning new skills
• Who is more effective: introverts or extroverts?
• Fashion is necessary
• Should churches pay taxes?
• Is it necessary to prohibit zoos?
• The future of transplantation
• Transgender in modern society
• Online vs. physical libraries
• Gadgets for children
• The future of cloning

Social

• Climate change issues are for everyone
• Skills of the future
• Is smoking a personal or public matter?
• Social media marketing and its role in modern society
• The worst social environment is…
• Technologies to boost social growth
• Personal vs. online communication
• Role of blogging in modern society
• Ways to tackle abuse and violence
• Are scholarships always fair?
• Death penalty: is it necessary or not?
• How to start your conversation with a stranger easily?
• Describe an average citizen of your state
• Environmental protection strategies
• Ways to prevent and predict hurricanes
• Limits and importance of political protests
• The future of distant learning
• Tips for making the Internet safer
• Is internal audit fair or fake?

Business

• How to increase economic growth?
• Crucial tips for making good market research
• The most important skill for running a business
• Ways for preventing and combating bribery
• The best financial advice from you
• The most burdensome government regulation
• Social entrepreneurship nowadays and in the nearest future
• The best business slogan you have ever heard
• How to improve ROI (Return on Investment) for your business?
• Best ideas for small business
• The best strategies for investments

Humorous

• Effective strategies to get up in the morning
• How to look through all your profiles in social networks without getting stuck?
• The funniest situation you have ever faced with
• The funniest phobia
• The oddest party was…
• Things that can make you laugh at
• If I were a fruit, I would be a…
• If I were a cartoon character, I would be…
• The oddest etiquette rule
• The best Monday for me was…
• The best funny phrase I have ever heard
• Funny facts you know

Final Words About Impromptu Speech Guide

Hope this article brought more clarity on how to prepare and present the impromptu speeches. In any case, regular practice matters a lot. So, feel free to use all the topics listed above to gain more experience and confidence.

Good luck to you.