Your Guide To Speaking On The Spot.
When asked to speak on the spot, you need structure.
This puts a boundary around nerves and your thoughts into logical order.
“Just off the top of your head, what do you think?”
How does this sentence make you feel?
Most of our clients tell me they want to throw up.
How about you?
We all have an experience of blundering our way through speaking on the spot.
Some of us think: where am I going with this? Others feel nauseous speaking on the fly.
Thinking on the spot is a luxury reserved for status.
The bigger the company, the less airtime you get, dependent on your job title. So when you are asked something on the spot, it can feel very high stakes.
You want your 2 minutes with the mic to make an impact (or at least sound smart, right?).
Why do people ramble on the spot?
Usually nerves. It’s also an absence of structure. Having a ‘container’ to put your thoughts in, helps you keep on track when adrenaline hits.
A structure tells you how to know you’re finished talking.
When you know you’ve hit your key points, you can stop. This makes you more succinct. Meaning, you sound smarter.
When you present a clear, logical structure to your thoughts, your audience is able to remember what you said.
When someone asks you to answer on the spot try this:
Facts + opinion = your answer.
What are the facts?
What is my personal opinion?
What might your version of this look like?
“But I don’t know what my point of view is.”
One of the neat parts of ascending in title or responsibility is you are rewarded for having a point of view. It makes you stand out and increases the value you provide at work.
Your point of view doesn’t need to be sassy, unusual or antagonistic. It doesn’t even need to match what your boss thinks or the company’s line.
But having one helps you take control of your answer, as you spend less time double-guessing the ‘right’ thing to say.
Instead, you share the facts, the risks if relevant, and your personal recommendation.
To make an impact in your work, you need a point of view.
You don’t need to share your point of view. You might never be asked for your perspective. Maybe your point of view is irrelevant in the bigger scheme.
But having one is crucial to owning what makes you unique. It grows your confidence, meaning when you’re asked to speak, you know you have something to offer.
Before you go to your next meeting, try tapping into your own perspective by asking:
If this was my decision to make, how would I approach it?
What’s my gut on what’s right here?
What’s my instinct telling me re: the right way forward?
Can you see how figuring out your own view on a topic helps you shape a perspective?
“At my work, I’m not really allowed to have a personal point of view.”
In risk and compliance roles, having a personal point of view is not always relevant.
Instead, giving others an educated answer can look like outlining the pros and cons.
Outline the risks. Then, let other people have a point of view on what they want to do with that information.
For example:
“The facts are X. You have three options. Option 1, which has low risk, would mean X. Option 2, which has some risk, would give you Y. Option 3, which is high risk, would mean Z, however you’d need to consider A, B, C.”
What might your version of this look like?
You also don’t need the perfect answer.
No one is expecting you to reel off a TED talk or a snappy ‘hot take’ in 15 seconds.
What’s most important is just knowing what the other person needs to know. If you can answer, do. If you can’t, let them know you’ll get back to them. Hand the mic.
Or … just own what you don’t know.
Owning what you don’t know helps you be more succinct.
If you get nervous before a big presentation (hello, adrenaline), it could be useful to remind yourself of what you don’t know (go with us here).
Specifically reminding yourself of these two things:
What I know for sure.
What I don’t know.
This can free you up to focus on what you’re there to offer the audience.
Here’s an example in action.
When we work with STEM specialists who are getting ready for media appointments, we ask them to put a line in their mind on topics they won’t go into if asked.
This gives them the freedom to say ‘I can’t talk about Y but I can talk about X’, when asked a curly question, outside of their area of expertise.
Here are examples:
‘I can speak about the biology of X, but I’m not able to explain the intricacies of Y.’
‘I can speak about AI in the context of X, but I won’t be going into how it works in Y.’
‘As a science educator I can give you a general overview of X, but we’ll need an expert in Y to understand it more deeply.’
These STEM specialists have told us how freeing it is to own what they don’t know.
This helps them leave their anxieties at the door. The result? They can actually enjoy talking about what they have spent years, sometimes decades, learning about.
Know your ‘ending’.
If you find yourself rambling, it’s probably because you don’t know when you’re ‘done’.
Handing the mic is a useful exercise. It forces you to stop talking and get feedback when you've answered their question.
For example:
“That’s my view, what’s yours?” (Stop talking to check in).
“Do you agree or do you see it differently?” (Pause to get a vibe).
“That’s my initial thoughts. What do you think?” (Hand the mic).
When you’re stuck, ask a question. It forces you to stop and redirect the conversation. This gives you time to breathe and figure out your next move.
Get validation throughout your talk or presentation.
We tend to ramble when we’re unsure if something is resonating. One way you can bypass that is to get regular validation.
Getting validation that it’s resonating, as you’re presenting can give you an enormous confidence boost.
In real life that looks like:
If I’m presenting in front of 100 people, I’ll ask people to raise their hands.
If I’m speaking in front of one client, I’ll ask whether they agree.
I’ll look for nods by asking ‘who here is inclined to agree’.
If I’m speaking to a small room, I’ll ask who disagrees and why.
What you’re doing is getting them to agree with you as you present.
If they disagree, you can hash it out until you’re both on the same page. You don’t get to do that when you keep talking.
Pause, check in. See what you notice, as a result. What do you think?
Pro tip: when in doubt, clarify the question.
There is nothing more infuriating than someone rambling on a topic you have no interest in.
When in doubt, confirm what the person needs to hear. Questions are a sign you want to personalise your answer. They also buy you time to get your adrenaline settled.
For example:
“Great question, could you give me an example?”
“Lots of ideas, can we zoom into your specific scenario?”
“I can talk about what we offer, before I do, what’s the most relevant piece?”
Get the person asking you the question to do the work to tell you what they want to hear.
When in doubt, throw the mic back to clarify. This shows you take them seriously.
Read more on presenting with confidence:
Master your adrenaline: Instead of fighting adrenaline, use it to power your presentations.
Did you know we teach personalised workshops on presenting with confidence?
Delivered in person and online, in 90 minute, half day and full day formats.