Choosing and Narrowing a Speech Topic
An architect draws up blueprints of a building before construction begins. A coach draws up a play before a big game. A free-climber plans every handhold on their route up the rock face. Multiple automobile prototypes are tested before a car makes it to the assembly line. Likewise, a public speech needs to be planned carefully before it is delivered. Why? Because in most cases, you only get one chance to get your point across.
Choosing a Topic
In public speaking classes, students generally choose their own speech topics. This freedom can be both exciting and overwhelming, and leave you wondering where to start.
Andrew Dlugan, an award-winning speaker and public speaking coach, created the following Venn diagram to help speakers select a great topic. The diagram (opens in new window) shows that the intersection of your knowledge, your passion, and what your audience cares about is a strong starting place for a great topic.
Consider this diagram every time you start the process of choosing a topic, and focus on the following three questions:
- What do you know about? You don’t need to be an expert, but what topics do you have experience or knowledge about? Examples might include what it’s like to have ADHD, gaming, Korean food, foster care, or national parks.
- What matters to you? What makes you excited? What are you passionate about? Examples might include meditation, proper weightlifting techniques, criminal justice reform, zero waste, or Kanye West.
- What interests your audience? What matters to your audience right now? What might you share that would enrich or benefit their lives or understanding? This doesn’t mean your audience has to be knowledgeable about your topic, but selecting a topic and tailoring it to their needs and interests will ensure an engaged audience.
Keeping these three questions in mind, below are a few methods for choosing an appropriate and relevant speech topic both for a public speaking class as well as public speaking opportunities in your workplace, civic life, personal life and beyond. These methods are:
- Personal Inventory
- Guided Brainstorming
- Internet Research
- Current Event Research
Personal Inventory
A personal inventory uses prompts to quickly generate lists of possible topics. Set a timer for three minutes and make a list of as many “Things I Know About” followed by a list of “Things I Care About.”
Next, make five columns labeled “People,” “Places,” “Things,” “Events,” and “Processes.” Your goal is to quickly write 20 topics under each label. Don’t overthink the process; just write what comes to mind. At this point, focus simply on what you know about rather than thinking in terms of a speech topic. There are no bad ideas here so let your imagination go! You are starting to broaden your range of topics, and you might start to notice some patterns or commonalities.
Guided Brainstorming
A second method for selecting a topic is Guided Brainstorming. To do a guided brainstorming session, quickly respond with as many ideas as possible to the following prompts:
- “It makes me angry that/when . . . .”
- “It’s not fair that . . . .”
- “The world would be a better place if . . . .”
- “If I were in charge, I would . . . .”
- “I feel most happy when . . . .”
Responding to these prompts and making lists will help you generate ideas that you care and know about. Not every idea will stick, but you’ll start seeing a few ideas that might be promising.
Online Research
Internet Research can take a few forms. You might simply search in your Internet browser for “informative speech topic ideas” or “public speaking topics” to see lists of topics to help you generate ideas. You might also do research by looking at headlines of major news organizations or other media outlets to identify timely and relevant topics that interest you and your audience.
You might also consider what’s being reported in the news. What are people talking about on social media? Which topics are trending? If lots of people are discussing a particular event, development, or trend, it might satisfy the “things your audience cares about” circle. If one of these current event topics is also something you know about and care about, it might be a good subject for your speech.
While these methods of developing a topic are useful, keep an open mind as you go about your everyday life for possible speech topics. As you read or watch the news, talk to friends and family, do hobbies and participate in other classes, pay attention to topics that spark your interest or remind you of what matters to you.
Review your lists of ideas and identify any ideas that you know about, that excite you, and that you think would interest your audience.
The following video discusses how to find speech topics.
You can view the transcript for “Finding Speech Topics” here (opens in new window).
Here is a video with accurate captions: Finding Speech Topics (opens in new window).
Narrowing a Topic
- Clustering
- Inverted Pyramid
- Initial Research
Let’s say you’ve chosen to speak about yoga. That’s a great start, but is still too broad. Using the topic of yoga as an example, we’ll apply the three strategies to creating a focused, do-able topic.
Clustering
Clustering allows you to explore and identify related subtopics to your general topic. Write your general topic (“yoga”) in the center bubble on a piece of paper, then draw lines and more bubbles and fill those with a variety of related sub-topics. Some of these sub-topics will generate sub-sub and sub-sub-sub topics and so. on It might look something like this:
Inverted Pyramid
The inverted pyramid is another visual technique where you start with your broad topic at the top, then make it more specific step-by-step. Each topic should be a sub-topic of the one above it, so your pyramid follows the same thread. As always, focus on areas of your topic that interest and relate to you and your audience. Your narrowed speech topic might be what you end up with at the bottom of your inverted pyramid, or part-way down. For instance, in the following illustration, you might ultimately decide on the speech topic of “How Yoga Practice Can Help College Students Manage Anxiety.”
Initial Research
A final strategy to narrow your speech topic is to explore your broad topic with initial research, which can take different forms. Using the topic of yoga, your research might include a conversation with your yoga instructor to find out what aspects of the practice might be most interesting and relevant for your audience. If you use social media, you might poll your friends and family about what aspects of your topic they are most curious about. A face-to face discussion with classmates, co-workers, friends, and family members about your topic is also a great option! Finally, use Internet search engines to read some articles and discover more about your topic. Since your audience for this class will be college students, adding the phrase “for college students” to your search query can be helpful for some topics. For instance, you might search “benefits of yoga for college students.” Initial research will help you identify more focused variations of your broad topic.
Clustering, Inverted Pyramid, and Initial Research are strategies that will help you take a broad topic and narrow it so it is manageable, is interesting, and allows you to go in-depth in your research and what you ultimately present to your audience.
