PRDV008: Preparing and Delivering Presentations

When selecting a topic consider areas in which you have expertise.

Learning Objectives

Explain why choosing a topic in an area in which you are an expert is a good option

Key Takeaways

Key Points

• Considering your expert areas can help you decide what topic you will speak about.
• An expert area is one where you have knowledge that most people do not.
• Choosing an expert area for a topic has an advantage because you already have the knowledge, which makes it easier to explain to an audience.

Key Terms

• knowledge: Familiarity or understanding of a particular skill, branch of learning, etc.
• expert: A person with extensive knowledge or ability in a given subject.
• expertise: great skill or knowledge in a particular field or hobby

Your Expert Areas

Many people have areas in which they are experts.

Expertise: Considering your areas of expertise can be a way to generate a speech topic.

Experts are people who have a thorough knowledge of something that most people do not. Expertise is when someone has a wealth of knowledge in a particular field. Rocket scientists are experts, but so are the analysts who talk about football on the television. When trying to select a topic for your speech consider any areas in which you are an expert. Do not expect to speak fluently on a subject that you know little or nothing about. Your fluency will be in direct ratio to two important conditions: your knowledge of what you are going to say, and your being accustomed to telling what you know to an audience.

Your area of expertise might be a good topic to give a speech about because you already possess a familiarity with it. One benefit of this familiarity is that it reduces the time you will have to spend on researching. Instead, research will mostly be aimed at refining your expertise, enriching it, and ensuring that you are familiar with the conversation around that topic.

When trying to determine what topic you will speak about, picking an area where you have expert knowledge increases the likelihood that your speech will effectively communicate with your audience. For the audience, you are the authority on the topic that you are speaking about, so it might help to already have authoritative knowledge. A speech whose topic is related to your expert area will draw on your extensive knowledge, making it easier for you to explain the specifics of the topic to the audience.