Are you struggling to find a topic for your next speech. In this post, I will guide you through the process of selecting a topic and preparing for your next speech. If you aren´t a Toastmaster member yet, check out our schedule and sign up as a guest for our next meeting.

1. Introspection: This is the first step of your research. To be an effective communicator, you should talk about things that you are passionate about. Did you discover something new while going to the bakery? Did you meet someone
recently and found something strange, peculiar or odd about that person? These are just some of the topics you can
talk about. Your mind is full of ideas and experiences which can be shared with other people. Your unique experience
is the topic you would be most passionate about. Were you able to overcome an obstacle? In the introspection phase,
I would sit down and jot down everything that I experienced in the past weeks, the ideas I collected from the books
I read, and the amazing people I met and how that meeting left an impact on me.
2. Research: Your speech is not only about yourself. It is a medium to connect with your audience. What is it that
you want to convey using your speech. There are two types of things people care about

a. Alleviating pain, fear or insecurity
b. Pleasure, happiness and peace.

Thinking about, in which category, does your speech fall will help you in structuring your speech and connecting with your audience.

3. Writing: Great public speakers are not born, they train hard to become great speakers. One of the thing that separates them from average speakers is their ability and dedication to write down their speech. The passage of thoughts flowing from their mind to a piece of paper is a craft that needs to be trained before every speech. The transfer of thoughts helps you clear your mind and give you confidence to structure your speech in a crisp and cogent manner. The process of writing down your speech unleashes your creativity and as you sit down to jot down your ideas, you come up with more ideas.

4. Practice: Great sportsmen and athletes practice their sports everyday. It goes without saying that practicing your speech is necessary to convert an idea that was part of your subconscious mind to a splendid speech. The art of communication is all about practice, practice and practice and like we say in German

Übung macht den Meister

So sign up for your next speech and take the stage.