TJ Walker explains when to stick to your script and when to loosen up. Stay close for introductions and key points, then add examples and rephrase to sound natural. He used about 96% scripted content in his own talk, with spontaneous additions to avoid sounding robotic.
Ultimize. This is something people ask all the time. When should I stick to the script and when should I go off script? And the answer is not random. There is a pattern. There are moments where it makes sense to stay close to the script and moments where it makes sense to loosen it up. Let me break it down for you. I tend to stay closer to the script when I'm introducing an idea. Or when I'm making a very specific point, something I want to say clearly, something I don't want to ramble on. I want to get it precisely the right way. That's where structure helps. That's where a script keeps me tight. But once the idea is introduced, I sometimes loosen up. I expand. I explain in a slightly different way. I might repeat it. Oh yeah, can I repeat it? I add a quick example. That's where natural speech comes in. So it becomes a rhythm, structured, then flexible, then structured again. Another place I stay close to the script is at transitions, moving from one idea to the next, because that's where people can sometimes lose track. So I make sure those moments are clear, clean, intentional, but within the sections themselves, I allow variety. A little variation here and there. Now, here's something important. Going off script doesn't mean going off track and getting lost. You still have direction. You still know where you're going. You're just not locked into exact wording. And that's the difference. Because if you go completely off script, you can risk getting lost, appearing to ramble. But if you stay completely on the script, never changing one word, just going with what's on the page, You risk sounding stiff. So again, it's a balance. Use the script for clarity, use your voice for connection, and the more you practice this, the easier it becomes. You'll start to feel when to stay tight and when to open it up, and that's when your delivery really starts to feel natural. By the way, 96% roughly of everything I've said in this lecture was on the screen. I'm reading it to you, but I did vary at certain points. I added a few things like what I'm doing right now. That's what makes it all come across as natural.
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