Choose a topic
The Global Toastmasters Resource
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[edit] Topic choosing Tips
Find out about your Audience first. Find out what their needs are. Find a topic to answer those needs. A good place to start is with
- current events (newspapers, other media)
- personal experience
- your hobbies - know your audience. Do your club members have an understanding of the basics of your hobby or the terms used in it.
- your work - there are things that you have learned though your work what would be useful to people not in your profession.
- books you may have read recently
The trick is to be as relevant as you can to the audience who is listening to you.
[edit] YOUR LIFE
- Buying a house. Where to buy, what to move. How the moving goes.
- Buying a new car. How to make the decision. What colour you want. Why you're not buying that sports car you've always wanted.
- Financial advice. Those "financial advisors" are so difficult to understand. Contradictory advice you get.
- Factors that influenced you or changed your life/way of thinking
Can you think of any more? click on "edit" and add them.
[edit] FAMOUS PEOPLE
- Explorers
- Musicians
- Painters
- Bushrangers
- Vocalists
- Generals
- Writers
- Performers
- Millionaires
- Athletes
- Politicians
- Business Tycoons
- Social Reformers
Can you think of any more? click on "edit" and add them.
[edit] SCIENCE
- Solar system
- Universe
- Astronomy
- Geology
- Volcanoes
- Tidal waves
- Earth quakes
- Magnetism
- Nuclear energy
- Caving
- Marine World
- Nanotechnology
- Stem Cells
Can you think of any more? click on "edit" and add them.
[edit] MECHANICAL, TECHNICAL
- Waterways
- Radar
- Digital cameras
- Under the ocean railways
- Solar Energy
[edit] TRAVEL / TRANSPORT
- Transport: Camels, elephants, balloons
- Countries
- Space travel
- Hiking
- Taxis
- Road Accidents
- Bikes versus cars
[edit] SPORT
- Shot put
- Weight lifting
- Scuba
- Snorkelling
- Table Tennis
- Chess
- Volley Ball
- Tennis
- Golf
- Water-ski
- Skydiving
- Abseiling
- Soccer
[edit] CURRENT AFFAIRS
- Privacy
- Migration
- Unions
- Multinationals
- Royalty
[edit] POLITICAL
- Local municipal elections
- What does "Right Wing" and "Left Wing" mean
- Is Politics important?
[edit] EDUCATION
- Home schooling
- Standards of universities
- How to achieve Happiness?
- How does distance education help?
- Role of part time jobs in education
Can you think of any more? click on "edit" and add them.
[edit] CULTURE
- National pride
- Fairy tales
- Superstitions
- Proverbs
- Conspiracy theories
Can you think of any more? click on "edit" and add them.
[edit] Choosing a speech title
If you can’t write your message in a sentence, you can’t say it in an hour – Powerful thought, don’t you think? When choosing a title for your speech, ask the following questions:
Does the title:
- Stress benefits, not features?
- Stress results over process?
- Stress the WIIFM (What’s In It For Me?) factor?
- Instantly reflect major objectives you wish to accomplish?
- Suggest a personal tangible goal?
- Reflect the concerns or problems facing the industry/situation?
- Suggest action?
- Lend itself to dramatization?
- Contain an element of mystery?
- Stimulate the imagination?
And last but not least …
- Is it relevant to the theme?
I have heard some speeches (not Toastmaster speeches) where the title of the speech and the content had nothing in common. It was not even related.
Be creative - if the title of your speech captures the audience’s attention, you are halfway there. -- Louise Howell, 4th Dimension Toastmasters
[edit] Sample Speeches and Speech Titles
Click on the "Edit" button on the right hand side and slightly above the "Speech Bank" title to leave your speech title. Reading other speech titles may give you inspiration for your next speech.
- We Are All Individuals (Erich Viedge, Humorous Speech Contest, Area H3-74. Not placed)
Need more speeches?
Go to this link: Kammacon#Humorous_competition for a summary of the District 74 Humorous contest speeches from October 2005.
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