Interview Tips on Extempore Speech: Spoken or Performed Without Preparation

Extempore Speech:  Spoken or Performed Without Preparation, Interview Tips

 Extempore speech is usually the first round of an interview. Compared to the personal introduction round, extempore is more stressful. The stress is due to the inability of the candidate to say meaningful things about the given word or phrase, for more than 60 seconds, and less than 120 seconds. That is just one to two minutes, of course! During a real life situation, it seems to stretch to eternity!

 

 Question: what does the interviewer expect from the candidate in this round?

 

 Answer: the interviewer wants to screen a large number of sub standard, below par applicants in a very short period of time. They do not wish to interview everyone because that is too much work and too time consuming. In simple words, it is the elimination round.

 In this tricky situation then, what strategy should a candidate adopt?

1.    Pay attention to your first impression;  for example,  personal grooming,  professional dress and gait ( style of walking)

2.    Relate the given word or phrase to some positive idea. This suggestion is based upon the personality projection theory from psychoanalysis.

3.    Start by speaking slowly.  End slowly as well.

4.     Tell a personal story with the human touch.

5.    Use humour if you can. Bring emotions, at least.

6.    Adopt open & forward body language.

7.    Look at the audience all around, not just  at the selector. Don't avoid eye contact.

8.    Work on voice modulation.

9.    Smile.

10.               Use quotations, common proverbs, famous sayings for creating intellectual impact.

 

 Let us discuss these points one by one.

The first point is about first impression. In interview world, there is a common error made by selectors everywhere. It is called the Devil's horn effect. Sometimes the interviewer dislikes one aspect of a candidate so much, that it colours their judgement negatively. Because of this effect, even a good candidate may get rejected because of a single factor not liked by the interviewer. Just make sure that this factor it is not how you look, walk or talk.

 Personality Projection is the concept that a candidate can only see or notice in the world, and the people around, that already lies in the mind, characters and behaviour of their own. By attributing negative qualities towards other people, the candidate reveals his or her own weaknesses.

 We need to speak slowly in the beginning because of the stage fear, nervousness, anxiety of rejection and fear of failure. The speech of individuals deteriorates under difficult circumstances.

 The whole world loves a story and no one likes boring lectures.

 Humour and emotions make us appear human too,  and this influencers the selector to be able to relate to us. 

  Open body language implies that the candidate will not shy away from looking straight in the eyes of the people. It also means not crossing arms across chest and even crossing the legs while standing. Closed body language indicates fear and diffidence, whereas open body language shows, an honest and fearless personality. Forward body language is like leaning towards the person or people you are interacting with.   Leaning the body away,   or pointing one of the limbs, or the head away from people reveals our reluctance to connect to them.

 Avoiding eye contact is a sure shot indication of shy and nervous personality.

Voice modulation is a very simple concept. It requires you to bring in variety in voice, with the changes in pitch, loudness and speed.  The voice without modulation is known as monotone, which means speaking in a single tone. Naturally it sounds flat, boring and may convey mental depression in the applicant, or lack of interest for the job, or the company, in the candidate.

 Smile relaxes your tense facial muscles, jaws and neck  muscles. This improve your appearance, and prevents your speech from being affected  by this nervousness.

 Quotations of famous people proverbs sayings are pieces of refined wisdom with which no one can argue. It also shows a certain level of wisdom and maturity in the candidate.

 Finally remember that the best method of learning any skill is repeating that skill so many times, that it becomes a habit and second nature. However do not go on repeating without expert feedback and continuous improvement. Record a video of your performance to see your own mistakes. Most people are too diplomatic to say anything critical to anyone.

 

 Presentation by Praveen Jha

 Senior lecturer

 Institute of Hotel Management, Hajipur

 District- Vaishali, Bihar

 June 15, 2020