The process of developing topics for speeches should begin from within yourself, because you learn much more about effective speaking if you talk about something you are both interested in and familiar with. One way to become aware of your interests is to brainstorm all your interests and experiences without any thought to what you might say about any given subject. The topics below have been brainstormed by my past public speaking students. Do not worry about what the topics meant to the students who first brainstormed them. If the list stimulates your thinking about your own knowledge and interests, then they have done their job. In fact, it is preferable that you do not think in terms of a stereotypical speech on any of these topics. Narrow to an area on which you can find information you think would be useful or interesting to the listeners in your class.
| Rain forests/environment | Pets | Child rearing/care/abuse |
| Missile defense systems | Fashion | ADD/hyperactivity |
| Violence in schools | Travel | Archaeological finds |
| Water management | Racial profiling | Dream analysis |
| Eating disorders | Dolphins | Fat free products |
| Body piercing/tattoos | Diseases/HIV | Teenage pregnancy |
| Famous people | Martial arts | Communications |
| Migrant labor | Music/art | Cooking/vegetarianism |
| Returning to school | Children | Beauty secrets/myths |
| Cheerleading | Giving blood | Sex/love/marriage |
| Computers/Internet | Gambling | Conservation/recycling |
| Alternative energy | Stress | Occult psych./astrology |
| Etiquette/civility | Sports | Religions/cultures |
For links to online resources for researching and preparing your speech, click here.
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