Choosing a topic for a speech can be a huge undertaking. You may feel that you have an unlimited number of topics, but there are strategies that can help you narrow down your choices. To find the perfect topic for your speech, you need to weigh your knowledge and interests as well as who your audience is and what your goals are. If you want to know how to choose a speech topic to applaud, follow these steps.
Step
Method 1 of 3: Consider the Purpose of the Speech
Step 1. Watch the event
Knowing the event you're giving your speech at can really help you decide on a topic. The topic of your speech will depend on the type of event; celebratory, just playful, something solemn or professional state. Here are some ways how events can influence the topic of your speech:
- At a solemn event, such as a funeral, your topic should be serious and relevant to the situation.
- At fun events, like toasts or bachelor parties, provide funny anecdotes and stories to make people laugh-not stories about your hobby of collecting coins.
- At a celebratory event, such as a wedding, you should be able to convey light humor as well as some sentimental and important points.
- At professional events, talk about professional topics and not your personal experience.
Step 2. Consider the purpose of the speech
The purpose of the speech depends on the event and the goals you want to achieve through your speech. Your goal can be to inform, persuade or simply entertain the audience. Speech can serve several purposes, but it's important to stay acquainted with some of the most basic ones:
- Giving information. To inform your audience, you must provide relevant, detailed facts about the topic that can help them see something simple more deeply, or learn about a very unfamiliar subject. #*Persuasion. To persuade an audience, you must use rhetorical techniques, metaphors, and provide convincing evidence from experts to suggest they should do something, from electing you as a leader, doing recycling, or volunteering to help the community.
- Entertain. To entertain the audience, use anecdotal or personal examples, tell funny stories, and make the audience laugh, even if you are actually communicating a serious message.
- Celebration. If you're celebrating a person or event, you need to be able to pinpoint what makes this person or occasion so special, as well as garner enthusiasm for your subject.
Step 3. Know what topics to avoid
If you want to choose a topic that is both purposeful and relevant to the occasion, you will need to eliminate some topics before you even begin to sort out ideas. That way, you won't offend or bore listeners with your ideas. Here are a few things to help you cross ideas off your topic list:
- Don't choose something very complicated that's too difficult to convey. If you choose something complicated, it will be difficult to explain in a short time, without a presentation or graphs and diagrams, and you will lose the interest of your audience.
- Don't choose something too simple that can be captured in a minute or two. If your topic is too basic, you'll only end up repeating sentences and losing interest in the audience. You can catch the listener's attention what will be conveyed below.
- Don't choose anything too controversial. Unless you're at a convention for controversial speeches, it's best to avoid overly controversial topics like abortion or gun control. Of course, if the purpose of your speech is to persuade the audience to side with one of these issues, you should address the topic, but know that you will lose a lot of listeners before you even begin.
- Don't choose something that doesn't match the listener's mood. On the occasion of celebration, do not give speeches about irrigation; On professional occasions, don't talk about how much you love your mother.
Method 2 of 3: Considering the Type of Audience
Step 1. Consider the knowledge the audience has
If you want to build a relationship with your audience, you should consider their knowledge before choosing a topic. If you are giving a speech to a group that wants to be a writer, you can name the author and use literary terms; if you are speaking to a group with limited knowledge of writing, be careful when making literary references.
If you're speaking to a group that understands the topic, don't waste time discussing the most basic of the topic
Step 2. Consider the educational level of your listeners
If you are speaking at a conference for young professionals, you can use more complicated terms and longer explanations. However, if the speech is in front of high school students, try changing terms and rephrasing them to get the listener's attention.
You don't want to lose your audience by talking about something that is way beyond their capabilities or by delivering a speech so easily that it seems condescending
Step 3. Consider the needs and interests of the audience
What do you think will grab the attention of the audience? Try to put yourself in their shoes and jot down all the things they might be interested in; a teen audience will care about things very much differently than a middle-aged listener.
Imagine yourself as one of the members of the audience. If they are teenagers, imagine yourself as a teenager. Try to see the choice of topics based on their perspective. If the choice is boring or too difficult, it's not the right topic
Step 4. Consider the demographics of the audience
Knowing the age, gender, or origin of your audience can help choose a topic. If most attendees are over the age of 65, most likely fashion trends at fashion shows aren't the right topic; if most of your audience is under 20, don't talk about saving for retirement.
- If your audience is mostly male, for example, you can choose a topic that is gender-neutral, or a topic that is more male-lean.
- Knowing the ethnicity/race of your audience can help determine the topic. If the listeners come from various regions, talking about inter-ethnic relations or about diversity can interest your listeners, but if you are talking about diversity, inter-ethnic marriage or discrimination against one ethnic group that is not present in the audience or the audience is homogeneous, then your discussion will be flat.
- Consider where your audience is from. Some special topics, for example, will attract more people from Magelang than people from Surabaya and vice versa.
Step 5. Consider the audience's relationship with you
If you're giving a speech to friends or family, you can be more personal than if you're giving a speech to people you don't know. If you are giving a speech to your employees, the tone will be different than if you were giving it to your boss. Adjust the tone and content of the speech.
Method 3 of 3: Consider Your Interests and Knowledge
Step 1. Choose a topic that interests you
If you choose something you are interested in, it will be seen and felt by the audience. Choosing something that interests you can make you more passionate about coming up with ideas and delivering your speech.
If you have limited time and can't figure out what you're really interested in, you should at least pick something you enjoy or are passionate about to make the writing and delivery process easier
Step 2. Choose a topic that you are good at
If you're giving a speech at a professional conference, it makes sense to choose a topic of expertise to give the speech credibility. But even if you're not giving a speech in a professional setting or on some complicated topic, still choose something you're good at, whether it's about baseball or about your neighborhood. You can even start making a list of the things you're good at, whether it's family, career, politics, gardening, pets or affairs.
- You don't need to know everything to deliver a great speech. You can pick something you know and complete it after doing a little extra research.
- If you choose a topic that you understand well, but still needs research, make sure it's an easy topic to research. If the topic has not been widely researched, it will be difficult to find information about it.
Step 3. Choose something that interests you
It may relate to literature, film, sports, foreign films, or even gender relations. You can also always search for cross-category related themes such as “loss of purity”. Make a list of all the hobbies you have, your interests and see what makes for a compelling speech.
You may find that what you are interested in is different from what you know
Step 4. Choose a hot topic
If there's a topic that's always on the news, you can use it as part of your speech. It can be controversial like same-sex marriage or gun control, but if the occasion is right, you can deliver a speech about something that is warm and gives a new perspective on the situation.
- Read national and local newspapers, listen to the radio and read the news to see what people are talking about and how people react to these issues.
- You can also choose something that is hot in your community. If there is controversy about the new public school policy at the local level, you can use it as an issue in a speech.
- You can choose something warm for your audience. If you're talking to a third grader in high school, you can tell them about the next stage of life after graduation, and bring up some relevant issues and information from the news.
Step 5. Choose something related to personal experience
If it fits the opportunity, you can talk about it. This could be related to a parent, sibling, friend or personal struggle or a formative stage of your life. Make sure the information is not so personal as to make the audience uncomfortable, or too close to you that you can't talk about it without getting too emotional.
Remember that you can add personal information on less personal topics; You can talk about aspects of your career, for example, while providing a personal anecdote
Step 6. Choose a topic you can talk about
You must be able to deliver a speech with clarity and confidence. This means you have to be strong enough to cover topics that inform, persuade or entertain an audience. This means the audience must trust you with the subject; if you are an only child, avoid giving speeches about the importance of having siblings; if you haven't gone to college, it can be difficult to give a speech about the importance of choosing the right major.
Whatever the topic, you need to be able to connect with your audience through your speech. At the end of the speech, even in the speech, you must be able to reach the audience so that they fully understand the topic you are conveying. If you don't have the ability to really relate to the audience, choose another topic
Tips
- A good resource for learning public speaking is Toastmaster International. These clubs are all over the world and for just a small fee you can hone your speaking skills in a friendly and supportive atmosphere.
- Resources that can help are the how-to guides and the list of ideas from the Speech Topics Help.
