hello I'm Cheyenne thanks for visiting Toastmasters International to learn more about finding speech topics since 1924 we've helped more than 4 million people gain the confidence to communicate in all circumstances one of the most demanding situations you'll ever face is speaking to an audience and it can be daunting thinking up topics for your speech so here are some - tested tips to help you select a topic and focus it for your audience and one of the most common fears is the fear of public speaking and one reason is that people dread the lectern because they picture themself at a loss for words it can be terrifying but Toast Masters knows that speech topics are all around us you just need to learn how to recognize them the best place to start looking for speech ideas is within yourself you're an interesting person did you know that a few specific areas in your life could hold speech topics they might be your interests your career your family or your education on the other hand your career can offer a lot of choices do you work with interesting people in an exciting setting or doing something unique alternately what can you tell people about your family what are your secrets for getting along how would you describe your education did you attend a remarkable School of course there are many more fascinating Topics in your life and all you need to do is ask yourself to reveal them for example what Adventures have you been on have you climbed the Eiffel Tower or won a TV game show what challenges have you faced in your life have you cared for a person who is ill what kind of friends do you have do you know people involved in interesting careers or other activities what's your favorite meal and if you're prepare at yourself what's the recipe now I know you could spend some time answering any one of these questions of course talking about yourself is just the beginning if you're still looking for topics it's time to look elsewhere four major resources can help you websites newspapers books and magazines are all packed with stories and facts that you can use to make great speeches let's say you've never traveled to Canada but you've always wanted to there's plenty you can do to prepare for a speech about the trip you would like to take visit websites for the country provinces territories cities and tourist attractions that you could describe check newspapers for stories about Canada and the regions that you plan to visit visit the library the bookstore and look at books and travel magazines for more ideas research can help you look like a travel agent and sell your trip to your listeners offer tips that they can't resist look up topics like what are the best deals what are the most amazing sites how would you travel from one place to another and how could you go on a small budget these are only a few ideas that you can find when reading through your reference materials you'll have so many things to talk about it could present a problem so how do you choose from all the information information you might have some big ideas in mind but they seem too broad for any one speech knowing your audience can solve this problem because you can focus on the information that they need to hear if you're speaking to a large audience composed of international business experts you may want to focus your speech on the appropriate topics for example instead of talking about Canada as a great vacation destination in general you could center your talk on the economic benefits of the country on the other hand if your audience is a small group of sports enthusiasts you could describe the Canadian ski trip of your dreams other factors you might want to include could be the audience's age range education interests and shared experiences another way to narrow down your topic is to make it relevant to the occasion or event where you'll be speaking for example if the event has a special theme you could concentrate on that let's say you've been asked to speak at a grand opening of a business that has come to your town you could research the company to find out more about it in general than keeping it in line with your event you could speak about the community's confidence in a prosperous future with our new partner so now you can narrow down your topic by audience and the event but there's still one more way to narrow it down well you can probably speak on just about any topic with a proper research there might be limitations to consider first if the audience is composed of experts in a field and are expecting a speech from one of their peers you may not qualify to offer certain speeches for example your audience may be a group of lawyers who are interested in receiving new information on personal injury lawsuits if you're not a lawyer you may not want to lecture them on case law however if you were in a car accident and as a result you experienced the effects of a particular kind of injury law you might have a powerful topic to speak about you could describe your own experiences including the challenges and rewards that came your way in the legal system of course a lot depends on how you address the material and ultimately you might win over any audience with any topic if you have enough enthusiasm and knowledge to capture their interest with these details you'll take command of your speeches and remember topics are everywhere for more information on finding speech topics please visit a Toast Master Club find a location near you at toastmasters.org