Assignment 1: DECIDING WHAT TO TALK ABOUT

One student said to me, “I would be happy to speak if I knew what to speak on.” I pointed out to him these criteria for choosing a topic. The chapter explains these more fully.

• Pick a topic that you already know something about. If tackling an unfamiliar topic seems overwhelming, choose a topic that you already are at home with. Perhaps a hobby you enjoy. Perhaps a topic you wrote on in English during high school. But go to a place where you already have a measure of knowledge and expand on it.
• Pick a topic that you want to know better. If you would like to be able to save someone’s life in a medical emergency, study the Heimlich maneuver or resuscitation techniques. If you would love to know more about ecotourism, branch out into that area. Choose a topic that you have said about, “If I ever have time, I would like to check that out a bit more.”
• Select a topic that lies within your natural skills. If you are good at math, shape a speech on three great mathematicians such as Euclid, Newton and Nash. If you are into history, do a speech on Alexander the Great’s conquests or Nelson Mandela’s place in history.

Given those three criteria, come up with a list of at least five topics that might fit you personally. What are five topics that you could choose that might fit the above criteria?

Assignment 2: FOCUSING YOUR TOPIC PREFERENCES

Look inside your mind a moment and see how you think on these questions. Answer each one with a sentence or two.

1. You may be comfortable speaking on any number of topics, but what topic would you hate to speak on? If someone told you to speak on it, it would nearly make you sick.
2. Rarely would a person speak on a topic just to make the audience uncomfortable. That being said, can you think of a time when you were listening to a presentation of any kind and you were uncomfortable? What was the speaker talking about? Why way it uncomfortable for you?
3. Most people who do public speaking on any kind of regular basis have three or four topics which they turn to. Unless someone actually asks them to speak on a specific topic, they will turn to their time-honored topics to address the group. What would those be for you? What topics would you probably speak on if you just had the option to address it in front of a group of people? Can you name two and tell why you think those two?

Assignment 3: PRACTICING THE ART OF BRAINSTORMING

In our computer generation, brainstorming has turned to “googling.” If someone asks us to speak on a particular topic, it is as natural as breathing for us to turn to a browser and let it do the thinking for us. I do it. Others do it. We all do it. But for this exercise, let’s go in the other direction. Instead of turning to an online source, turn to your own mind. For each of the topics listed, think hard and long enough about it to come up with something you might include in a speech that YOU thought of when reflecting on it; just one truly creative idea that emerged from your own brain. It doesn’t need to be earth-shattering. For example, if I asked you to come up with a personal idea on dandelions, you might say, “Most people hate dandelions in their lawn, but did you know that dandelions are good to eat? They are in the spinach and collard greens family and make a pretty tasty salad.” Write a sentence or two to give me a clear sense of your own thinking on these topics.

Try your hand at these:

1. A popular doll during my childhood:
2. Three things that come in blue:
3. Scented candles:
4. My opinion of Starbucks:
5. Things to do on a first date:

Assignment 4: GETTING THE SPEECH OFF TO A STRONG START

Speakers use a variety of techniques for getting attention early in their presentations. I am going to list eight different ways and then suggest two of them that are especially useful for people who are just learning the art of public speaking. Here are eight techniques for how to begin a speech. Each of these will draw the audience to you and get their attention focused on you.

A CLOSURE LINE: In your opening line, you begin a familiar bit of poetry or a commonly known slogan and allow the audience to finish it. For example, if I start by saying, “Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jumped over ___ ________________,” more than likely in your mind you said, “the candlestick.” If I begin by saying “Mary had a little ________,” nobody is going to say “goat.” Mary is the one who had the little lamb. When the audience can finish your line, they also give you their attention. You have found common ground with them and it draws you and them together.

You give an example. Start a familiar, well-known line from popular literature or popular culture and leave off the last word or words and see if I get it.

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A GREAT QUESTION: A strong question that lands on what many in the might wish for is also a great way to start a speech. Ideally the question is fresh and direct, not boring and worn out. If you ask people, “What would you do if you won the lottery?” it is acceptable, but rather worn out. We have all heard it a lot. It would be better to start with this question, “If I could give you $5,000 and tell you to go anywhere in the world you would like to go, where would you go?” That question is new, fresh, direct. A question like that gets the audience’s attention, especially if it lands somewhere in the area of their interests.

You give an example. Put yourself in front of a class of first graders and begin your comments to them by asking them a question that will get their attention. Be sure and land on what their interests might be rather than what yours are. Give a try at a good opening question.

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A STARTLING STATEMENT: This technique should be used sparingly, but once in a while, it is a good way to grab the audience’s attention. Surprise them. For example, I had a student stand up on front of the class and begin her speech with these words, “There are 24 of us in this class. If statistics hold true, four of us will have cancer at some point in our lives.” That caused the rest of us to look around with a grimace. That landed close home. Far worse odds than being struck by lightning.

You try it. What is a startling bit of information that you might share on any topic of your choice that would instantly link the listeners to you? Offer your startling comment here.

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A WELL-KNOWN QUOTATION: This is one of the most widely used techniques. You search a little online for a quote that relates to your topic and suddenly a familiar one pops up. Take this one by President John Kennedy, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” Most people know it. They will likely finish it before you do. You might even link this with the closure principle and allow them to finish it for you. Again, you are finding a common area of knowledge with the audience and that almost always gains their attention.

You try it. Place a famous quote on these lines, one that the audience will easily know and perhaps finish for you. ___________________________________________________

A CLASSIC PASSAGE FROM LITERATURE: Closely related to a great quotation, this approach has you citing a well-known passage from someone like Dr. Seuss or Maya Angelou. Take this passage from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. “Fourscore and seven years ago, our forefathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal…” The familiar ring in people’s ears is the sound that draws them to you.

What is a passage you can think of? Quote a few lines here. Look it up online if you need to make sure you get it right.

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SOMETHING IN THE SPEECH SETTING: This technique suggests that you point out something in the setting where you are speaking that is unique or special to the audience and use it to pull them to you. For example, if I am speaking at a veteran’s hall, I often turn to a picture of military people on the wall and ask if anybody in the audience knows any of them. They almost always do. Let any who do say a brief word about how they knew them and when that hero served their country. If you show respect for what matters to an audience, they will respect you.

Now you try it. Suppose you are speaking in a high school gym to a group of athletes. What might you refer to in that setting that would cause them to feel a sense of pride and appreciation that you mentioned it? _____________________________________________

JOKE OR HUMOR: Many people like to start with a joke or funny story. This one is tricky because you have to realize that humor is generational in nature. People of one age might not think something is funny while people of another age might laugh out loud. You have to be sensitive and culturally smart to do this one well. For example, you might quote this from the Reader’s Digest, “Do you know why the chicken went to the séance?” “So she could get to the other side!” If nobody laughs, move on quickly and don’t scold them for not understanding.

Give it a whirl. Are you good with humor? At least give me your worst joke and see what happens. Keep it clean. Give a try at a humorous line or joke.

SING OR WHISPER: Those two approaches have a remarkable ability to get the audiences attention. If you sing poorly, all the better. The audience can identify with you as a terrible singer. Whispers draw attention the same way “The National Inquirer” draws our eyes in the grocery line. If you whisper, people will lean forward to see what you are saying.

Can you think of one more way that a speaker might get attention? Dig around in your own mind and think of one and indicate it here. Describe it briefly as I have done the ones I listed.

Assignment 5:

Just this one question, “What would make a person say, ‘I can’t think of anything to speak on.'”? With all the topics in online lists and all the world circulating around us, why would anyone make that statement? What is going on in the larger picture of that person’s mind?

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