Page 60 - Between One and Many The Art and Science of Public Speaking

Chapter 2 Your First Speech 27

Tips and Tactics
Suggestions for Finding a Topic

• Make a personal inventory. What hobbies, interests, jobs, or experiences have
you had that would interest others?
• Talk to friends and classmates. Perhaps they have ideas to share with you,
including topics they would like to know more about.
• Read. Newspapers, newsmagazines, and books are fi lled with ideas. You
should commit to reading at least one newspaper a day and one newsmaga-
zine a week while enrolled in this course.
• Check the Internet. Many subject areas are discussed on the Internet, and there
is a wide range of interest-based chat groups. If you enjoy “surfi ng the Net,”
you may well fi nd speech ideas there for the taking.
• Brainstorm. Brainstorming in a group is a creative process used for gen-
brainstorming
erating a large number of ideas. (The activity in the box “Brainstorming for
A creative process used
Topics” explains the process in more detail.) for generating a large
number of ideas.

In addition to knowing where to look for a topic, it is important to know what
to look for. First, the topic should be interesting to you. If you don’t care about
the topic, how can you expect your audience to care? Second, select a topic that
will be interesting to your audience—or at least one that can be made interesting
to them. This is why it is crucial to know as much as possible about your audi-
ence. Third, your topic should be appropriate to the situation. If your instruc-
tor has asked you to speak on your pet peeve, she or he probably is thinking
of topics like dorm food, roommates, or people who blow smoke in your face,
not the destruction of the rain forests. Fourth, make sure your topic is appropri-
ate to the time available. One limitation facing all speakers, not just those in a
public speaking class, is time. Know what your instructor expects and stick to
it. Further, consider the time you have available to prepare. If the speech is due
next week, you won’t be able to request a book from inter-library loan. Pick a
topic that you can research in the time available. Fifth, make sure your topic is
manageable. Don’t pick a topic that is beyond your abilities or resources. One of
your greatest assets in speaking is your own credibility, which is the degree to
credibility
which your audience trusts and believes in you. Nothing will undermine your
The degree to which
credibility faster than speaking on a topic with which you are unfamiliar. Know an audience trusts and
more than your audience. Why else would you speak to them? Finally, it is cru- believes in a speaker.
cial that your topic be worthwhile. We treat time in our society as a commodity.
We bank time, spend time, and buy time. You are angered if someone wastes
your time, so don’t waste your audience’s time. Pick a topic that will inform,
persuade, or entertain the audience by presenting them with ideas or informa-
tion they haven’t already heard. Just as we hate to hear an old joke told over
again, we don’t like to hear for the umpteenth time that we ought to recycle our
aluminum cans, unless the speaker tells us something new and insightful about
why we should do just that. If you pick a well-worn topic, then you must give it a
different “spin” or focus.