Speech Fodder

I'm not going to start with how to speak, how to use gestures, how to use words, etc. You can't speak in front of people if you don't have anything to say, so, the first installment of this series is techniques for finding speech fodder or speech topics.

Probably the two most common complaints I hear from people is:

• I don't know what to say, and
• I don't have anything interesting to say.

The two, I believe, are related, maybe first cousins. What they might really be saying is, "I don't know what to say that will interest people."

That's fine. You're new to public speaking and struggling to come up with a speech that will keep your audience awake. It's a valid concern. I've seen speakers who got flustered when they saw one of the audience yawning during their speech. Don't worry, we'll get to tips to address those in future posts.

If someone asks you to deliver a speech, one of the things you have to know first is, what is the occasion?

If your former teacher asks you to speak during your old high school's commencement exercises, you know that you're expected to talk about your own high school life, how your teachers influenced your decisions in life, and you're also expected to give an inspiring message to the students and the rest of the audience. Knowing that will, sort of, narrow down your choices for a message.

The second thing you need to know is, who is the audience?

What are their ages? Are they all one gender? Are they all members of an organization or company? What language/s do they speak?

So, taking the same example of the previous example, if it's a high school graduation ceremony, your audience will consist of students of between 15 to 17 years of age, parents ranging from maybe 35 to 50, teachers from 21 to around 60, a few relatives, friends, school officials, and guests.

With that diverse an audience, you might need to choose who you are going to address with your speech. Will it be the students? Will it be both the students and parents? Or perhaps everyone? Which one/s you address will make your choice of topics either narrower or wider.

The third thing you need to know is, what do you know?

It's very difficult, even impossible, to talk about something you know nothing about. There might be people who can talk about a topic and look like an expert but not everyone can do that and, really, no one should do that. If you're found out, your reputation will be lost, among other things.

One of the things I hear people complain about is, "I don't have anything interesting to say." Don't put yourself down. Using that example of being asked to speak at a graduation ceremony. What can you say? What about your everyday experiences during high school? It doesn't even need to be inside the school, like you're on your way to or coming home from school. What about that science experiment that went wrong? It doesn't have to be a spectacular error. If you found it funny, others might find it funny too.

And stories don't need to come from you. You can approach some of your classmates and ask them for anecdotes.

"But I want to inspire these kids!"

That's great, but it's difficult to find inspiration in a story that isn't there yet. Create your speech and find the inspiring message there.

What are things you know? Things that you've experienced, things you've heard about, things you've read, things you've seen, there's all sorts of sources for your message. You just need to make some effort in finding them.

But I wasn't born with speaking skills.

Congratulations, all of us were born knowing only to cry when we're hungry, in pain, or uncomfortable. The only difference between speakers and you is, speakers learned how to speak, and if they can learn, so can you.