Selecting a speech topic can seem overwhelming. This presentation is designed to help you find and refine a topic that you and your audience will love.

1. Speech
Topic
Selection

2. Selecting a speech topic is difficult
when there are so many choices…

3. To help you narrow things down,
there are several things you need
to consider…
The Assignment Requirements
Your Knowledge/Passions
Your Audience
The next slides will cover each one of these in turn.

4. The Assignment Requirements
 Time Limits
 What topic would fit the time frame? For example, a
five minute speech on dog care might focus on one
specific aspect (like nutrition) where a ten minute
speech might cover nutrition, oral care, and proper
exercise.
 Type of speech
 Does the assignment call for an informative
speech (education), a persuasive speech
(influence), a demonstration speech (how-to),
special occasion (wedding toast, eulogy, etc.), or
a speech to entertain (humor)? The type of
speech that your assignment calls for will
naturally lend itself to some topics and make
others inappropriate.
 Visual Aids
 If the requirements call for visual aids, you
may find that some topics are easier to
illustrate than others.

5. If you don’t care about your topic,
why should the audience care?

6. Case in Point: The Hockey Story.
I once had a student who was truly passionate about hockey. He
went through some struggles trying to find a way to share his passion in a
way that would interest his audience. His first submission for his informative
or persuasive speech was “How to properly tape a hockey stick”. I explained
that was a demonstration topic and too simple to fill a five minute speech, so
it didn’t fit the assignment.
His second attempt was “To persuade people to play hockey”. Since
the likelihood that college students are looking to invest a lot of time and
money in a new sport that is highly physically demanding is low, this topic
didn’t seem to fit the audiences’ interests.
After we talked for awhile about what aspect of hockey would fit this
audience, we settled on a goal for his speech of trying to convince people to
watch a hockey game. This was perfect for an audience that was largely
unfamiliar with hockey. He engaged football fans with comparisons to that
sport and engaged the ladies with pictures and profiles of hunky players. He
focused on the drama and excitement of the game, rather than lists of rules
or details of its’ history. He succeeded in creating a speech about something
he loved that his audience found interesting.

8. Who is your audience
for this speech?
College Students AND One Cranky, Old Professor!

9. Who is your audience
for this speech?
College Students AND One Cranky, Old Professor!
They are mostly between
18-22, unmarried, and have
no kids so they are generally
not interested in why they
should save for retirement or
why our schools need to
keep music programs.

10. Who is your audience
for this speech?
College Students AND One Cranky, Old Professor!
She is not interested in
hearing profanity,
learning how to build a
microbrewery in your
dorm room, or getting
a list of the best hook-
up apps.

11. Topic Better Topic Why?
Why you should recycle. 10 things you didn’t know you
can recycle.
People already know the basics of
recycling, you need to give them
new information.
The dangers of being
overweight.
How to make healthier choices
at your favorite fast-food
places.
People know that being
overweight is bad for them, but
the second topic gives them
practical tips that are easy to
implement.
Why a vegetarian diet is
better than eating meat.
Going meatless one day a
week can save you money,
help you stay in shape, and
save the planet.
People rarely make radical
changes overnight, giving them
one easy step is more likely to
produce lasting change.
Why the Ravens (or
whichever team you support)
are the best team.
What professional football can
teach us about life.
You have to ask yourself, how
does it benefit the audience to
know this information? While the
first topic may appeal to a small
number of like-minded fans, the
second can be relevant to anyone.

12. Case in point: Another speech about
drinking and driving!
When I ask students how many of them have heard a
speech on drunk driving, most of them raise their hand. They
have heard the statistics about how many people are killed
each year by drunk drivers, learned how many beers it takes
the average guy to be considered “legally” intoxicated, and
seen horrific images of mangled cars. It all seems pretty
routine and audiences tune out pretty fast.
Then a student propose a different twist on the topic.
She had actually had a DUI and had to have a “blow and go”
system installed in her car for over a year. She talked about
how expensive, inconvenient, and embarrassing it was to
have the device. However, she admitted that having to be so
conscious of her alcohol consumption for that year, made her
much more responsible and aware of the risks she had been
taking.
Her unique approach to this over done topic had the
students hanging on every word!

13. I hope that this information has helped
you chose a topic that you and your
audience will love!