Hi, I'm Ramona J. Smith , Toastmasters International
2018 World Champion of Public Speaking. 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. My
involvement in Toastmasters has taught me how to find speech inspiration everywhere, and I m going
to pass along some key insights to you today.
One of the most common fears is the fear of
public speaking, and one reason people dread it is because they picture themselves at a loss
for words. It can be terrifying, but Toastmasters 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?
Think about your personal experience.
A few specific areas in your life might
hold the most interesting speech topics. They might be your interests, your career, your
family, or your education. What you do day-to-day, such as your job or your favorite activities
or hobbies, can offer a lot of choices: do you work with interesting people in an
exciting setting, or do something unique?
What can you tell people about your family?
Do you have secrets for getting along? How would you describe your education? Did,
or do, you attend a remarkable school?
Of course, there are many more fascinating topics
in your life, all you need to do is share them. For example, what adventures have you been on?
Have you climbed a mountain or won a 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 prepare it yourself, what's the recipe?
I know you could spend some time
answering any one of these questions. Of course, talking about
yourself is just the beginning.
Check reference materials.
When you're looking for topics, there are four major resources that can
help you: websites, newspapers, books, and magazines are all packed with stories and
facts 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 would like to visit. Think of
how you can describe these in your speech. Check news sources for stories about Canada
and the regions that you plan to visit. Visit the library or the bookstore and look at
books and travel magazines for more ideas.
Research can help you sound 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 sights? 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 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?
Focus on your audience s needs.
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, focus your speech on the topics that
will engage that particular group. 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.
Recognize the occasion
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 about a business benefitting you,
your family, or an organization important to you. You could research the company to
learn more about it in general. Then, keeping it in line with your event, you could
speak about ways everyone can benefit from the products or services offered by the business.
As you can see, you can easily narrow your topic by audience and event, but there's
still one more way to narrow it down.
Are you qualified to speak on a topic?
While you can probably speak on just about any
topic with the proper research, there might be limitations to consider. First, if the audience is
composed of experts in a field who are expecting a speech from one of their peers, you may not
qualify to cover some topics for that group.
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 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 can take command of your speeches. And remember,
topics are everywhere.