Imagine you get an opportunity to give a speech in an event 10 days later. Hearing this, you would be excited at the first instance but soon this excitement may turn into worry. Worry?? Yes, worry. And this worry would be about your topic for the speech.
Let us see the main points you should keep in mind while choosing the topic for public speaking. We generally believe that we must choose the topic that we know the best about but this correct only to a certain level. There are other factors also which must be well thought-out.
- Know the nature of the event & objective of giving the speech- This covers the occasion (such as a dinner party, a birthday party, a professional party, or a funeral etc) and the purpose of speech (if it to entertain, to educate, to inform, to celebrate etc).
- Analyse the topics you are not comfortable with– It important to figure out and rule out the topics which you think are not so good at.
- Make a list of topics you are comfortable with– List down all the topics that you think are relevant to the situation and also on which you have a command.
- Have enough knowledge on your topic- You may not know everything about a topic but it is important that you know more than your audience so that the audience feels that they have added something to their knowledge from you.
- Keep in mind your interest in the topic- If only you have interest in the topic you choose, you would be able to gather the concentration and connect with the audience in the true sense.
- Keep in mind the interest of your audience– The topic that you choose must be appealing for your audience. If it is not so, then your audience may not turn up for the event and even if they turn up, they may not be mentally present there.
- Consider the education level of the audience- If you are addressing a well educated and a professional audience, a higher level of language may be used but not otherwise. The content should be delivered in such a way that your audience is able to understand it with ease.
- Know the demographics- It is almost ineffective to speak in the same way to a 20 years old person as you would speak to a 50 years old person. Thus it is important to know the demographics of your audience so that you can prepare and modify your speech accordingly.
- Choose a topic that relates to some recent news or to your personal experience- Choosing a topic that is related to some recent happening (only if it is suitable) would be a good thing to do as you can get a lot of stuff from newspapers, news n internet. Also, it is generally seen that audience takes great interest when you relate your topic to your personal experiences.
Once you select an appropriate topic for your speech, your job of delivering the speech would become considerably simpler. The key is to consider yourself as well as the audience while choosing the topic.
As it is always said, public speaking is an art and there is no short-cut to it. Practice is the key.
For details on the Public Speaking and Personality Development Course offered at Anurag Aggarwal Institute of Entrepreneurship & Public Speaking call us at 7834999292.
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