Impromptu speaking practice

Impromptu speaking is talking about something you have not prepared. It is the skill behind answering a question in a meeting, introducing yourself, or filling a gap when the plan falls apart. The way to get better at it is to do it often, in short rounds.

This page gives you a topic, thirty seconds to think and up to two minutes to speak. While you think, hold on to one shape: make your point, give a reason, give an example, and say your point again. That is PREP, and it helps because it gives your mind something to reach for when the topic is new.

When you finish you see how long you spoke, how many words came out and your pace. Treat the pace as a mirror, not a grade. A fast take can mean nerves, and a slow one can mean you were searching for the next idea. Try the same topic twice and see what changes.

1. Get a topic. Pick a kind of topic and press the button.
2. Think for 30 seconds. Plan one point, one reason and one example.
3. Speak. Talk for up to two minutes, then see your time, words and pace.

Speaking on a topic with little or no preparation, such as answering a question in a meeting or introducing yourself. You build the skill with short, frequent practice.

Choose one point, one reason and one example, and plan to say your point again at the end. That shape is called PREP.

We never receive or store your voice or the text. Your browser's speech recognition may send audio to its maker (Google in Chrome, Apple in Safari) to turn it into words.

The speech recognition built into browsers removes words like um and uh before we see them, so any count would be too low. Exprea measures them from the recording itself, in the app.