Want To Stop Rambling? Start Here.
Most people ramble when they speak at work.
Not because they talk too much.
But because they start in the wrong place.
That’s the first thing I taught in the opening week of The Impromptu Speakers Academy in early May.
And since you're subscribed to the Career Comms newsletter, I want to show you what you missed in The ISA—and what’s waiting for you inside the course when I re-open it later this summer. Join the waitlist HERE for a early bird discount.
Why most people get tripped up
When people feel put on the spot—whether it's a big meeting, a live Q&A, or a surprise check-in with a senior exec—there’s one common reaction:
They default to proving themselves.
- They list their credentials.
- They explain the backstory.
- They walk through the process.
By the time they get to the point, the room has already checked out.
And worse, they walk away thinking, “I should’ve sounded more confident.”
Here’s what I teach instead
Before you speak—especially in high-stakes moments—you need to run your message through a simple but powerful tool we call the 5-Part Approach:
- Audience – Who are they really? What do they care about?
- Setting – What’s the format? 1:1? Large meeting? Virtual? Is it a discussion or an update?
- Attitudes – What’s their mindset toward you and this topic?
- Gift Statement – What do you want them to know, feel, and do?
- Opening Line – What are you actually going to say to start strong?
This approach forces clarity before you ever open your mouth.
And it works across languages, industries, and experience levels.
The idea: help your audience go from their current state (audience / setting / attitudes) to their ideal state (your Gift Statement -- more on this later).
Once you know where you're guiding them, you'll know how to start your message.
The heart of it: your Gift Statement
Most people speak from expectation.
They’re hoping to impress. Hoping to get it right. Hoping to be seen.
We flip that.
Inside ISA, we teach students to speak from intention.
We call this the Gift Not Expectation framework.
Before you speak, ask yourself:
And structure it like this:
This is your Gift Statement. It’s your internal compass. It defines the ideal future state of what your audience should know, feel, and do by the end of your talk.
And here are a few Gift Statement examples:
But here’s the catch: You don’t say it out loud.
The challenge: translating internal to external
This was one of the biggest takeaways during Week 1 of the live ISA cohort.
Because once you define your gift, the next challenge is: How do you turn that into a compelling, natural opening line?
Let me show you how this played out with two students: Randy and Tanya.
Case Study 1: Randy reframes a team brainstorm
Randy leads product at a Fortune 100 tech company and was prepping for a brainstorm with his cross-functional team. He felt pressure to cover everything. Align everyone. Sound decisive.
We used the 5-Part Approach.
His gift statement was:
Great intent. But not something you’d say verbatim.
So we helped him turn that into an external opening lines:
Same goal. Way more engaging.
This is the kind of transformation that happens every week in ISA.
Case Study 2: Tanya reclaims the narrative
Tanya had to deliver an executive update after a tough quarter.
Her instinct? Start with what went wrong. She opened with:
That’s what many people default to—lead with the apology, then explain.
But when we walked through her Gift Statement, everything shifted.
She realized:
So we coached her to lead with a win and reframe it as a massive improvement -- even though she didn't technically meet the target:
Same facts. New energy. Clear emotion.
She sounded more confident—not because she practiced a script, but because she practiced intention.
You’ll learn how to do this too
When the self-paced version of ISA opens up, this is what you’ll get:
- The 5-Part Approach in depth
- Applications of The Gift Not Expectation framework
- Real examples like Carlos and Tanya
- Exercises to help you write your own Gift Statements
- Tools to translate those gifts into natural-sounding opening lines
And most importantly: You’ll stop rambling—because you’ll know exactly how to start.
Join the waitlist
The next time you’re asked to “give a quick update,” imagine being able to organize your thoughts in 15 seconds, speak with clarity, and actually sound confident.
That’s what we’re building this course to help you do.
If you haven’t already, make sure you’re on the waitlist to get early access as soon as it’s ready:
Can’t wait to share what’s next. If you have any questions, feel free to hit reply.
Preston