Impromptu

10The Scripting Template

Alcidamas, the fourth‐century BC rhetorician, believed in the importance of impromptu speaking, and he argued in his treatise On Composers of Written Speeches that impromptu speaking requires much more skill than scripted speaking. “If one who spends his time writing [speeches] changes over to extempore speeches,” he wrote, “he will have a mind full of helplessness, wandering and confusion.”¹ For this reason, Alcidamas argued that we should prepare our impromptu remarks in advance by mentally structuring what we will say.²

Wise advice. Whether you're delivering your impromptu remarks tomorrow, an hour from now, or in five seconds, plan what you'll say. The degree to which you can do this will depend upon how much time you have. But in every situation it's important to collect your thoughts rather than spew out whatever comes into your head. Winging it simply doesn't work for leaders. It causes the “wandering” and “confusion” Alcidamas mentions.

This chapter introduces the Leader's Script® template, a model for organizing your thinking in impromptu conversations. It was developed by The Humphrey Group, and is used in all of our training.

The Leader's Script Template

This easy‐to‐master template has a four‐part structure rooted in the fundamentals of persuasion.³ The diagram below shows the elements of this template.

The Leader's Script
Grabber:
Message:
Structure:
I.
II.
III.
Call to Action:

Here's how ...