Practice Makes Perfect–Or Thereabouts!

I love sports. One of my favorite sports to play is tennis. I love it so much that when I developed tennis elbow I played left-handed! (I had just purchased a new racket, and I couldn’t let the thing go to waste!) Despite my love for playing the sport, I’m not really good at it–but I’m much better than I used to be. You know why: Practice. Natural ability or not, to get really good at a sport requires practice. Legendary Czech tennis great Ivan Lendl has been quoted as saying:

If I don’t practice the way I should, then I won’t play the way that I know I can.

Practice, then, is the key to getting better at something–really anything. Even more so, it is the only way to achieve your best performance! Even greats like Ivan Lendl didn’t win every game or even every match. Practice made him better. It helped him to achieve great things. It didn’t make him perfect. Perfection is not our goal. Competence is.

The same rule applies to the way we perform during impromptu speaking opportunities. The more we practice, the better we become. Like Lendl, we will never achieve the kind of performance we want, the kind of performance we’d like to achieve, without practice.

I have found that there are two ways to effectively practice for impromptu speaking:

• Do it more often
• Memorize and follow a pattern

The more you do something, the better you will be at that something. Just look at how badly the younger crowd beats us at video games! If you have a job or position that gives you opportunities to practice frequently, you will naturally get better. If not, I recommend membership in a local Toastmasters club. At each regular club meeting you will be given the chance to practice your impromptu speaking.

As for the patterns, we’ve discussed 3 of them in previous posts to this blog:

• Tell a Story
• Position-Action-Benefit
• Past-Present-Future

Having the pattern of choice memorized allows you to focus on delivering the content without being distracted by how to organize what you’re saying. By keeping these patterns in mind you can be practiced and ready when your next impromptu speaking opportunity comes along. You’ll be prepared to perform the way you know you can!

For more information about Toastmasters and help finding a local club in your area, check out this link:

Toastmasters International

Now get out there and Speak Up!

Impromptu Speaking

We’ve been discussing one of the challenging areas of communication in the workplace – and everywhere else for that matter: First impressions. Now I’d like to shift to another equally-challenging topic: Impromptu presentations, or speaking “off the cuff,” with little or no preparation.

The reality is that we do impromptu presentations all the time. Tony Jeary wrote a wonderful book, the title of which says it all: Life is a Series of Presentations. When we interact with the Baristas at Starbucks, it’s an impromptu presentation. When we speak to the co-worker in the next cube about our plans for the weekend, it’s an impromptu presentation. When we stop and ask for directions, it’s an impromptu presentation. Far and away the vast majority of our presentations are impromptu!

(My friend, Scott Baker, the fellow who turned me on to Jeary’s book, asks interview candidates the question, “When was your last presentation?” He’s dying to have someone answer, “I’m making one right now!”)

If we are always doing impromptu presentations, and if most of us are pretty good at these daily unrehearsed interactions, why is it that we sometimes freak out about speaking on short notice? While we don’t think twice about having an impromptu conversation about last night’s ball game, we can experience considerable nervousness about taking that call from our child’s teacher, returning the defective product to the store, or responding to an unexpected question at a meeting. I believe our nervousness has its roots in the following:

• We perceive that the stakes are higher in some situations. Will we be able to influence others? Will we get the job? Can we get our money back? Will we look good to the boss or our peers?
• Sheer numbers. While comfortable in small groups, the thought of speaking up in a group of even moderate size can overwhelm us. The boss turns to us and says, “Since Sheila is out today, please give us an update on the status of your team.” All eyes turn to us. All of a sudden, the room seems very, very quiet. Yikes.
• Lack of preparation. The truth is that it’s difficult to feel comfortable at something we’re not ready for. For impromptu presentations we won’t be able to rehearse, but we can adopt formulas and strategies that will help us in our moment of need. We’ll discuss those strategies in upcoming posts to this blog.

Impromptu presentations (a.k.a. speaking off the cuff) are a key part of our overall communication arsenal. We’ll be talking more about why they are important, look at some examples, and the things we can do to prepare.