Imagine you are scheduled to deliver a speech in two weeks. At first, you are excited about the opportunity. Very soon, however, a feeling of dread overwhelms you — what will your speech topic be?

Conventional wisdom says to talk about what you know, but conventional wisdom is only partially correct.

This article reveals three questions you must ask before choosing your speech topic, and how the answers lead you to great speech topics for you and your audience.

The Secret Three Questions

Before considering a speech topic, ask yourself these three questions:

1. Am I an expert on this topic?
   It isn’t necessary to know everything about a topic, but you do need to know more about the topic than your audience to be seen as a credible speaker. Your knowledge must cover not only what you plan to say, but go beyond that so that you are able to comfortably handle questions afterward.
2. Am I passionate about this topic?
   Passion for spreading your knowledge about a topic is the fuel that will power your speech delivery. Your posture, your gestures, your eyes, your facial expressions, and your energy level are all elevated when you talk about topics you enjoy. Likewise, all of these suffer when you talk about topics that you find mundane.
3. Does my audience care about this topic?
   If your audience doesn’t see value for themselves in your topic, there are two possibilities. Either they don’t show up, or they show up and tune out. In either case, you are wasting your breath. Every successful speech must contain explicit value for your audience.

Imagine you had an encyclopedia full of potential speech topics. (Actually, you do!) Based on the answers to the three questions above, you could sort every one of them into one of eight speech topic zones. Seven of these zones are flawed, but one is golden!

Zone 1: Perfect Speech Topics

Synopsis: You possess both knowledge and passion for the topic, and your audience wants you to share both.

This is the perfect combination, and the smart speaker draws speech topics from this zone all the time. Your knowledge of the topic assures that you’ll be confident. Your love of the topic assures that you’ll be passionate. On top of that, you have an enthusiastic, open audience.

Whether you end up speaking about topics in this zone by strategy or by luck, you’re in a great position to succeed. Speak and change the world!

But, what if you have to give a speech, and your topic isn’t in Zone 1? Does this mean you are destined to fail? Sometimes you are, and sometimes you aren’t. Read on to find what you can do to move topics into Zone 1 before you deliver them.

Zone 2: Content-Rich, but Passion-Free Speech Topics

Pros: Your expertise is solid, and your audience craves your knowledge. That’s a great fit.

Cons: There’s nothing about the topic that excites you. Consequently, speeches in this zone tend to be delivered with a monotone voice and body language which betrays your disinterest. In short, Zone 2 topics are snore-fests.

Can you transform this into a Zone 1 Topic?

Rediscover what motivated you to become an expert in the topic, and find your passion again.

Your audience is coming in with novice eyes, and this topic is full of exciting unknowns. Try to see the topic from their perspective. If you find this difficult, ask potential audience members what interests them about the topic. Their responses should rekindle your passion by reminding you that the topic is full of questions that need to be answered — and you have the answers!

Zone 3: Great Speech Topics for a Different Audience

Pros: You are an expert, and you love sharing that expertise with anyone who will listen.

Cons: Unfortunately, your audience does not fall within that group.

Can you transform this into a Zone 1 Topic?

There are two very different approaches you can take:

1. You’ve got to find the value for your audience. A great way to do this is by finding common ground between your speech topic and a subject that the audience does care about. Draw parallels, craft metaphors, and you can make this speech topic interesting to your audience.
2. Save this speech topic for a different audience. Out there, somewhere, there’s an audience that shares your passion and wants to hear what you have to say. You’ve just got to find them.

Zone 4: Fascinating Speech Topics You Know Nothing About

Pros: Both you and your audience are really excited about the lessons waiting to be revealed.

Cons: Unfortunately, you don’t know your stuff well enough to impart wisdom or convey meaning. Indeed, your audience may know as much or more than you!

Can you transform this into a Zone 1 Topic?

With these speech topics, you are standing in extremely fertile ground. Again, there are two approaches you can take:

1. Develop your expertise. It won’t happen overnight, but through hard work you can make it happen. Your passion and an eager audience (which have made this a Zone 4 topic) provide excellent motivation for you to succeed.
2. Admit the limits of your expertise, and ditch the traditional speech format for one where you are facilitating discussion instead. Under your leadership, the discussion can lead the audience to explore issues, brainstorm new ideas, and discover solutions collectively.

Zone 5: Speech Topics Someone Else Should Deliver

Pros: The audience is enthusiastic and receptive.

Cons: These speech topics don’t excite your heart or your intellect.

Can you transform this into a Zone 1 Topic?

Probably not, at least not for a long, long time. You need to develop some expertise, but that’s hard to do without passion for the topic. Cultivating passion is difficult without minimal expertise. You might eventually get there, but you would be more effective digging into other speech topics. Leave this topic for someone else to deliver.

Whatever you do, don’t try to bluff your way through a Zone 5 speech. The audience will sense your lack of knowledge and passion, and your credibility will be shattered.

Zone 6: Speech Topics that Don’t Even Interest You

Pros: You are an expert on the subject.

Cons: Neither you or your audience care.

Can you transform this into a Zone 1 Topic?

It will be very difficult. You’ll either have to kindle your own passion, or find meaning for the audience. If you get either one, that will help you with the other.

But, as with Zone 5, you should probably devote your energy elsewhere.

Zone 7: Personal Hobbies, Not Speech Topics

Pros: You are fascinated by the topic.

Cons: You are not yet an expert, and your audience does not share your fascination.

Can you transform this into a Zone 1 Topic?

Surprisingly, maybe. Having passion for a topic provides great motivation, and can motivate you to develop your own expertise, as well as seek out reasons why the audience should care. Compared to Zone 5 and Zone 6, Zone 7 is most likely to produce useful speech topics for you.

Zone 8: “Like-Watching-Paint-Dry” Topics

Pros: Eight is a nice number. (Er… no pros.)

Cons: You don’t know the material, or care about it much either. Your audience is apathetic too.

Can you transform this into a Zone 1 Topic?

No, you can’t. Don’t waste your time.

Example Scenario

Sadly, talks which fall into this dead zone are quite common. Think of mandatory seminars which employees must attend in the workplace. Perhaps your company purchased a training module, and it’s your job to deliver it to your fellow employees. You don’t know the topic very well, and it doesn’t excite you. Your audience’s attendance is mandatory, but they don’t really want to be there either.

A Multitude of Speech Topics for You

Okay, here’s your homework:

1. Brainstorm a list of topics. Don’t censor yourself. It can be anything that you could possibly talk about, or that you’ve ever heard of someone talking about.
2. Now, take the list and categorize them into one of the zones by asking yourself:
   • Am I an expert on this topic?
   • Am I passionate about this topic?
   • Is my audience interested in this topic?
3. The topics in Zone 1 are your best candidates. If there are none in Zone 1, check Zones 2, 3, and 4, and figure out what you need to do to get them into Zone 1.

Similar Articles You May Like... Speech Preparation #2: Selecting a Speech Topic 5 Speaking Resolutions to Wow Your Audience in 2012 3 Common Ways Speakers Sabotage Themselves How to Dress for Public Speaking Speechwriting Hocus Pocus: Summoning Your Magical Powers Speaking is a Team Sport: 3 Ways to be Responsive to Your Audience

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

Selecting a speech topic sometimes feels like shooting an arrow in a random direction and hoping that it hits a target. If this is your approach, you are probably quite frustrated.

Your topic — and, more specifically, your core message — must be selected carefully. If it isn’t, then you won’t be able to effectively deliver the speech, and your audience won’t be interested or prepared to receive your message.

This begs the question: How do you choose a great speech topic?

What is your general purpose?

There are three basic types of speeches:

1. Speeches that Educate
   e.g. a seminar about real estate investments; a course about leadership; a corporate briefing outlining the status of a pursuit
2. Speeches that Motivate
   e.g. a candidate’s election speech; a fundraising pitch; a business proposal to investors
3. Speeches that Entertain
   e.g. a story read to children; a dramatic tale; a humorous after-dinner speech

Decide which of these you want to accomplish as your general purpose. This decision will influence many decisions you make as you prepare for your speech, so it is important that you are clear on your overall motive.

What is your core message?

Your core message is the central idea of your presentation. All other speech elements should support the core message.

• Clarity: Aim to express your core message in a single sentence. If you cannot do this, you need more clarity.
• Passion: Your core message must be something you believe in.
• Knowledge: What do you know about this core message? Can you draw stories from personal experience? Have you researched the topic?

We like to believe that our entire presentation will be remembered. The reality is that the audience will retain only one or two points. Your speech should be designed to ensure that your audience remembers your core message.

How is this message related to the audience?

Your audience is not an innocent bystander who just happens to be in the room when you deliver your presentation. They are an integral part of the communication path. Great delivery by a speaker does not guarantee a successful speech; a successful speech is one where the audience receives the message.

Audience analysis is needed to determine which messages the audience is willing to receive from you:

• What are the key audience demographic?
  Are they technical or non-technical? Students? Elderly? Parents? Athletes? Business leaders? Predominantly male or female?
• How is your audience related to you?
  Is the audience filled with your peers? Subordinates? Superiors? Are you an outsider? Are you viewed as an expert? Are you unknown to them?
• How large is the audience?
  Is it small enough so that everyone will see sweat on your brow? Are you in a large theatre? Is the audience in the room, or is there a remote audience too? (Or a future video audience?)

• What message does the audience want to receive?
  This is just as important as asking what core message you want to deliver.
  • If you are passionate, but your audience doesn’t care, your presentation will fail. (They will tune out.)
  • If you deliver what the audience desires, but you don’t care, your presentation will fail. (Your delivery will be flat.)
  • If you attempt to speak on a topic where you have no expertise or experience to draw from, your presentation will fail. (Your content will be empty and shallow.)
  • However, if you find a topic where you have both expertise and passion, and the audience is interested, you will succeed.

What is the scope of your presentation?

Before you proceed, you still need to determine the scope of your presentation. The scope is naturally influenced by elements discussed earlier:

• Your general purpose
• Your core message
• The needs of your audience

There is one further key element to consider: what are the constraints on your presentation?

• How much time is allowed?
  Suppose your core message is “Live your dreams”. If you have two minutes, then the scope of your talk is probably going be one story illustrating that message. There’s no time for more. On the other hand, if you have four hours, then you may study biographical details of famous dreamers, discuss methods for aligning your life decisions with your dreams, or explore other avenues.
• What is the context of your presentation?
  There are dozens of factors that come into play which only you can know, but one of the most common is knowing whether or not others will be speaking at the same event on similar topics. If so, then your scope will generally be very narrow (and perhaps quite deep). If you are a keynote speaker and nobody else has touched on your domain, then you may choose to a broader, more shallow scope.

Example of Speech Topic Selection — Face the Wind

As we’ll do throughout the Speech Preparation articles, let’s see how these concepts were applied in a real-life speech: Face the Wind.

The genesis for this speech was a party conversation four months before the speech was written or delivered. Everyone was animated about the devastating impact of the recent wind storms on trees throughout the area. My friend relayed the theory of arborists as to why so many trees were knocked over in the storm. I was fascinated by the theory, and thought that I might someday craft a speech around that core idea.

Months later, with a speech contest on the horizon, I was searching for a speech topic. Maximus’ birth was a very recent joyous event in the family. I connected the determination of his parents with the theory of the fallen trees, and I felt that I had a core message: Face your problems head on!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Once I had that central idea, I questioned whether it would work for the contest speech:

• The only common characteristic of the audience is that they all live in British Columbia where the storm was a massive news story a few months prior. This common experience was an advantage since the audience already had vivid mental images of the storm and the trees.
• The context was the Toastmasters International speech contest. Any topic is allowed, but inspirational or motivational topics are most common. I had what I felt was a meaty topic; my general purpose was to motivate my audience.
• Not only was the core message not fluffy, but it has universal appeal. Everyone in the audience has problems, so everyone in the audience should be interested in the message.
• I believe in the core message, and I have personal experiences from which to draw speech content.
• The timing was approximately seven minutes. I judged this would be more than adequate to tell a few stories about trees, the storm, and baby Maximus, and to tie it all together.

Based on this preparation, I felt positive going forward to create an outline and write the first draft.

Next in the Speech Preparation Series

The next article in this series picks up where this one leaves off. Now that you’ve chosen a topic and a core message which will appeal to your audience, how do you begin the speechwriting process with a speech outline?

Similar Articles You May Like... The Secret of Choosing Successful Speech Topics 5 Speaking Resolutions to Wow Your Audience in 2012 3 Common Ways Speakers Sabotage Themselves How to Dress for Public Speaking Speechwriting Hocus Pocus: Summoning Your Magical Powers Speaking is a Team Sport: 3 Ways to be Responsive to Your Audience

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.