PRDV008: Preparing and Delivering Presentations

Consider areas that you are interested in when trying to select a topic for your speech.

Learning Objectives

Select your topic from an area in which you have an interest but are not yet an expert

Key Takeaways

Key Points

• An interest is something that you are aware of but don't know much about.
• Think about what intrigues you about the area you are interested in.
• Choosing something you are interested in as a topic will likely turn you from a novice to an authority.

Key Terms

• Interest: A great attention and concern from someone or something; intellectual curiosity.

While most people are experts in certain areas, possessing highly specific knowledge, they also tend to have areas that they might not know much about but have an interest in knowing more. One stamp might lead someone to be interested in stamp collecting. Or maybe you have had a conversation with a friend who introduces you to an idea that interests you but you have not found the time to thoroughly investigate it. When trying to select the right topic for your speech, consider any areas that you are interested in.

A Stamp Collection: Someone who has an interest in stamps might think about that as a speech topic.

There are many advantages to searching in an area of interest for the topic of your speech. As you research your topic, you will move from having an interest to having a good understanding. In this way, your journey will mirror that of the audience who you will be speaking to. Your goal as the speaker is to make the audience interested in the topic of your speech and then inform them about that topic through the course of your speech.

When choosing a topic, think about an area that interests you. Then ask yourself some questions, like "Why do I think this is interesting? " and "What specifically interests me about this topic? " Follow through your initial sense of inquisitiveness and consider how you might recreate this sense of interest in the speech, which would draw your audience in in a similar way to how you initially became interested in the topic. Then consider how you might enrich this interest by researching the area and learning more about it. The goal of your speech is be to navigate the audience through the same journey you went through, from ill-informed interest to informative understanding.