Impromptu Speaking Practice Questions | SpeakCalmHQ
Use these prompts to boost your speaking skills. Practice alone at home or with others in a supportive setting. Begin by speaking for 30 seconds and gradually try talking for a full minute.
Super Easy | Easy | Medium | Mix: Easy-Difficult | Interview
Super Easy – good starter questions
Say as much or as little as you want. If you are new and have high anxiety in a practice group, start slow by saying one word and work up as you get more comfortable.
- What is your favorite holiday?
- What is your favorite season?
- What’s your favorite food?
- What is your favorite [xx]?
- What do you like about where you live?
- Where would you like to travel?
Easy
Once your anxiety reduces below a 4 with Super Easy questions, practice these.
- Would you go ice fishing?
- Which activities make you lose track of time?
- If you had to teach something, what would you teach?
- What makes you smile?
- Where would you most like to go and why?
- What do you imagine yourself doing ten years from now?
- What one thing have you not done that you really want to do?
- What is your number one goal for the next six months?
- What do you do over and over again that you hate doing?
- What is your favorite fictional story (movie, story)
- What things should always be free?
- What do you love to do?
- What is your favorite time of year?
- What is your favorite place on earth?
- Which one of your responsibilities do you wish you could get rid of?
- What’s something you don’t like to do that you are still really good at?
- What’s the closest you have ever come to fearing for your life?
- What’s something you wish you had done earlier in your life?
Medium
Once your anxiety reduces below a 4 with Easy questions, practice these.
- When was the last time you tried something new?
- What gets you excited about life?
- What do you wish you spent more time doing five years ago?
- What can you do today that you were not capable of a year ago?
- When you are 80-years-old, what will matter to you the most?
- If you had the opportunity to get a message across to a large group of people, what would your message be?
- If the average human lifespan was 40 years, how would you live your life differently?
- Would you rather have less work or more work you actually enjoy doing?
- What is the most desirable trait another person can possess?
- What are you most grateful for?
- What lifts your spirits when life gets you down?
- If you had the chance to go back in time and change one thing would you do it?
- If a doctor gave you five years to live, what would you try to accomplish?
- What is your happiest childhood memory? What makes it so special?
- Would you rather lose all of your old memories or never be able to make new ones?
Mix – Easy to Difficult
Difficult questions include controversial topics where you have to express an opinion in a group. They require you to collect your thoughts on challenging topics as you speak.
- If you had to describe your anxiety right now as a weather pattern, what’s your forecast?
- “If you could erase from your brain one piece of knowledge (memory, or fact/set of facts) what would it be?”
- Tell a lie and a true thing about yourself. Let others guess which is which.
- How did you get your name? Talk about your family or other context about your name.
- What would you write on a gigantic billboard if you could?
- Without using the title of your job, tell me what you do.
- Imagine you could devote a year to researching someone’s biography. Who would your subject be?
- What question do you wish people would ask you?
- If you were a boat, what kind of boat would you be? And why?
- What topic do you wish was a college major but isn’t?
- What are you looking forward to right now?
- What is a boring fact about yourself?
- Which book did you read in college or high school that was actually interesting enough that you still think or talk about it
- What’s something new you’ve learned about yourself in the last three months?
- How would you describe yourself as a teenager?
- If you had a personal chef coming over to make you dinner (and money is not an issue) what would you ask them to prepare for you?
- What can you speak about, with no advance preparation, for 30 minutes?
- How did you spend time regrettably last week, and if you could retroactively get that time back, how would you spend it?
- “Build” your dream strip mall, with five chain establishments — the strip mall of your heart.
- If you were able to chat with an animal for 5 minutes: which one would it be, and what would you tell or ask?
- You’re the organizer of a music festival; pick any two music headliners, living or dead.
- What’s something you believe in but can’t prove?
- What animal would you ride into battle?
- What is a smell that brings back a very strong memory for you?
- If the story of your life is 300 pages long — what’s on page 283?
- Describe your first car, and what it meant for you.
- Using only food: Where did you grow up?
- If you were a vending machine, what would you dispense?
- If you could rule for a day, what would your first decree be?
- “Please tell me about a career milestone you achieved. Just a marker of success, however you define it.”
- What’s the worst advice you’ve ever been given?
- What dream have you never forgotten
- “What olympic event would you do, if you could do any, no previous experience or talent required?”
- “What is your most memorable experience involving an animal?”
- “When were you sure a bad outcome would be your ruin, but in fact it turned out to your benefit?
- If you could be part of any world record, what would it be?
- If you were alive in [time period X], what do you think your line of work would have been or how would you have earned a living?
- Do you believe in destiny, or in the power of free will?
- What’s your favorite-ever celebrity sighting? If you haven’t seen a celebrity, which famous person would you like to meet?
- What major historical event occurred during your lifetime?
- What was your favorite activity as a 10-year-old?
- What is the dumbest thing you made your parents buy for you as a kid?
- What’s a habit you’ve started as an adult that you now wish you could break?
- What was your first concert?
- What is your favorite body of water?
- What’s the worst prediction you ever made?
- What would you do if I gave you a billion dollars?
- Have you ever quit doing something that you used to really like doing? Do you regret it? Or are you happy you quit?
- Of the places you have lived or spent significant time, which one had the most pleasing view out the front door/main window/etc for you and why?
- Tell me about a time when you changed your mind.
- What is your earliest memory?
- Tell me something about yourself that I could never tell from looking at you.
- If you could say one sentence to your pet and know they would understand it, what would you say?
- Tell me about something you love doing that you’re terrible at. And tell me about something you really do not like doing that you’re great at.
- Would you rather be able to speak every language in the world fluently, or be able to play every musical instrument
- What are you into now that you never thought you would be into? And conversely, What’s something you used to be into that you’re not anymore?
- What is a supposedly fun thing that you did — that you’ll never do again?
- What is something you didn’t like but you are glad happened?When did you last step outside your comfort zone?
- Who do you find yourself comparing yourself to?
- What’s the smartest advice you’ve ever heard?
- What gives you energy and excitement in life?
- Which lesson did you have to learn the hard way?
- What do you wish you had spent more time doing five years ago?
- Do you ask enough questions or accept what you know without digging deeper?
- Who do you care about and what do you do to show it?
- What’s an opinion you have that many people disagree with?
- What is something you can do now that you couldn’t do a year ago?
- Is crying a weakness or a strength?
- What would you try if you knew nobody would criticize you?
- Do you take time to appreciate what you have?
- How is living different from just going through the motions?
- If you’re not acting now, when will you?
- Have you done anything recently that stands out?
- What brings you joy today?
- Can silence be a way of lying?
- If someone spoke to you the way you speak to yourself, would you want that person as a friend?
- What activities make you forget about time?
- If you had to teach something, what would you choose?
- What would you regret never trying, being, or having?
- Is there something you’re holding onto that you should let go?
- What will matter most to you at age 80?
- When is it time to stop weighing options and just do what feels right?
- If you didn’t know your age, how old would you feel?
- Would you risk breaking the law to save someone you love?
- What brings a smile to your face?
- Will you talk more or accomplish more by the end of your life?
- If you could share one message with a large audience, what would it be?
- If people only lived to 40, how would you live differently?
- Besides genetics, what makes us all human?
- Which book should every high school student read?
- Would you prefer a lighter workload or a job you truly enjoy, even if it means working more?
- What beliefs would you go to war for?
- Which is worse: failing or never taking the risk?
- When did you last notice the sound of your breathing?
- What’s something you do differently from most people?
- How do you define the American Dream?
- Would you rather be a stressed-out genius or a happy simple person?
- What advice would you plant in a newborn’s mind?
- What trait do you value most in others?
- What are you most thankful for right now?
- Is stealing to feed a starving child wrong?
- What do you want more than anything right now?
- Are you more focused on doing things right or doing the right things?
- What has life taught you lately?
- What change would you like to see in the world?
- Where do you look for inspiration?
- Can you sum up your life in six words?
- If learning from mistakes helps us grow, why are we afraid to make them?
- How do you want to affect the world around you?
- What event has shaped who you are the most?
- In your daily routine, what do you often overlook?
- Why do people spend so much time on things they dislike and skip things they enjoy?
- What helps lift your mood when things get tough?
- Have you ever regretted not speaking or taking action?
- Has your worst fear ever come true?
- Why do we often think more about people after they’re gone?
- What is your favorite childhood memory?
- Is loving others more important than being loved?
- If everything you’ve done came back to you, would it help or hurt?
- If you could go back and change one thing in your past, would you?
- If a doctor told you you had five years left, what would you try to achieve?
- How do you see the difference between falling in love and truly loving someone?
- What obstacles stand between you and being happy?
- What’s the difference between innocence and ignorance?
- What is the simplest truth you know?
- What gives your life meaning?
- Can there be happiness without sadness? Can there be pleasure without pain? Peace without conflict?
- How do you want to be remembered at the end of your life?
- Is perfection possible?
- How much control have you really had over your life’s direction?
- What does it mean to be human to you?
- If you could see your enemy’s heart, what might you find that is different from your own?
- What do you appreciate most about yourself?
- Where would you most like to travel and why?
- Is it better to do work you love or to learn to love what you’re doing?
- What do you picture yourself doing in ten years?
- What simple kindness has someone shown you that still stays with you?
- What is your happiest memory from childhood? Why does it stand out?
- Do you control your possessions or do your belongings control you?
- Would you rather lose all your memories or no longer be able to make new ones?
- How do you deal with powerful people who want to see you fail?
- What can’t you live without?
- What do you see when you close your eyes?
- What keeps you going each day?
- What five values are most important to you?
- Why is it sometimes necessary to let someone go even when you love them?
- Do you ever celebrate when things go well?
- What fears have shaped restrictions in your life?
- What is one thing you’ve always wanted to do but haven’t?
- Why are you the person you are?
- If you still haven’t reached your goal, what’s stopping you?
- What three words sum up your last three months?
- Is it ever okay to do something wrong?
- How do you define freedom?
- What’s the most important thing you can do for yourself right now?
- If you could ask anyone, living or dead, just one question, who would it be and what would you ask?
- If your happiness was measured like money, what job or activity would make you rich?
- What is your main goal for the next six months?
- Would you give up your life to save someone else?
- Are you satisfied with who you are?
- What does peace mean to you?
- Name three moral rules you will never break.
- What does it mean to let someone love you fully?
- Who or what comes to mind when you think of love?
- If your life was a book, what would you call it and how would the story end?
- What wouldn’t you trade for a million dollars?
- When do you feel most like yourself?
- When you help others, do you ever wonder what you’ll get back?
- What challenge feels the biggest to you right now?
- How do you know when to keep holding on or let go?
- What is your definition of success?
- If you could know exactly when you’ll die, would you want to know?
- If I granted a wish, what would you ask for?
- What have you read online lately that inspired or motivated you?
- Why do some religions that preach unity end up dividing people?
- If you could relive one day, which would you pick?
- What can’t money buy?
- If you died tomorrow, how would people remember you?
- Beyond your labels and titles, who are you?
- If you could restart a single day, what would you do differently?
- Can anyone know the truth without first questioning it?
- What single word describes your last month?
- What usually brings out a smile in people?
- What do you owe to yourself?
- What would your ‘priceless’ commercial look like?
- When did you prove to yourself that what seemed impossible could be done?
- What makes you important?
- In what ways have you changed in the past five years?
- What are you most certain about in your life?
- What do you think of first when you hear the word ‘home’?
- Where’s the line between settling for something and accepting it?
- How many of your friends would you trust with your life?
- How would you describe heaven?
- What do you value most that you own?
- How would you describe yourself in just one sentence?
- What gets between you and your happiness?
- What makes someone truly beautiful?
- Is there ever a good reason to give up?
- What makes you proud?
- How do you get the courage to do what you know is right?
- Where do you feel at peace?
- When did you work hard and love every minute of it?
- How much shorter would your life have to be before you’d change how you live now?
- Is it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved?
- If a mistake you made cost someone their life, what would you do?
- Who do you trust, and why?
- If you could keep just what fits in a backpack, what would you choose?
- When do you think silence speaks the most?
- How do you usually spend your free time?
- Who comes to mind when you think of success?
- What did you dream of becoming as a child?
- How will today affect your life in five years?
- How have you helped someone recently?
- What skill are you best at?
- Do you believe what you see, or see what you believe?
- How are you following your dreams at the moment?
- What big step should you take next for your growth?
- If today was your last, would you spend it doing what you have planned?
- If today was your last, who would you call and what would you say?
- Who appears in your dreams most often?
- What do you struggle to picture clearly in your head?
- What are you excited about right now?
- What is the one thing you must accomplish before you die?
- When does love become a weakness?
- What was the scariest moment of your life?
- Who is the toughest person you know?
- If you could snap one photo that reflects your life, what would it look like?
- Does the benefit ever truly outweigh the risk?
- What makes today worth showing up for?
- What did you do last year that you’re proud of?
- What did you learn lately that influenced how you live?
- What’s your favorite memory from the past three years?
- What are the core ingredients for a happy life?
- How would the world be different if you were never born?
- What song means the most to you, and why?
- Using what you have, what can you do now to move closer to your dream?
- What are your top three priorities in life?
- Why do we look up to athletes?
- What’s the kindest thing someone has done for you?
- When you picture your future, what do you see?
- What makes you angry?
- What important life lesson did you learn from your parents?
- How does love feel to you?
- What are your favorite little pleasures?
- If you could visit your younger self, what advice would you give?
- What things do you do just to impress other people?
- What will you never agree to do?
- Besides romance, who do you truly care for?
- What is a memory from your early childhood?
- What book shaped you the most?
- What three big questions do you wish you had answers to?
- When did you feel the strongest peer pressure?
- What’s the biggest lie you once believed?
- When did something you do hurt someone else?
- What do you enjoy most about getting older?
- What’s been on your mind lately?
- What do you think is worth waiting for?
- What risks do you wish you had taken?
- Where else would you love to live?
- What drives you to get up for work every day?
- If you could go back, what would you change about your choices?
- What’s your biggest strength, and what’s your greatest weakness?
- When did you last lie, and why?
- What made you smile this week?
- Where does most of your money go?
- What makes you want to do your best?
- When did you last lash out in anger, and why?
- What is something you’ll never give up on?
- When you think about your past, what do you miss most?
- How would you sum up this past year in one sentence?
- What’s the most impulsive thing you’ve ever done?
- What makes you feel uneasy?
- If you had to move 3,000 miles away, what would you miss most?
- What concerns you about the future?
- What’s one need and one want you aim to meet this year?
- What important lessons did you have to learn for yourself?
- Do you like where you live? Why or why not?
- What’s the best thing about being you?
- When you look back at the past month, what stands out?
- How do you handle stress?
- What’s your happiest memory?
- What’s your saddest memory?
- What do you most want to change?
- How many people do you love?
- What’s the best choice you’ve ever made?
- What’s your favorite true story to tell?
- Right now, what do you want most?
- What are you waiting for?
- What helps love last?
- What good can come out of suffering?
- What did you learn in the last year that stuck with you?
- If your days and habits stay the same, where will you be in five years?
- What big thing did you accomplish most recently?
- Through challenges, who has stood by your side?
- Who or what distracts you the most?
- What are you looking forward to next week?
- Who is your mentor, and what have they taught you?
- What are you unsure about right now?
- What do you usually think about before falling asleep?
- What’s something about you that surprises people?
- When you have a free hour, how do you usually spend it?
- What makes you unique?
- If you could redo yesterday, what would you change?
- What’s a habit you dislike but keep repeating?
- Would you rather your child be very smart and plain looking or very attractive but not as bright?
- What are the small lies you often tell?
- What is the biggest change you’ve made in your life this year?
- What do you understand now that you didn’t a year ago?
- Whose life have you influenced the most?
- What lesson did yesterday teach you?
- Who do you admire?
- What have you done that you wish you hadn’t?
- When should you break a promise of secrecy?
- How would you spend your perfect day?
- What key trait do you look for in a partner?
- What do you respect most about your parents?
- What’s the best advice you’ve been given?
- If eternal life were possible, would you want it? Why or why not?
- If you could switch lives with anyone for a day, who would you choose and why?
- What positive changes have you made recently?
- Who boosts your confidence?
- What’s your biggest regret so far?
- Which responsibility would you drop if you could?
- What’s something you dislike doing, but do well?
- What sort of people upset you the most?
- What do you feel is missing in your life?
- What’s your most noticeable physical feature?
- How has fear of failure held you back?
- Who do you most hope to please?
- If you could rewind the past week, what would you change?
- When meeting someone new, what impression do you want to make?
- Who would you choose to forgive?
- When in the last five years did you feel alone?
- What chance did you pass up as a child?
- What would you like to see more of in your life?
- What would you like to see less of?
- Who counts on you?
- Who has influenced you the most?
- Are you happy with your life? Why or why not?
- How might your life be different one year from now?
- How have you sabotaged yourself in the past five years?
- Besides money, what have you gained from your current job?
- Who do you secretly envy, and why?
- What do you want to remember about the next twenty years?
- What has you most excited right now?
- What experience from this year do you value the most?
- What’s the most enjoyable thing your family has done together during the past three years?
- How much TV do you watch each week?
- What biggest hurdle stands in your way today?
- What do you pretend to understand but don’t?
- What do you like most and least about your work?
- What recent discovery have you made about yourself?
- How would you sum up your relationship with your mother in one sentence?
- What event from this year shaped your life most?
- What’s the biggest change you should make in the next twelve months?
- What makes you feel safe and secure?
- What sound do you love most?
- What three qualities do you want in a friend?
- What act of kindness made you believe there’s still good in people?
- What is your favorite scent?
- What recent memory brings you the most joy?
- Choose one word to describe your childhood.
- What famous people do you admire, and why?
- What motivates you the most right now?
- What music cheers you up when you’re feeling low?
- If you had to spend $1,000 today, what would you buy?
- What made you laugh out loud last?
- What’s your biggest pet peeve?
- Who was the last person you said “I love you” to?
- What scares you the most?
- What have people complimented you on lately?
- How many friends do you keep in regular contact with offline?
- How much money lets you live comfortably each month?
- When were you completely wrong about someone at first?
- How many hours do you spend online in a week?
- What do you love doing most?
- What character trait do you want others to remember you for?
- Are you more like your mom or dad? In what ways?
- What’s the top quality a good leader should have?
- What bad habit do you most want to lose?
- Where is your favorite place on earth?
- What do you enjoy practicing?
- What questions keep coming back to you?
- What are you an expert at?
- What difference would an extra $1,000 a month make in your life?
- What do you think should always be free?
- When is your favorite time of year?
- What’s something you wished for as a child?
- What’s the last dream you remember?
- What leaves you feeling confused?
- How do you sometimes get in your own way?
- When did you avoid speaking up when you should have?
- What’s your favorite quote?
- What’s your favorite story, whether a book, movie, or fairy tale?
- Where or whom do you go to for wise advice?
- How do you express yourself artistically?
- Who or what do you see as humanity’s greatest enemy?
- What do you wish you’d done sooner?
- When did you fear for your life?
- How do you deal with feeling alone?
- What do you know well enough to teach someone else?
- What quick decision changed your life?
- What have you lost interest in lately?
- What makes life simpler?
- When did you last have an intense argument? What was it about?
- What is a job you could never do, no matter how much you would be paid?
- What’s the best way to heal the world?
- What could society manage without?
- What causes you the most stress?
- What did you do last week that still sticks with you?
- Where do you spend most of your waking hours?
- What qualities make someone a hero to you?
- When were you a victim of a stereotype?
- When did you last feel lucky?
- When did you realize that life is short?
- What action is the most insensitive?
- What grabs your attention right away?
- What do you think about while commuting home?
- What’s one drawback of modern living?
- What simple truth do you wish more people understood?
- If you had another shot, would you do anything differently?
- What three words describe your view of the future?
- What story are you writing with your life right now?
Interview Questions
- Tell me about yourself
- Tell me about your work experience
- Walk me through your resume
- How did you hear about this position
- Why do you want to work here
- Why do you want this job
- Why should we hire you
- What value do you bring to the table that we won’t find in other candidates
- What are your strengths
- What are your weaknesses
- What is your greatest professional achievement
- Tell me about a challenge or conflict you’ve faced at work, and how you handled it