COM231 - BuchananChoosing an Informative Speech Topic An informative speaker aims to teach, to share something interesting with the audience. One of the keys to being an engaging speaker is choosing a topic in which you are authentically interested. When you speak about a topic that you find interesting, you set yourself up for more success in several key areas, for instance, audience relevance and personal credibility. In addition, you will enjoy the entire process more fully and your audience will enjoy listening to you! A few additional notes: · Since this is an Informative Speech, avoid advocating for a specific position about the topic. You will have the chance to speak about your position on a specific topic during our Persuasive Speech round. · Your speech must include the use of credible sources. · A crucial part of any speech is adapting the content to your audience. Be sure to pick a topic that you feel the audience should know about or would be interested in hearing. Carefully consider what your listeners might want to hear. A topic such as ‘Nutrition for Preschool Aged Children’ probably wouldn’t be too interesting to your target audience, right? · You may NOT use content from a paper or presentation you previously wrote for another class. This is called self-plagiarism.Ideas to Get You Thinking Here are some ideas and questions to get you started thinking about your topic. Questions to Consider What do you already know a lot about? What do you know that might be interesting to someone else? What would you like to learn more about? Take a look at the ‘Things to Explore’ category below. Does something you run across seem interesting? Take this opportunity to research the topic and become familiar with it. What current events interest you? Do you hear about topics in the news that you find interesting but don’t fully understand? This is an opportunity to dig in and bolster your understanding while also teaching us. Also related to current events, is something happening in our country, state, country, or world that you think the audience should know about? Look at the local news, what is happening around here? Or, broaden your scope and dig into things happening around the world. There is so much that goes on every day! Do you have an interesting family background? Maybe a family member is a war veteran or worked with the Civilian Conservation Corps. Provide an informative speech about that person, pulling in research on the historical event or activity. What are your future plans? What interesting new developments have there been recently in your field of study? Who founded your field of study? For instance, what were the earliest days of nursing like? Are you thinking of going into the Peace Corps? What is the history of the Peace Corps? Things to Explore News Magazines and Websites: Time Magazine, Newsweek, National Geographic, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, CNN, the list can go on and on here. Look beyond the obvious he ...

1. COM231 - BuchananChoosing an Informative Speech Topic
An informative speaker aims to teach, to share something
interesting with the audience. One of the keys to being an
engaging speaker is choosing a topic in which you are
authentically interested. When you speak about a topic that you
find interesting, you set yourself up for more success in several
key areas, for instance, audience relevance and personal
credibility. In addition, you will enjoy the entire process more
fully and your audience will enjoy listening to you!
A few additional notes:
· Since this is an Informative Speech, avoid advocating for a
specific position about the topic. You will have the chance to
speak about your position on a specific topic during our
Persuasive Speech round.
· Your speech must include the use of credible sources.
· A crucial part of any speech is adapting the content to your
audience. Be sure to pick a topic that you feel the audience
should know about or would be interested in hearing. Carefully
consider what your listeners might want to hear. A topic such as
‘Nutrition for Preschool Aged Children’ probably wouldn’t be
too interesting to your target audience, right?
· You may NOT use content from a paper or presentation you
previously wrote for another class. This is called self-
plagiarism.Ideas to Get You Thinking
Here are some ideas and questions to get you started thinking
about your topic.
Questions to Consider
What do you already know a lot about? What do you know that
might be interesting to someone else?
What would you like to learn more about? Take a look at the
‘Things to Explore’ category below. Does something you run
across seem interesting? Take this opportunity to research the
topic and become familiar with it.
What current events interest you? Do you hear about topics in

2. the news that you find interesting but don’t fully understand?
This is an opportunity to dig in and bolster your understanding
while also teaching us.
Also related to current events, is something happening in our
country, state, country, or world that you think the audience
should know about? Look at the local news, what is happening
around here? Or, broaden your scope and dig into things
happening around the world. There is so much that goes on
every day!
Do you have an interesting family background? Maybe a family
member is a war veteran or worked with the Civilian
Conservation Corps. Provide an informative speech about that
person, pulling in research on the historical event or activity.
What are your future plans? What interesting new developments
have there been recently in your field of study? Who founded
your field of study? For instance, what were the earliest days of
nursing like? Are you thinking of going into the Peace Corps?
What is the history of the Peace Corps?
Things to Explore
News Magazines and Websites: Time Magazine, Newsweek,
National Geographic, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today,
CNN, the list can go on and on here. Look beyond the obvious
headlines and check out the subheadings of topics like Health,
Tech, Money, etc. The websites will drive you toward the
headlines, but if you scroll around a little, you will also find the
subheadings.
Podcasts like Stuff You Should Know and Science Friday.
These are just two; there are many podcasts, of course. See if
you can find one that interests you and then scroll through that
podcast’s latest episodes.
Google Doodles Check out the different people and dates
celebrated through Google Doodles. Google it, you’ll see!
TED Talks TED Talks are a great way to start thinking of
topics. There is even a TED Talk blog that discusses interesting
TED Talks.

3. Mad, Sad, Glad
Take out a piece of paper. Make a list of things that make you
mad, sad, and glad. Spend some time on this and come up with a
good list of several things in each category. This might lead you
to some interesting possibilities for speech topics!Checklist for
Informative Speech Topic
1. Is my speech topic interesting to me? Does it pertain to me in
some way?
2. Is my topic researchable and supported by credible and peer
reviewed research?
3. Am I able to apply this topic to my audience and explain why
they should know about it?
2
The Religious Quest
Rev. Paul Hudec, PhD

4. What is the Religious Quest?
One can describe the Religious Quest as a simple sentence as if
it were being defined. But to capture our attention and interest,
let’s create or refer to a metaphor and work through it.

5. This Quest is like a Journey
Think of the Religious Quest as if it were a journey whether the

6. journey is a short one to the grocery store or to work or to a
vacation spot or to Mars.
What would this journey look like?

7. Grocery Store
The trip to the grocery store is usually a relatively short one
requiring a list of items and to a store that we are familiar with,
the journey is quite simple and short.

8. To Work
The drive (usually for most) to work is routine, involves rules,
and can include a lot of other people. But it is measured in
minutes or hour and if licensed and prepared is easy.

9. To a Vacation Spot
The drive or flight to a vacation spot requires more effort,
planning, resources, and cooperation especially if it is with
family or friends. There is no guarantee that expectations of
good weather or that one will experience fun, etc.

11. To Mars
The journey to Mars for humans has already being planned and
developed. The level of complexity, the amount of resources,
and the risk of disaster (and death) is very real.

12. Metaphors of the Religious Quest
An upcoming assignment will ask you to provide an image or
metaphor along with a narrative. This is just an example to
serve as a thoughtful and inviting one.

13. RELS1325 – Religious Quest
Week 4 Lecture – The Three Service Rules
Rev. Paul Hudec, PhD
As we begin this next topic in our Quest pertaining to the good
and bad and how these are treated in groups, small and large.
Because our challenge is a serious one in that it requires
thoughtfulness (time and commitment) and discovery (those
sources beyond ourselves that provide insightful, supported
thoughts as a quality source).
The weekly topic is religion and morality and while this is
something personal it is also public, i.e. group meaning that it is

14. beyond us as individuals. One of the common points made is the
Golden Rule. There are some very interesting sources that
explore the Golden Rule and I thought I would add the
following as we begin this week to both inform our work and to
lead us in our Quest. Consider the following:
Three Service Rules: The Golden Rule, Platinum Rule and
Double Platinum Rule
by: Bryan K. Williams, June 2007 http://www.hotel-
online.com/News/PR2007_2nd/Jun07_GoldenRule.html
Whenever I deliver a keynote, training workshop, or explain my
company’s service philosophy, I begin with an in-depth
discussion on the three service rules. They are the Golden Rule,
Platinum Rule, and Double Platinum Rule. Surely, you’ve
heard of the Golden Rule, which basically states that you should
treat others the way YOU want to be treated. Not everyone has
heard of the Platinum Rule, which focuses on treating people
the way THEY want to be treated. If you haven’t met me, then
chances are that you have not heard of the Double Platinum
Rule…that’s because I conceived it a few months ago. Knowing
the way my mind works, there will probably be a Triple-
Platinum Rule coming soon also. So before I get into the
Double-Platinum Rule and its implications for creating and
delivering an exceptional service experience, let’s discuss the
first two rules.
The Golden Rule
In one of my sessions recently, I asked for the meaning of the
Golden Rule, and someone blurted out, “He who has the gold
makes the rules!” Not quite the definition that most of us are
familiar with. In short, this rule is about treating others the way
you want to be treated. If I want to be treated nicely, then I
should treat others nicely…if I want to have doors opened for
me, then I should open doors for others…and if I want to be

15. greeted with a big hug and high-five wherever I go, then I
should give a big hug and high fives to others right?....Not so
fast. While the Golden Rule is a good baseline to have when
developing the empathy muscle, it only works when other
people want to be treated the way you want to be treated. To
put it another way…treating people the way you want to be
treated only works when other people want to be treated that
way. Otherwise, you may end up turning people off. This can
be a difficult pill to swallow for those who pride themselves on
knowing exactly what others want…even without asking them.
Why wouldn’t all guests want to have a personal escort and tour
to their room? Why wouldn’t everyone want to hear the
evening news in a taxicab? Why wouldn’t everyone want to be
told “Good Morning” and engaged in conversation? The point
here is that if you are committed to creating an exceptional
service experience for each customer, then each customer’s
wants, needs, and desires have to be acknowledged, celebrated,
and acted upon. Each guest must feel as though they are the
only ones in existence when being served. You owe it to them.
After all, chances are they had a choice whether to patronize
your business or not. Each time a customer, guest, or patient
chooses to be served by you, they are basically saying “I’ve
chosen you…now show me why I made the right decision”.
This now brings us to the next rule…
The Platinum Rule
If the Golden Rule is all about what you want, then the Platinum
Rule is about what your customers want. So the Platinum Rule
states, “Treat others the way THEY want to be treated”.
Although it sounds like common sense, it’s not as common as
you might think. This rule means that you recognize that
service is not about what you want to give; it’s about what
others want to receive. If you give me what I don’t want, then
you haven’t increased your value in my eyes. There must be a
deliberate effort to uncover your customer’s wants, needs, and
desires in order to take the guess work out of the equation. It
doesn’t matter if you “know what you’re talking about”. If you

16. haven’t captured information to support your hypotheses, then
it’s considered anecdotal. So my advice is to optimize the
various ways your customers can give you information. Use
telephone surveys, focus groups, questionnaires, feedback
cards, etc. Once you confidently know what your customers
want (because they’ve told you), then you can proceed with
meeting and exceeding those expectations. Of course, I thought
this all made perfect sense. After all, when it comes to service,
what else can be more important than giving customers what
they want? The answer hit me upside the head a few months
ago…
The Double Platinum Rule
I’ll explain this rule by giving you the inspiration behind it. A
few months ago, I went out to my car only to find that the front
right tire was stolen…completely gone! So after storming
around upset for a few minutes, I put on the spare wheel, and
drove to the nearby auto store. After explaining to the attendant
that my wheel was stolen, I proceeded to order a new wheel.
The attendant obliged and I was told that the wheel would arrive
by the following day. Great! As I was leaving the store, the
manager stopped me to ask if I got everything I wanted. After
telling him yes, I briefly explained my wheel mishap from that
morning. He then asked in a verifying manner, “So you also
ordered the wheel locks, right?” Now don’t laugh, but up to
that point, I had never heard of a wheel lock. The manager told
me that it prevents tires from being stolen, and I should
consider ordering some. So I went back to the attendant that I
placed the tire order with, and asked why he didn’t recommend
the wheel locks…especially after I told him that my wheel was
stolen. He then looked me in the eyes and said, “I was doing
my job and giving you what You wanted”. Wow, that’s the
Platinum Rule! The implications immediately hit me. The
attendant had given me what I wanted, but I was still upset. As
I was driving back home, I thought about the Platinum rule and
how it may not be sufficient in all situations. So the Double
Platinum rule is (you guessed it), “treat others the way they

17. don’t even know they want to be treated”. To boil it
down…anticipate, anticipate, anticipate. Don’t just meet your
customer’s expectations, EXCEED them.
Grounding your service strategy in the three Universal Service
Rules works well, because it heightens your empathy (Golden
Rule), encourages a keen focus on your customer’s expectations
(Platinum Rule), and challenges you to consistently think of
ways to exceed those expectations (Double Platinum Rule).
So I encourage you to share the rules with your team and no
matter which one is being discussed, you’ll know that service
excellence is top of mind.
(P.S. When the Triple-Platinum Rule hits me, you’ll be the first
to know!)
About B.Williams Enterprise, LLCB.Williams Enterprise, LLC
is a consulting, training, & auditing company which focuses on
service excellence. The goal is to assist organizations, in
various industries, to enhance their levels of customer service to
world-class levels. This can only be achieved by focusing on
service excellence as a way of doing business, rather than an
“initiative of the month”. Service excellence must be weaved
throughout the organization…at every level.
How the Platinum Rule Trumps the Golden Rule Every Time
How you want to be treated is not as important as how the other
person wants to be treated.
By Peter Economy
CREDIT: Getty Images
We've all heard of the Golden Rule, which goes something like
this: Do unto others as you would have them do to you. In other
words, treat other people--in business and in life--the way you
yourself would want to be treated.
Well, Dave Kerpen, author of the book The Art of People, says
that following the Golden Rule is all wrong. Instead, we should

18. follow what he calls the Platinum Rule.
Says Kerpen, "We all grow up learning about the simplicity and
power of the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would want
done to you. It's a splendid concept except for one thing:
Everyone is different, and the truth is that in many cases what
you'd want done to you is different from what your partner,
employee, customer, investor, wife, or child would want done to
him or her."
So Kerpen came up with the Platinum Rule: Do unto others as
they would want done to them. Says Kerpen, "The Golden Rule,
as great as it is, has limitations, since all people and all
situations are different. When you follow the Platinum Rule,
however, you can be sure you're actually doing what the other
person wants done and assure yourself of a better outcome."
In his book, Kerpen quotes a story that Dale Carnegie told in his
book How to Win Friends and Influence People which
illustrates the Platinum Rule:
Personally I am very fond of strawberries and cream, but I have
found that for some strange reason, fish prefer worms. So when
I went fishing, I didn't think about what I wanted. I thought
about what they wanted. I didn't bait the hook with strawberries
and cream. Rather, I dangled a worm or grasshopper in front of
the fish and said: "Wouldn't you like to have that?"
https://www.inc.com/peter-economy/how-the-platinum-rule-
trumps-the-golden-rule-every-time.html
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/life-in-the-
intersection/201702/the-platinum-rule
The Search, Part II (National Geography and the Search for
God)
COLLAPSE
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We continue our work of the religious quest with the series

19. begun last week and will continue to aid our inquiry in the
religious quest. Remember that the introduction is available
and if you cannot access the full video select any point from the
introduction, perform a search, or reply to another’s note with
other sources and thoughts.
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/the-story-of-god-with-
morgan-freeman/video-gallery/?filter=clips
There’s an interesting reference in Saint Joseph’s Day by Day
Reader (Bible verses with short prayers within the context of a
saintly, hard-working model) that selects 1 Cor 3:2 that might
be considered within the context of this thread’s general
direction. The NIV reads “2I gave you milk, not solid food, for
you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.”
This is usually not an easy verse to hear a sermon especially if
the direction is towards us! In the context of this course, this is
a verse that describes the quest, the spiritual journey in which
we of us begins as we began life, e.g. as an infant.
The following source provides a narrative for those preaching
on this verse, which might be interesting on several fronts.
“Verse 2. - I fed you with milk. The metaphor is expanded
in Hebrews 5:13, "Every one that partaketh of milk is without
experience of the Word of righteousness; for he is a babe." The
same metaphor is found in Philo; and the young pupils of the
rabbis were called "sucklings" (‫)תוקונית‬ and "little ones"
(camp. Matthew 10:42). Not with meat; not with solid food,
which is for full grown or spiritually perfect men (Hebrews
5:14). For hitherto; rather, for ye were not yet - when I
preached to you - able to bear it. The same phrase is used by our
Lord in John 16:12, "I have many things to say unto you, but ye
cannot bear them now;" and he taught them in parables, "as they
were able to bear it" (Mark 4:33). Not even now are ye able.
Though you imagine that you have advanced so far beyond my
simpler teaching.”
http://biblehub.com/niv/1_corinthians/3.htm

20. Thoughts and sources, class?
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