SPEAKING IN PUBLIC: PICKING MY SUBJECT MATTER
Mar 04, 2021
CHOOSING A SUBJECT MATTER
It's as easy as 1, 2, 3...
Choosing a subject matter is probably the biggest decision you’re going to have to make when preparing to make a speech in public - after all, it's going to affect every single step of the process from research right through to what visual aids you use! But, fear not, we think there are three key steps you should take.
A PERSONAL CONNECTION
The best public speakers are the ones who really care what they’re talking about. When someone has a personal connection to their topic they’re naturally more enthusiastic, passionate and sincere - all of which make a speech much more engaging for an audience to listen to. So, always try and find a subject that matters to you!
REFINE YOUR TOPIC
Once you’ve found your subject matter try to refine it to something specific. For example, lets imagine the subject matter that you’re passionate about is “Keeping Healthy”. Now that is a huge umbrella topic which could encompass lots of things! You could talk about exercise, mental health, healthy eating, a healthy lifestyle, a healthy work/life balance, ageing… the list goes on and on.
Unless you’re planning to speak for a few hours, or DAYS!, you’ll need to refine your speech to something specific you can speak about in detail within your time constraints.
A great exercise for refining your topic is to pop your subject matter in the middle of a piece of A-4 paper and do a mind-map of everything that you associate with the subject. Then you can hone in one the one topic that, again, you’ve got the greatest personal connection to.
MAKE IT INTERESTING FOR YOUR AUDIENCE
Think about it... an audience is much more likely to engage with your speech if it feels like it's directly relevant to them! So, spend some time thinking about how you can adapt your topic to your audience.
Let's imagine you've decided to write a speech about “Keeping Healthy” and then you refined that to “Healthy Eating” because you had a personal connection to it. Look how much the speech can change based on your audience...
AUDIENCE: Young people under 10
“Why greens are better than they taste”
AUDIENCE: Menu Managers at McDonalds
“How fast food joints can keep their customers healthy”
AUDIENCE: Gym Goers at Virgin Active
"Six-packs are made in the kitchen!"
The speeches are all about "healthy eating", but each one is directly relevant (and interesting!) to your audience!
USEFUL LINKS
TO WATCH...
TOASTMASTERS GUIDE TO FINDING SPEECH TOPICS
TO READ...
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