Speech Topics

Author Archive

Keep in mind, that almost all demonstration speeches are judged on style rather than the content. Make sure to provide an audience analysis so that you don’t end up giving presentation about the theory of relativity to 12 year old kids.

• How to use a washing machine
• How to make fruit salad
• How to make lemonade
• How to make your own valentine card
• How to make a kite
• How to take photographs
• How to clean a keyboard
• How to sponge paint a wall
• How to make a God’s Eye
• How to make a book cover
• How to make beer
• How to make a balloon animal
• How to carve a pumpkin
• How to make ice cream
• How to host a party
• How to treat a bee sting
• How to bake cookies
• How to perform a magic trick
• How to set up a gold fish bowl
• How to paint
• How to wrap a present
• How to sew
• How to arrange flowers
• How to tie a tie
• How to play the guitar
• How to shoot for a film

Here is a list of funny speech topics. Keep in mind that funny speeches can be informative or persuasive. The funniest speeches come from some of the most simple of subjects.

For example, the late comedian, George Carlin, came up with the funniest topics by simply looking at the world around him and asking the question, “Why is that?” Why is a hot dog called a “hot dog”? Where did the name come from? And, speaking of hot dogs…

• What 5 things can you do with a hot dog besides eating it?
• The advantages and disadvantages of wearing long pants or skirts/dresses
• The best optical illusions to create the look of a clean house before parents come home.
• How to keep a very boring conversation going at a party.
• Ways to use stickers that aren’t sticky anymore.
• How to make a 3-course meal using a coffee maker.
• Foolproof ways to avoid someone you don’t like.
• 5 things you can do with the lint from a dryer.
• What it’s like raising an obnoxious pet.
• The craziest thing you ever tried to cook or bake.
• Nutty ways to condition your hair so you can save money.
• 5-10 off-beat ways to raise money for a good cause.
• How many ways can you change the letters in your name to show different sides of your personality.
• How to make your bedroom look clean in less than 5 minutes.
• What to do with gum in places you can’t chew it.
• How to hide food you hate on a plate, napkin, in a glass, etc.
• The best hiding places for your most treasured stuff.
• What do you think your teacher does when not teaching?
• If you were President, how would you make life more fun?
• 10 reasons why you shouldn’t have to clean your room every day.
• Things you should never say or ask on a first date.

Related

How To Write A Speech

Best Informative Speech Topics

5 Phrases You Never Want To Hear In A Speech

A list of persuasive speech topics for 3-5 minutes

1. Quit Making Excuses
2. Spend Some Time With Yourself
3. Figure out What you Want-Then Go Get It
4. Stop Talking and Start Doing
5. Stop Being – Start Living
6. Stop Being a People Pleaser
7. Discover Your True Abilities
8. Curb Obesity in Children
9. Control Your Emotions With Meditation
10. Don’t Worry Be Happy
11. Pro-Life or Pro-Choice It doesn’t Matter
12. Are You a Dangerous Drinker?
13. Use Your Sixth Sense
14. Friend or Acquaintance -Do You Know?
15. Endings or Beginnings
16. Get Out Of Bed
17. Eliminate Self Imposed Age Discrimination
18. Guess Your True Independence
19. Organ Donation
20. Get Happy – Easy As 1-2-3
21. Get Independent
22. Acquire Your Communication Skills
23. What Drives You
24. Recognize The Power Of Intuition
25. Setting Goals Could Be A Set Up
26. Cults
27. Picking The Right Partner In Only 5 Steps
28. Think Before You Share Your Secrets
29. Happiness – What To Do To Create It
30. Depression and Pregnancy
31. No Really…Who Are You?
32. Step Into The Good Life – Change It Up
33. Being Different – That Makes Two Of Us

Related:

• How To Write A Speech
• Informative Speech Topics

OK, so you’ve chosen a subject, written your speech, and right away you’re ready to speak, or are you?

This article will help you to prepare mentally and physically for giving a speech so that you can do your best!

Steps:

1. Exercise your speech using your draft. Do this a few times and each time use your outline less and less.

2. Digest your outline into 15 words that you are able to put on your note card. As you become familiar with the flow of your speech this will become simpler. These should be keywords that can help you to remember the flow of the presentation. Do not learn the speech but memorize the flow.

3. Exercise your speech using your notecard. If you are practicing any visual aids add those as well.

4. Time yourself. When exercising, time yourself to make sure that you are close to your time goal. At this point, your presentation better be a little too long (few minutes or so for a 10 minute speech) because once you actually present you will do faster than when you exercise (This won’t happen as much as you increase experience).

5. Animate the place where you will give your speech and exercise there, as realistically as possible. This will allow you to draw a realistic picture in your head as to what your speech will look like. Bring in some friends to listen as well. Feedback is always fine.

6. Do not overdo it! You do not want your speech to look rehearsed, it should be really natural and conversational, so do not exercise too much.

7. Have a good night’s sleep. You want to be fresh when it comes time to speak!

8. Have a good meal, but do not overeat. You do not want your stomach grumbling, but you also do not want to be groggy.

9. Deal with those nerves. The tips below might help you to deal with your nervousness. Remember though, a bit of nerves is good, it helps you to present with excitement and passion.

Tips:

Visualize success. Keep in mind, you care about what you’re saying, you’ve put in the time and effort and you’ll do fine!

Think truthfully. If you’re giving a controversial speech or one that the audience perhaps doesn’t want to hear, think realistically do not picture roaring applause but do picture them respecting what you have to tell.

Be comfortable in silence. There’s no need to say “hm” or extra filler words. Pauses are to your advantage. Use them to emphasise crucial points or if you need time to think, just keep in mind that no one is speeding you, they have given you time to speak, do it well.

Release nervous energy. If you’re really anxious before presenting, bend your calves or ball up your fists. This will help to abolish the adrenaline going through your body because of your excitement. If you begin to shake while presenting make a couple steps, whenever possible, this will as well get rid of some of that energy and give you a chance to regain control of those muscles.

Tips concerning presentation style. As you comply the above steps, not only will you get into a rhythm in speaking, but you’ll as well become more and more aware of what your body is doing when you speak. Here are some basic tips regarding presentation style.

Stand strong! To spread your weight out equally, your feet should be a couple of inches apart (a bit less than shoulder width). This will help you to stop shaking from side to side and allow you to stand with confidence.

Dress to impress! It’s very important what you’re wearing. You should dress in an appropriate style for the occasion and for your subject.

Start with a deep breath. Before starting to speak, look at your notes, look at the audience, make a deep breath (but not a loud one), and begin!

Speak so that everybody can hear and understand! You need to speak with a good pace that displays your excitement and heat about your subject, but do not speak too fast! You also will want to speak so that everyone in the room can hear, but don’t deafen them!

Use your style to your advantage! Be yourself. Formulas of presentation are tools that you have to your advantage and disposal, you can decide to use them to emphasise your points and enthusiasm or they can use you to emphasise your nervousness and lack of self-confidence!

[Via WikiHow]

Related:

How To Write A Speech

5 Phrases You Never Want To Hear In A Speech

Best Informative Speech Topics

The best informative speech topics are normally related to current events and how the world around us affects us in our individual lives.

Here is a list of speech topics sure to cause discussion—and be remembered:

1. Speeches about money: the best ways to save it, spend it, and earn it.

2. Why is NASA going to cut more trips to outer space? Also, consider writing a speech on the most important advances made in NASA such as the Hubble.

3. Why has there been an increase in law-breaking? Which crimes are on the rise and why?

4. On this day in history, what remarkable things were happening during different years?

5. What does social responsibility mean to you? Consider writing a speech about how you contribute to your community and why it’s important for each person to assume responsibility.
6. Write a speech about what you think people’s greatest fears are and why. Along the same lines, where do phobias come from?

7. Write a speech about how television commercials slant viewpoints (such as “being the best) or why sometimes television news is slanted. Who owns the station and why do they allow slanted or biased views to air?

8. Write a speech about how you would overcome poverty and why poverty is still a problem in major countries such as the United States, Australia, Great Britain, and Canada. How did the poverty begin?

9. Write a speech about why the strawberry is considered a part of the rose family or why tomatoes are considered fruit.

10. Which is worse: life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty? Write a speech about your views on each or both and explain the impact on society.

11. Write a speech about how women are different from men.

12. What experience have you had that has made the biggest impact on your life?

13. Write a speech about how to start a charitable event, what charity you would choose, and why.

14. Write a speech about how outsourcing jobs has affected your country.

15. Do you think global warming is true? Write a speech about what each person can do to help curb global warming.

16. What is your favorite book of all time? If it was/is a best-seller, why do you think so many other people like the same book you do?

17. Write a speech about why people should know another language (be bi-lingual). Why would this be so important?

18. What does it take to be a great leader? Write your speech around confidence, knowledge, communication skills, and other qualities that make people leaders.

19. Write a speech about gun control: do you believe in it or oppose more restrictions on personal ownership of weapons.

20. Is the “doomsday” date of December 21, 2012 just another Y2K? Write a speech about why you think it is or isn’t due to differences.

21. Do you think immigration laws should be tougher or more lenient? Consider writing a speech about an ancestor who immigrated to the country you reside in and what the ‘rules’ were then.

22. Write a speech about why certain prejudices still exist and why people should be treated equally.

23. Write a speech about your experience writing your speech! How did you find your topic, how did you begin writing it, and if memorization and/or ‘props’ such as a PowerPoint presentation or handout enhances or detracts from a speech.

24. Do you think there should be more restrictions on imports from third-world countries? For example, there have been issues with tainted wheat imported into the United States from China.

25. Write a speech about the widespread obesity problem in children, along with the rise in their getting diabetes. What makes a person obese; not reading food labels, not having regular balanced meals, etc.

26. Is purchasing goods and services over the internet better than buying products or hiring people locally? Write a speech about the differences.

27. Write a speech about advances in medical research. You can choose one area, such as cancer, or sum up several other areas.

28. Write a speech about the differences between pharmaceutical drugs versus home remedies.

29. Write a speech about your country’s biggest asset and its history (such as oil, for example).

30. Are polar bears and penguins endangered? Write a speech as to how this has occurred.

Tips:

Keep your speech to the point.

Limit your speech to 10 minutes.

Practice your speech in front of a mirror.

Make sure you’ve researched your speech topic.

Let others read or listen to your speech and ask for their critiques.

Writing a speech is in a lot of ways like writing a paper, except that there’s no punishment for spelling and punctuation mistakes.  Some slang is even acceptable as long as it’s not offensive to your listeners.

Avoid using words you are not well-off pronouncing or do not know the meaning of because it can lead to a less fluently presented speech. Here are a few steps to help you:

Steps:

1. Keep in mind that all great speeches and even some not so great, require shape.

The old saying is hard to beat: “Tell them what you will tell them then tell them what you told them.”

2. “Shake hands with the audience.” You have something worth saying. One great speaker always began like this:

“Before I begin this speech, I have something to say.”

This passage was composed in a style that enabled him to reclaim a mighty tone for the informative portion of his remarks. Smile, calm down, and then get to work. You might want to start with a breaking one-liner or an anecdote.

3. Rise to the occasion.

To put it differently, feel passionately about your subject.

Remember old Uncle Bob’s tear jerking toast at the wedding? Even average folks can deliver great moments if they rise to the occasion. Make the audience feel how important the topic is to you, so that they begin to think about why they should care.

4. Focus.

A “great “speech doesn’t need to begin great and stay great to the end. It engages the listeners. It makes allowances for a dip in interest in the middle. Then, it gathers anticipation for its key moment.

John Stuart Mill, the political economist, defined the orator’s art this way: “Everything important to his purpose was said at the exact moment when he had brought the minds of his audience into the state most fitted to receive it.”

5. Build clear and sensible sequences from one thought to another.

The biggest mistake writers make is to assume people will follow their leaps of logic.

Spell out to the audience when you’re taking a turn in your thoughts with phrases like: “This brings us to the bigger problem of,” and so forth.

6. Add purpose.

A speech should be made for a reason. To inspire, to instruct, to rally, and to lead are solid purposes. To sound off, to flatter, or to bound are not.

7. Know your topic.

Whenever you can’t answer “what are you going to say?” in a single sentence, do yourself and the audience a favor: decline the presentation.

8. Write with one particular person in mind, someone you actually know.

This helps you to keep the message real and personable. This helps you anticipate reactions and keep your language down to earth.

9. Deliver the goods.

Delivery is the essence of eloquence. It requires exercise, discipline, drill, and timing.

You can be your own trainer. As you develop self-confidence, you put the audience at ease, or make them sit up.

Your eye is in contact with the people, not the page. If looking at people directly makes you nervous, try looking between them, at something on the back wall or somewhere else – as long as it looks you are establishing eye-contact. Your professional passion is contagious so use gestures to emphasize points, and make sure your tone of voice and facial expressions are appropriate for the topic.

10. Give your audience a sense of completion.

Bring them back to the beginning, but with a louder spirit.

This better be done by beginning the last paragraph with a calm, declaratory sentence; it should form in a series of semicolons; it should use the puissance of parallelism.

It had better reach to the farthest rafter and bounce with the action and heat of our time, and, forgetting everything else, it had better associate with grabbing each listener by his or her lapels and shout to their hearts and souls to say, “This is the end of the best speech you will ever have the good fortune to experience!”

11. Start writing as if you are creating an essay or informative article.

Read your draft aloud to check the flow. Listen to a recording. The style should be different than a typical essay or article. You can’t have paragraphs that go on and on.

*Rather than pack your talk with boring facts and figures, give them a handout (AFTER your talk). It’s OK to repeat or revisit important points for emphasis.

12. A speech can be a great promotion for your business.

Make communicating with your audience a breeze, with a well-written, well-rehearsed speech notes.

Tips:

• You may feel instant, sustained clapping punctuated by the occasional “Well done” and the present initiate punk who crinkles his brow and wonders out loud, “But what was really said?”
• Each person in the audience experiences your speech as an individual. Speak to them as individuals, by using words like “you” and “your” instead of “all of you” or “everybody here”; it is more direct and compelling, and will engage each member of your audience, whether it be five or five thousand.
• Focus your attention on one individual at a time, just as you would in normal, everyday conversation. This will help to relax you, and mitigate the fear of speaking to very large crowds. Shift your focus around the room, to different sections of your audience. By including every area, even when you might not be able see them individually, each person will feel as if you are speaking directly to them, not at them.
• Most speakers deal with the eye contact issue by twisting their body from side to side. They look from side to side as if watching a tennis match. Don’t make this mistake. Make eye contact using comfortable, natural body and head motions with meaningful glances at different areas.
• Smile from time to time but refrain from grinning like an idiot.
• Consider your audience’s frame of reference. A simple way to do it is to think about: Who’s in the audience? Why are they here? And after hearing your speech what’s the first thing you would like them to do or say to someone else perhaps?
• Don’t read your speech. Speak it from memory. You may miss a couple minor points (and even a major one), but if you can’t remember it long enough to say it, why would anyone else remember long enough to act on it?
• If you are not a seasoned speaker, it is fine to read your speech as long as your delivery isn’t stilted and amateurish like a kid reading from a textbook. You may not have time for memorization. If not, don’t be embarrassed to read your speech. Getting your message out counts the most. Look up and smile from time to time to let the audience know you haven’t forgotten them.
• Nearly everyone can recall an early experience when they were obsessed with memorization and all of a sudden drew a blank. It can derail a presentation. Be comfortable with your subject and have the bullet points on a few 3×5 cards. Calm down and do not be afraid about flawless delivery; your audience probably will not hold it against you.
• Try using an impressive pause to underline a crucial point. Stop talking for a second and look as if you are pondering your next words.
• Vary the speed of delivery and the loudness of your voice. Talk faster and louder when moving on to a new thought. Speak slowly and lower your voice for emphasis.
• You might want to play if you lived for this presentation your entire life and give it everything you got.
• You are able to drive back a fear of gibing a speech buy learning your topic. Having a commanding knowledge of your topic will show in you, just like not knowing your topic will show-even more so.
• Practice your speech with someone else if possible, and ask him/her for input.
• People say “Thank you” to signal that, yes, the speech is over. It is a very weak ending to a speech. You really shouldn’t thank the audience, any more than they should thank you. You’ve given the people a significant experience and they’ve given you their enthusiastic attention. Call it even.
• End your speech with the final forceful sentence. Signal the end simply by smiling and stepping away from the lectern or podium. If you didn’t use a lectern (always a good idea), smile and wave, take a bow, or move to shake hands with someone to signal the end of your dazzling performance. The speech itself might have been a snore fest but at least you’ll have a polished exit.
• If the speech is followed by questions/answers, it’s OK to come BACK to the podium or front of the room when the applause dies down. You don’t have to stay up there.
• Whenever you’re delivering solemn speech, chuck the smile. Make your voice and facial expression sincere and serious at all times. Just emulate a newscaster when they are bringing sad news.
• A legendary actor used this formula to give him confidence in front of people: Imagine a ray of energy emanating from deep in the earth and radiating up through your heels, up your spine, and then throughout your body. Keep this image in the back of your mind as you deliver your lines (er, speech).
• If you have a lot of time to practice, you might want to try some gestures. It’s better than stuffing your hands in your pockets or folded with the fingers laced. However, if your gestures are awkward and distracting, keep your hands in your pockets.
• Watch President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural speech. JFK made up stabbing your closed hand forward while touching your thumb with your bend forefinger. A lot of major public figures now use that trick.
• You better think before including flip charts into your presentation. Eventually you will find yourself paying too much attention to your flip chart and not the audience. People will be distracted by your scribbling or watching you blunder with your demonstrations. Speakers like stage props because they can help taking away the focus. Use whatever best suits you.
• Who better to write your introduction than you? Before your speech, contact the person who will be introducing you and give them your introduction. Unless they are a total idiot, they will be thankful that you saved them the chore of drafting your introduction.
• Be conscious of ummms and ahhhs. Speakers use these as filler for pauses, to let people know they haven’t finished their thought. They make you sound hesitant and unsure, however. Too many ummms and ahhhs get to be annoying. It’s OK to let silence intrude on your sentence.
• You better avoid the mannerism called “uppertalk” It’s the ending words with a question. Not only is it annoying? It makes you sound inexperienced and very uncertain of yourself. No one will be able to stand to listen to you?

Warnings

• Don’t be a windbag. Time your speech in a few practice runs. If it goes more than five minutes you had better be a spellbinding speaker. The typical amateur speaker will have the audience checking their watches in about two minutes. Keep in mind, Lincoln only needed a few minutes for the Gettysburg Address!

Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world’s largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Write a Speech. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

Giving a good speech can be difficult but writing a good speech is probably the biggest hurdle most people have difficulty overcoming.

Not only in your writing should you show you know what you’re talking about, but bad habits and lack of training and knowing your topic well will show.

Those things are what bring on the “butterflies”: lack of experience speaking before a group, lack of coherency and good information in your speech to make it memorable, and just plain lack of knowledge in knowing what NOT to say.

Here are some things to be sure to keep OUT while you are giving your speech:

Read the rest of this entry »