This is to be a workshop for interested 4th and 5th grade Sunday schoolers
Don't Go BLANK!
We go BLANK at times with Impromptu. You usually don't have a script in day to day interactions. But, with practice and with techniques handy, you can become more at ease and gain more effectiveness.
So, how do you wing it? How can you possibly soar with an impromptu? Well, it helps to know lots of speakers and listeners are stuck out there like a turtle in a shell, content to
play it safe and secure, just crawling about on the ground.
One way to bring you
out of your "shell"
is to
practice TT's
in 1-2 minutes
TT's may be on a theme. They may include quotes or questions. They ask for your response like this assortment that includes cards from a Chat Pack:
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What is the most mischievous but mostly harmless thing you've ever done?
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Is life, overall, a good play with a badly written third act?
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Do some drink at the fountain of knowledge while others just gargle?
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What one thing would you definitely do differently than you did?
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If you could truly excel at one sport or one art or one musical talent, what would it be and when and where?
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If you had to live as an animal for one day, what would it be?
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What person would you love to meet?
In addition to the GRASP ideas at the very bottom, you can buy time by smiling broadly and addressing members of the audience and then repeating a portion of the prompt as your title.
You can give a definition or a perspective not usually associated with the prompt or piggyback or "chase a rabbit" before getting to the real message. All the while you are buying time to grab ahold of a message or idea you care to pursue.
Often, for the body of your response, you can latch on to a story or experience or example, real or imagined, that you can relate, with a lesson or moral. Once you close in on an ending, a summary, or wrap-up, then nod or even bow and say "Mr. or Madame Table Topics Master."
So, if you
break out of
your shell,
does that
make you a
Ninja
Turtle?
Of course, speakers need to be careful to not fully break out of their "shell." "Loose lips sink ships," as the saying from WWII goes. Sailors were cautioned to not give away information that could lead to a future attack.
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The turtle's shell is made up of all the bones inside the body of the turtle, so, being part of the skeleton, it cannot be removed while the turtle lives.
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Just as the human skin, the shell acts as a protective shield from some predators and especially bacteria or fungus.
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Hooray, for shells, too, in making speakers more "thick-skinned." Speakers too "thin-skinned" will not be accepting of constructive comments, the grows along with the glows.
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"Ninjas" out there that simply speak their mind need to know when to hold back and learn to not just talk well but listen well, respectivefully, too.
Enough with Turtles, already!
Improv:
With jazz or drama, it is like impromptu with the speaker. It is created spontaneously or without preparation whatever the medium.
Improv Makes You a Better Listener, a Better Team Player, a Better Manager of Anxiety and Uncertainty, a more Creative Thinker.
Here Are Six Elements Helpful to Improvisers:
--COLLABORATE. Go with the stance of "Yes, and." Accept and build on your partner's genius. Grow the COLLABORATION
--FLOW. Stop any "But's or No's or holding back." Connect and be flexible. Accept that you can falter and still FLOW.
--INTUIT. Follow your own IMPULSES. Instead of deliberation and reasoning, use INTUITION.
--PLAY in the moment. Be a character having great fun with your genius partner, your only audience. Enjoy your PLAYTIME.
--ANIMATE with energy. Use vocal variety and gestures, your tools of ANIMATION.
--VISUALIZE. Use specific details as you stage this action. Don't intellectualize. VISUALIZE.
Here are just a few Improv "prompts" for two or three improvisers to build and interact with in one to two minutes:
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Are you going dressed like that!?
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I cannot wait for you to open your gift!
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Are you bringing that in here?!
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Did you that!? What could make a sound like that?
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Wait 'til you hear what happened while you were in a coma!
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Look what I found!
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What's that in the sky?
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You're the last person I thought I'd see in here.
The Ah-Counter is an important role to assign in a meeting AFTER the group has begun to feel comfortable with simple interactions. Table Topics become a common meeting feature BEFORE the ah-counting role-taking gets underway. The "Ah" is a common filler word, just like these other fillers: so, uhm, you know, xerox, long pause, false start, continual "and's" like in a run-on sentence. . . .
Lincoln Douglas Debates are an advanced use of the impromptu speech
It's easy to go from one extreme (going blank or being boxed in a shell) to the other (being a combative Ninja debater). Easy does it. Some improv, some open-ended topics, some pivots, some gentle ah-counting: all can help pave the way for more confidence with the impromptu.
Saving the Best(?)
for the Last
Impromptu speaking is at the opposite end of the spectrum from the carefully planned and practiced public speech. This speech you are prompted to give on the spur of the moment. There is no time to research or plan out or practice. You just speak in a response to a question or event.
This is not to say you cannot be prepared. There are various strategies. Some of these are addressed in this GRASP acronym:
G– Go with what first comes to mind, maybe grabbing the audience’s attention from the start or maybe even later bringing them into it. That first thought comes from the creative side, the right side. This would then thwart the left side, the slower, analytical, critical, self-doubting side. But you should stall with acknowledging the audience and possibly repeating or restating the prompt to allow more thought to transition to a better angle.
R– Respond with an example or story, real or imagined, to give the punch needed. This is the middle, the focus, the development.
(My Go-To that most succeeds is to tell a story or at least describe a character)
A– Animate with three basic speech techniques:
1) gestures or body movement for emphasis;
2) variety of four the P’s (power, pitch, pronunciation and pacing), especially in pacing;
3) eye engagement, as visualizing with a focal point where you “see” the scene.”
S– Stay focused, not wandering, and then summarize, bringing it together full circle with a clear conclusion.
P– Prompting is the overall attitude to have. You are not stuck giving THE answer. You are allowed to pivot if needed, taking a new direction to what you prefer talking about, as with a transition like “That reminds me” or “What is often overlooked… “
Impromptu speaking causes the speaker to leave the shell behind and speak openly. The class already leaves the lectern behind to encourage speakers to use gestures and body movement. Empowerment as a speaker comes from practice of proper techniques so that even lack of preparation on a particular content still provides for some of these techniques to come into play.