Most people find it hard to stand up and speak fluently off the cuff. Perhaps you want to respond to someone’s talk, but do not have the confidence or know the right words – how often do you say nothing and then when you get home you suddenly think “now why did I not say…”. At a meeting you may be asked for your opinion or asked to comment on a particular subject. You may know the subject, but having to comment right there and then….
Perhaps you need a bit of practice — and you can do this at home, no-one else needs to be around.
Step 1: Take a noun e.g. DREAMS
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| Photo by Benjamin Sow on Unsplash |
Step 2: Write down words beginning with each letter
e.g. Danger
Realise
Excitement
Anger
Mist
Satisfaction
Step 3: Take 5 minutes to draft a story using these 6 words. It does not matter in which order you use them, just make sure you use them all in your story.
Step 4: Read out the story you have just written (remember this is just to yourself, but it is better to say it aloud)
Step 5: Repeat step 2 — same letters, different words.
Step 6: Now, don’t write anything down, but still compose your story as you speak it, i.e. impromptu.
And now that you have tried that, you can choose any other word and repeat — until you feel more confident that you are not going to get tongue-tied next time you want to stand up and say something at a meeting or are asked for your opinion!
Diana Porterfield
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