Monday, 13 February 2012
Most of the time, this blog lives in the present. Sometimes, it lives in the past. But today, let’s go boldly (see how I didn’t split the infinitive there?) to the future.
Next week, Toastmasters is holding a speech-a-thon, They’ve held them before, but the idea to have this particular one was my idea. So, last week, when the sign-up sheet went around, I felt I would’ve been remiss had I not signed up for a speech.
Actually delivering the speeches isn’t a problem. And, in general, concocting ideas for speeches isn’t difficult for me, either. In fact, I have probably ten ideas for speeches just floating around in my head right now, all ready to go for when an appropriate opportunity arises.
The problem, for me, is when I can’t seem to figure out a what to do for a given assignment.
My next speech is my ninth one in Toastmasters. That means I’m working on “Persuade Your Audience.” Here are some details from the Competent Communicator handbook:
- Persuade listeners to adopt your viewpoint or ideas or to take some action.
- Appeal to the audience’s interests.
- Use logic and emotion to support your position.
- Avoid using notes.
The general types of persuasion are: Inspire, Convince and Call them to action.
So here’s the help I need: WHAT SHOULD I TALK ABOUT?
I’ve only got nine days here, and I usually start working on the speech by now. It’s supposed to be 5-7 minutes in length. I don’t want to talk about anything too controversial, or too banal. Since I don’t have too much time, I can’t go into depth will all sorts of reasons why or why not someone should do something.
Discussing vegetarianism is quite a good idea. But a fellow club member just gave an excellent speech on such a subject. And, since I’m not technically a vegetarian, there’d be a bit of hypocrisy I wouldn’t be comfortable with.
Any ideas?
Feminism?
That’s not a bad idea, but it’s quite a big topic. I’d need to narrow the focus a bit. Also, like childbirth issues, I generally stay away from topics that the ladies have kind of monopolized.
A feminist is a person who advocates for equal rights for women to that of men. A lot of men are feminists. It isn’t a topic just for “the ladies”.
Okay, I was just joking on that part. But it is too wide of a topic.
How about “Why we need to be moving towards renewable sources of energy much more quickly than we are?”
Yeah, I see what you mean by it being a wide topic. What made me think of it was asking myself what I would like to hear you persuade me to do. Specifically, I was thinking of you persuading me, someone who already thinks that women should have equal rights, to advocate for it. But, I think maybe that’s an even wider topic — why someone should advocate for anything.
How about persuading people that the Chevy Cavalier is that greatest car of all time?
I think your vegetarian idea is good. It made me think about this TED talk which is about being a ‘weekday vegetarian’ and all of the benefits it provides.
http://www.ted.com/talks/graham_hill_weekday_vegetarian.html
All good ideas, especially the Chevy Cavalier idea. Vegetarianism is also a good idea – especially since it isn’t likely to ruffle any political feathers like a lot of other topics – but someone else just did it.
Mike – I like the renewable energy idea. I might go with that.
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