Almost a century ago, Dale Carnegie developed the approach for choosing a topic for a speech.
- You must have significant knowledge about the topic you’re going to speak on.
- You must sincerely care about the topic you’re going to be talking about.
- You must have a strong desire to share your knowledge and feelings to your audience.
The “Resident” Expert
It is not a prerequisite that you are an expert on the topic of your speech. All that is required is that you know more about the topic than most of the people in the audience. You may find that there are a handful of people who know more about the topic than you do. This should not be of any concern to the speaker. As long as you are the in-house expert it is not important that others may have superior knowledge.
One common mistake is to choose a topic for a speech that is too broad. For example, it is difficult to be a credible authority on a broad topic such as cars. However, a more specific topic such as Mercedes convertibles from the 1970s could lend itself to expertise. It is much easier for one to be an expert or credible authority on the more specific topic.
Choose a Topic For A Speech That is Relevant
Another key component of a well-chosen topic is that it deals with something that is relevant. One cannot simply recycle their presentations from previous years. For example, if the topic of your presentation is the stock market you would need to give up to date statistics about the year to date performance of major indices. Audiences can easily detect recycled material.
Relevance depends on the audience. You must always put yourself in the shoes of someone in the audience.
- Why is your topic important to them?
- Why should they listen to your speech?
- How will they benefit?
You should also learn the difference between informative speech topics, persuasive topics and entertaining presentations.
Choose Public Speaking Topics With Sincerity
Sincerity can be snuffed out by the audience in a heart beat. Dispassionate speakers will be ignored after the first 30 seconds, no matter what public speaking topic you choose. Nothing is more powerful than enthusiasm. It is a contagious energy form that sweeps across the audience. Sincere public speaking is no different than a salesperson who really believes in the product. However, in public speaking the product is you and your topic. You may think a speech is all about content but as you will learn in this book – your body language and enthusiasm transmit most of the message.
Sharing the Wealth of Knowledge
Finally, it is crucial to have a strong desire to speak with the audience about the topic. As mentioned previously, this desire might be to entertain or to persuade the audience to come around to your point of view. Do you genuinely want to be speaking with the audience? For what purpose?
It is important to ask yourself these questions because it helps to distill your message. Too often, speakers end up rambling off topic and running out of time because the speech was not properly organized. Studiously examine every sentence and ask yourself – does it further the message of my speech?