TABLE TOPICS ​speaker

Table Topics™ is the impromptu speaking exercise that has been a long-standing Toastmasters tradition. A fantastic way to get speakers thinking on their feet, organise their thoughts quickly and attempt to respond to a random question or topic.

If you are called upon to answer a table topic, don't panic, remember everyone in the audience has been in your position. 
Try to relax (take a deep breath if you have to) and enjoy yourself. You will get better at quickly accessing information from your memory each time you step up for a topic.

Tips and strategies:
  • Preparation - can you prepare for an impromptu question? If the meeting has a theme, the topics questions can often be related, so spend five minutes in advance of the meeting contemplating the theme and its possible you may recall a story or anecdote that fits.
  • Begin by greeting the audience and smile, repeat the question back if you have to, this will buy you thinking time!
  • Received a tricky question that you have no knowledge on? Try bridging to get you from what you don't know to what you do know.
  • Similarly you can reframe or redefine a topic if it's not right for you - try rephrasing the question or even challenging it, then going on to explain what the given question could/should be and your response.
  • Does the topic remind you of a quote, joke, or saying? Use it to start your response and develop your answer from there. 
  • If there is a word-of-the-day try and use it in your answer.
  • Often you will have  a gut reaction to a topic, follow your instincts and just go with whatever train of thought has been implanted. If an idea pops into your head, start talking about it, don't reject it in the hope a bigger idea will come along.
  • Try to go beyond answering the question and try to develop a mini speech, with an opening, body and conclusion
  • Remember the 'rule of three' and add structure to your speech i.e. give your opinion and three supporting reasons. Make three points.
  • Use the 'six honest serving men' technique (based on a Rudyard Kipling poem) i.e. what, why, when, how, where and who to trigger ideas. For example: What was my favorite holiday? Why did I go there? When did I take the trip? How did I travel? Where did I stay? Who did I meet?) 
  • Know when to stop, you only have up to 2 minutes, so instead of rambling, recap the main points of your answer and finish with a punchy ending.
  • Draw on your own experience, it's easier to talk about yourself, and a personal answer will often connect with the audience better than other answers.
  • Be humorous, entertaining, eccentric, unconventional or unusual (e.g. delivering your response in character). In fact, try anything that grabs the audience attention. 
  • Keep doing table topics. The more you do it, the less nervous you’ll become, the easier you’ll find it and the more you’ll enjoy it.
Examples of the role being performed can be found on YouTube!