public speaking topics for engineering students

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Public Speaking Tips & Speech Topics

212 Speech Topics For College Students [Persuasive, Informative, Impromptu]

Jim Peterson has over 20 years experience on speech writing. He wrote over 300 free speech topic ideas and how-to guides for any kind of public speaking and speech writing assignments at My Speech Class.

In this article:

Informative

For higher education, thesis statement examples.

List of Speech Topics For College Students

College speech topics to attain indirect clues about themes intended to apply in higher learning presentations by little or less effort on the road to a successful presentation.

College speech topic inventory of logical action sequences for higher education students. All are broad and should be narrowed for a classroom speech. For example, Safe Sunbathing can be narrowed to persuasion on your personal tips on how to enjoy the sun safely on holidays.

Another sample: Homesickness. E.g. describe what it is, how it feels, what forms exist and what you can do about it yourself or with help from professionals.

Most and for all, read the higher education assignment rules and requirements very, very carefully. Do not take issues everyone will consider as overused.

Choose the one you like. When in doubt: ask friends or your public speaking professor.

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The inventory can be expanded to many more. Here are three methods for developing:

These informative speech topics for college students are not only nice for preparing the best public speaking speech, but also for essay writing, I have noticed.

Some students who provide me feedback and additional tips, wrote that they have successfully adapted these five samples for writing and essay or paper.

The suggested sub-points are given to spark your imagination,; expand or focus them till they fit the requirements of the educational assignment.

Impromptu speech topics for college in case your are required to speak in front of everyone out of the blue about specific issues ad-libbing as public speaking training:

Second, use my basic outline template. Print it and learn the simple structure by heart. No worries, it is really that simple 🙂

Do keep it simple. Especially when you have to speak for let’s say a minute of three to five. To put it roughly: one minute per main point often will do the trick! Rehearse your first line.

Rehearse your last line; that is your relevant call to action. See more of my basic checks for speaking off the cuff when you are invited to do so.

Speech topics for college students formulated as ready to go public speaking education thesis statements.

Just alter the sentences in the way you like it and there you are: you have your own personal slides and sheets writings for stirring the fire up somewhat and start a function or action based on the classic rhetorica essentials and oral hints for a higher education auditor.

Safety considerations related to school buses which operate under the supervision of the transportation authority boards.

Methods family genealogists use to research history and how they interpret data in an annotative critical perseverance way.

These are also very usable for starting up the thinking process for example essay writing and researching projects

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104 Environmental Speech Topics [Persuasive, Informative]

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11 Public Speaking Skills For Students

Table of Contents

In the 21st century, public speaking skills are more important than ever. With the rise of social media and the 24-hour news cycle, the ability to communicate clearly, concisely and persuasively is a valuable asset in both our personal and professional lives.

For students, developing strong public speaking skills can be particularly beneficial. Not only will it help them to better express themselves in class and on assignments, but it will also give them the confidence to participate more fully in group activities and discussions.

What is Public Speaking Skill?

Public speaking is the process and act of communicating information to a live audience. It involves many different elements, such as voice projection, stage presence, and the ability to engage with an audience.

Public speaking is usually done before a group of people with the intention of informing, persuading, or entertaining them (depending on the purpose of the speech). Some people think that it is only about giving speeches in front of an audience. However, public speaking can also refer to presenting in a meeting, delivering a report to your boss, or teaching a class.

Mastering public speaking skills can take time and practice, but it is ultimately rewarding. When you have public speaking skills, you will be able to confidently deliver speeches that make an impact. Whether you’re speaking to a small group or a large audience, your public speaking skills will help you to communicate effectively and get your message across.

The purpose of public speaking can be divided into four main categories:

Different Types of Public Speaking

There are four main types of public speaking:

Benefits of Public Speaking

People may think that public speaking is only beneficial for those who are natural-born leaders or extroverts. However, this is not the case! There are many benefits of public speaking that can be enjoyed by everyone, regardless of personality type.

Some of the benefits of public speaking include:

There are a few key things to remember when it comes to public speaking. First, it’s important to be prepared. This means knowing your material inside and out. It also means having a clear understanding of your audience and what they’re looking for. Second, it’s important to be confident. When you’re confident in your abilities, it will show in your delivery. Third, it’s important to be engaging. This means being able to keep your audience’s attention and getting them involved in what you’re saying. Lastly, it’s important to be flexible. This means being able to adapt to different situations and audiences.

The Importance of Public Speaking for Students

Every student should develop public speaking skills for their future success. Public speaking is a critical skill for success in any field, and developing these skills early will give students a significant advantage. It allows them to communicate their ideas clearly and effectively and can help them to build confidence in their abilities.

There are many opportunities for students to practice public speaking, such as through school assemblies, presentations, debating clubs and drama groups. By taking part in these activities, students can develop their skills and confidence in front of an audience. With dedicated practice and perseverance, any student can become a confident and successful public speaker.

Also Read: 31 Miracle Morning Affirmations for Success

Here are 11 Public Speaking Skills That Every Student Should Develop:

1. confidence .

The first step to becoming a great public speaker is developing confidence in your abilities. Confidence is essentially a feeling of self-assurance. It’s the belief that you can achieve your goals, regardless of the obstacles in your way. When it comes to public speaking, confidence is about more than just having faith in your ability to deliver a great speech. It’s also about believing that you have something valuable to say—something that your audience needs to hear. Developing confidence as a public speaker takes time and practice.

2. Eye Contact

Eye contact is an important public speaking skill. By maintaining eye contact with your audience, you appear confident and sincere. It also helps to keep your audience engaged and focused on what you’re saying. Additionally, eye contact can help to build rapport and trust with your audience. If you seem disinterested or distracted, your audience is likely to lose interest as well. So next time you’re giving a presentation or speech, make sure to keep those eyeballs locked in!

3. Vocal Variety

If you want to keep your audience’s attention, it’s important to use vocal variety when you’re speaking. This means varying the volume, pitch and pace of your voice to keep things interesting.

Vocal variety is important in public speaking for a few reasons. For one, it helps to keep the audience engaged. If a speaker monotones their way through a presentation, it becomes very easy for listeners to tune out. By changing the pitch, volume, and rate of their voice, a speaker can more effectively hold their audience’s attention. Additionally, vocal variety can help to convey emotion and emphasis. A well-chosen word can have far more impact when spoken with feeling than when delivered in a flat, monotone voice. Finally, vocal variety simply sounds better than speaking in a single monotone. Public speaking is an auditory experience, and varied vocal delivery makes for a more pleasant and engaging listening experience.

4. Gestures

Gestures are an important part of public speaking. They can help to emphasize a point, convey emotion, and add interest to a presentation. When used effectively, gestures can help to engage the audience and make a public speaker more dynamic and engaging. However, it is important to use gestures sparingly and deliberately. Too many gestures can be distracting and make a public speaker appear nervous or uncomfortable. It is also important to be aware of the nonverbal messages that gestures can send. For example, crossing one’s arms can convey defensiveness or hostility. Therefore, it is important to use gestures thoughtfully and only when they will genuinely add to a public speaking engagement.

5. Storytelling

Who doesn’t love a good story? Whether you’re giving a presentation at work or delivering a speech at a wedding, being able to weave a tale is a valuable public speaking skill. A good story can engage your audience, help them to understand your message, and make your talk more memorable. When choosing a story to share, look for one that is relevant to your topic and that will resonate with your audience. Once you have a story in mind, take some time to rehearse it so that you can tell it in a way that is natural and engaging. With a little practice, you’ll be surprised at how much difference storytelling can make to your public speaking.

6. Brevity

Brevity is the art of saying what you need to say in the fewest possible words. It’s about making every word count. And it’s an essential public speaking skill. When you’re speaking in public, you don’t have time to waste. You need to get your point across quickly and efficiently. That’s why it’s important to be concise. When you’re concise, you’re focused and deliberate. You’re not rambling or going off on tangents. You’re clear and to the point.

Conciseness is important because it keeps your audience engaged and focused on what you’re saying. It also makes you more credible and trustworthy. If you can say what you need to say in a few words, your audience will respect you for it.

7. Humor

A little bit of humour can go a long way in making your presentation more enjoyable for both you and your audience. Just be careful not to overdo it and always err on the side of tastefulness.

8. Passion

If you’re passionate about what you’re saying, it will come through in your delivery and engage your audience. So, if you’re not excited about your topic, it might be time to choose a different one.

9. Preparation

As the old saying goes, “fail to prepare, prepare to fail.” Preparedness is key when it comes to public speaking. You should always have a clear understanding of what you want to say before taking the stage. This means knowing your material inside and out and being able to anticipate questions or rebuttals from your audience.

For example, if you want to give a great presentation, you need to put in the time and effort to properly prepare for it. This means having a well-thought-out plan and knowing everything that needs to be said.

10. Practice

Whether you’re giving a presentation at work or delivering a speech at a public event, practice is the key to success. By taking the time to prepare and rehearse your remarks, you’ll be able to speak with confidence and engage your audience. In addition, practice will also help you to overcome any nervousness or anxiety about public speaking.

So if you want to improve your public speaking skills, remember that practice makes perfect. The more you rehearse, the more confident you’ll feel when it’s time to take the stage.

11. Posture

Public speaking is a skill that is often underrated. Many people believe that as long as they have something interesting to say, their audience will be captivated. However, the reality is that public speaking is about much more than the words you say. It’s also about how you say them. Your tone, your body language, and your posture all play a role in how your audience perceives you. And of all of these factors, posture is perhaps the most important.

When you stand up straight, you project confidence. You convey to your audience that you are comfortable with yourself and with what you’re saying. On the other hand, if you slouch or fidget, you appear nervous and unsure. Therefore, it’s crucial to maintain a good posture when speaking.

By following these tips, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a great public speaker. Just remember that confidence is key and practice makes perfect. So, don’t be afraid to get out there and give it your best shot!

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25 Interesting Public Speaking Topics For Students

Looking for public speaking topics for students but have no idea how you can choose the best options for you? We have got you covered and brought forth the most interesting topics for public speaking. All these topics are pertinent to the current scenario, and hence you can make sure that the students do not have any problems when you give these topics to the students.

The public speaking topics that we will be providing to you can be used in any language that you want. The topics are best suited if you have any upcoming school or institution-based competition to perform in.

Best Topics for Speech

25 Interesting Public Speaking Topics for Students

We would love to outline not only the 25 best topics for English speech but also topics for discussion, which can be used in other languages as well.

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These topics can be used for any school student and are best suited as extempore topics for classes 9, 10, 11 and 12.

If you want to excel in public speaking, there are tons of options and, specifically, quite a few good online speaking classes. We are one among the popular online public speaking class providers in the country. We at Kafqa Academy, have experienced instructors who help each student overcome the fear of public speaking and adopt this skill to speak confidently in front of a crowd.

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Grow Your Public Speaking Confidence: Tips For College Students

My name is Natalie Nation. I’m a grad student, future RD, educator, content creator, and mac and cheese expert! I love talking about college student issues to help YOU become more successful, confident and happy as a college student.

Be sure to follow me on INSTAGRAM and subscribe to my YOUTUBE channel.

Today, I’m sharing my best tips to help you grow your public speaking confidence!

The ability to educate and motivate through public speaking is an essential tool for college students to develop

I LOVE Public Speaking!

Anyone who has met me KNOWS that I love public speaking! But I didn’t always.

I used to be scared of public speaking, and I know a lot of college students who would rather write a 10 page paper than give a 10 minute speech.

Here’s the truth.

The ability to educate, present, and motivate through public speaking is an incredible tool for college students to develop and use throughout their time in school.

Being a confident public speaker can also open the doors for unique opportunities out in the real world and definitely looks AMAZING on your resume and cover letter.

Whether you’re presenting in class, leading a club meeting, or persuading student government to fund your conference fee, there will always be opportunities in college where public speaking will benefit you!

The best thing about college is that you are a STUDENT and you get to learn and grow and practice and make mistakes without fear. Everyone around you is learning too!

When you are public speaking you are the expert

Public speaking is intimidating–but so are you!

That statistic where people would rather be in the coffin than giving the eulogy? It’s so real! Public speaking can be intimidating. But YOU (yes, you!) can be intimidating, too!

When you speak, YOU are the expert. You might not always feel that way, but if you’re presenting on cell biology of a sea anemone (or whatever it happens to be), you’re the one who has put in the time to learn, to research, to put together a presentation, and you know the most.

Do you need to nail 100% of your presentation? NO! It can feel good, sure, but perfection is not necessary. You can (and you will!) make mistakes, but that is not important. Everyone makes mistakes.

Your confidence is the most critical piece of your presentation. Not your content, not your perfectly memorized script (more on that later), your CONFIDENCE.

I want to let you in on a secret.

In college, people want you to succeed .

Yes, you! They don’t want to see you fail. They don’t want to see you embarrassed. Your classmates, professors, mentors, club mates; they ALL want you to succeed just as much as you do.

Every minute you spend practicing your public speaking skills sets you up to succeed in the future

Practice creates potential

Obviously, it’s going to be much harder to nail that pitch, speech, proposal, or presentation without practice. Remember, it’s not about perfection.

The purpose of practicing is to give you the potential to nail your presentation. Every minute you spend practicing sets you up to succeed.

So let’s practice smarter, not harder.

Two ways to instantly sound more confident

Day of: You’ve Got This!

The best thing you can do on the day of your speech or presentation is to plan your day to be calm and easy–get enough sleep the night before, eat a good breakfast, leave yourself plenty of time to get ready and practice if you need, and take some down time if you can.

Then, put on your favorite business casual outfit. I tend to fidget with my clothing, so I avoid outfits with fringe, ties or strings, or anything that needs constant adjusting.

Once you arrive at the conference room, classroom, auditorium, or wherever you will be public speaking, it’s GO time. At this point, you’ve prepared yourself as best you can. You might still be quaking in your (adorable, business casual) boots, but you’re nearly there!

Always take the time to introduce yourself and your topic clearly and professionally. It doesn’t matter if you are presenting to a class of your best friends or a room full of strangers, this is a 10 second way to immediately show just how confident you are.

Which of these introductions sounds better?

“Hey, uh, I’m Natalie, and my topic is Parkinson’s disease,”

“Hello everyone. My name is Natalie Nation, and today I will be presenting on medical nutrition therapy for the treatment of motor and non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease,”

Need I say more?

Two more things that will instantly make you sound more confident, whether or not you feel that way, is to SPEAK UP and to SLOW DOWN.

Speak loudly enough that everyone can hear you, and then turn up your voice volume one or two more notches.

People tend to want to speak more softly when presenting. It can be intimidating to know that EVERYONE can hear you.

But that’s the point! You are the expert, and you want people to hear what you have to say.

Once you’ve turned your volume up, slow down. Slow it way down. You will always speak faster than you think you are, so it’s important to consciously force yourself to slow down.

Slowing down will help people to understand you better, but it will also give you the time to really think about what you are saying and to prepare for what is coming next.

Mistakes happen

Maybe your embedded YouTube video doesn’t play.

Maybe you lose your place and have a brain fart.

Maybe you mispronounce a word.

These things happen, and it’s okay. Remember, you’re in college, a place of learning and growing. Part of that process is knowing that it’s okay not to be perfect.

The key to mastering mistakes is moving on with confidence.

If your video doesn’t play, try saying “Thanks for your patience.” instead of “Sorry, I didn’t practice this.”

If you mispronounce a word, try saying “Excuse me, I meant _____.” instead of “Sorry, my bad.”

If you forget your place, try saying “Please give me a moment to collect my thoughts.” instead of “Sorry, I’m nervous.”

Notice a theme here?

Moving on from your mistakes does NOT mean you need to apologize. If it’s an accident or something out of your control, that’s no reason to say sorry, because it wasn’t your fault.

No excuses or apologies are needed, just acknowledge the mistake briefly and move on.

It is possible to be incredibly nervous and still be confident as a public speaker

Public Speaking Anxiety is REAL

It is 100% possible to be both incredibly nervous and still be confident as a public speaker. Before I prepare for a speech, my heart starts RACING, even though I know that I’ve prepared myself to succeed.

Everyone has their own tricks for dealing with stage fright. I usually tell myself that I don’t have time to be nervous before the speech, but that I’m allowed to be nervous about it later.

Unorthodox? Yes.

Mostly successful for me? Also, yes!

You do what works for you! Plant a friend in the audience, wear your favorite shirt, take 10 deep breaths, whatever it takes.

Something that not a lot of people talk about is this: Public speaking nerves are incredibly common, but for people with anxiety disorders, these nerves can be escalated into other symptoms–insomnia, panic attacks, etc.,–that can truly impact your ability to be successful in the classroom.

You are deserving of the opportunity to succeed, and there is no shame in asking for help or needing accommodations to make that happen.

Speak to your professor about accommodations that can be made for you, or approach your disability resources center to get documentation in place.

Students with documented anxiety are eligible for classroom accommodations that allow them to be successful as a student without exacerbating their mental illness.

These accommodations might include presenting to the professor alone or with a smaller audience of friends, or handing in a different assignment in place of a presentation. Take advantage of these accommodations if you need them.

It takes TIME to build public speaking confidence.

It took me months to be able to film a YouTube video without pausing every 5 seconds to look at my script, and my heart still races before I stand up to present in class, and I blush BRIGHT RED like nobody’s business when I talk. NBD though, because I set myself up for success and I know that being nervous doesn’t mean that I won’t do a good job.

But with time, and practice, and probably some mistakes along the way, you can build your public speaking skills and confidence! You will get there!

Check out THIS video, where I talk even more tips and tricks for public speakers!

GROW YOUR PUBLIC SPEAKING SKILLS: My Best Tips and Tricks! Public speaking is the #1 most common fear. For most college students, presentations and speeches …

Natalie Nation

Minnesota-based grad student, future RD, educator, content creator, and mac and cheese expert! Natalie is currently a Masters of Public Health student and dietetic intern at the University of Minnesota, and is on-track to becoming a registered dietitian-nutritionist. She earned her bachelor's degree in Dietetics in 2019 from St. Catherine University.

One comment

Great post! I use many of these tips whenever I have to give presentations for work, worth the read!

List of Public Speaking Topics and Ideas for Students

If your ward has ever been asked to deliver a public speech, you might know what public speaking means. But have you ever thought about the importance of public speaking for students? According to Cambridge IGCSE , public speaking is crucial for students to represent themselves in the public arena.

Today, this article will cover the most commendable public speaking topics for students. And while you progress further, you will uncover some of the finest tips on public speaking for students. Please stay tuned until the end to make an informed decision, and help your ward become a better public speaker.

Let's get started.

What is Public Speaking?

In layman's terms, public speaking is presenting a topic live before an audience. The goal of the speech can vary, which can be to educate, entertain, or influence a certain group of people. You need to understand that public speaking is different from an online presence. You can add your public speaking with visuals or audio to make it more interesting.

It would be best to consider several things while public speaking, including your appearance, body language, gesture, speaking patterns, and many more. The skill can be more fluent and advanced if you practice it from elementary school. If you are looking for public speaking topics for elementary students, you must keep reading this blog.

History of Public Speaking

Public speaking has been practiced from the start of society, where some people lead a group and start living in one location. Public speaking was an effective way to direct and lead a large gathering. In Greek history, people used public speaking to pursue or praise others. And there, the need to develop public speaking was noticed. Public speaking was called rhetoric in the Greek time.

They noticed people with excellent public speaking skills getting what they wanted and succeeding in pursuing people. All the great leaders were excellent public speakers.

Public Speaking Examples for Students

The most effective way to indulge students in their subject of interest is public speaking. They need to go through thorough research on the topic and present it to the audience. And the process helps them to learn about the topic in greater depth. Many useful topics can be used to improve students' excellence. Some of the most effective Public speaking examples for students are given below,

● Factual Persuasive speech

● Value persuasive speech

● Policy Persuasive Speech

Importance of Public Speaking for Students

The importance of public speaking is more than one can think. Many people need to be made aware of the capability of a student to be drawn by this practice. Public speaking has played an important role over the years in education, Government, and business. Also, in the entertainment area, public speaking is important. It helps improve your confidence, boost your self-esteem and make you a leader. Let's learn about the benefits of public speaking for students.

Benefits of Public Speaking for Students?

There are many benefits of public speaking for students. It helps them to grow as exceptional figures in society. This skill helps build a leader's character and confidence to face any life challenges. Some of the benefits of public speaking are written below.

Students who practice public speaking from their elementary level will be more confident about themselves. Public speaking boosts confidence levels.

Improves Social Skills

The students can gain more social skills and learn adequate skills to socialize with their friends and teacher properly.

Improves Communication Skills

A great way to improve communication skills is through public speaking. One needs to be clear in speech delivery for public speaking. Also, they need to adjust their body language to be a better public speaker. It helps them to be a better communicator.

Develops Research Skills

To properly present a topic, students need to research the topic thoroughly. This practice helps them to be great researchers. When they improve certain techniques for research, it will help them in future. This skill can be honed by practicing from an early age, so middle schools are the best place to practice public speaking. Many public speaking topics for middle schoolers can be found in this blog.

Develops the Deductive Skills

It helps to improve the deductive skills of the students. The speech topics for primary students help them to strategize their presentations and improve their deductive skills.

Boosts Self Esteem

Many speech competition topics for students help to boost their self-esteem. They learn more, and can confidently present their thoughts in front of their peers and teachers.

Helps to Build a Strong Character

Public speaking is a great practice for developing a strong character. They get to analyze a topic, frame sentences to convey their thoughts, and present the same in front of their classmates. Such logical thinking shapes the person’s character.

Helps in Marketing

Research and presentation is important in the marketing industry. Public speaking can help students to excel in marketing as they become good at presenting their opinions and thoughts lucidly in front of the target audience.

Improves the Chance of Getting Hired

With public speaking skills, students will communicate better and present impromptu topics. These skills will increase their chance of getting hired.

Makes Students Popular Among the Peers

Public speaking makes students popular among their peers. Classmates would look up to them when they need help in debates, elocutions, or speeches.

Develops Better Writing Skills

Lastly, it helps to improve better writing skills. Students learn to put their thoughts on a particular topic in a logical order, so that it is a smooth flowing narrative from start to end.

How to Become Better at Public Speaking

To become a better public speaker, you need to follow some tips that are written below.

Research the Topic

First you need to research the topic and collect all the related information about it. You can use e-books or other authentic sources for that.

Know the Target Audience

You need to know the audience you are speaking to. You may need to know their age range and their background. This will help you to make the speech effective.

Outline the Topic

You need to make a rough outline that includes all the sub-points you will be discussing. This outline will narrow down the topic specifically.

Write an Effective Speech

Now you need to take all the researched information and write it according to the outline you made.

Make it Brief and Interesting

It would be best if you made the speech brief and interesting. Use infographics or images for the presentation.

Now practice the speech and try to complete it without making any mess. Also, you need to complete the speech within the time period.

It may be unexpected compared to the small room where you practice. But take a deep breath and start with a smile and introduction. After you catch the flow, it will be easy.

List of Public Speaking Topics for Students

The topic for any public speaking can be developed depending on the themes. Here are some of the best public speaking topics for students.

Topics for public speaking offered by the Best international school in Malaysia :

Education Speech Topics

Education is a central theme for any public speaking activity. Some of the Education speech topics are such,

● Important of Education

● Education System

● Girl's education

● Homeschooling is better than normal schooling

● Importance of value education

● Importance of sports and physical exercises

● Consequences of cheating in exams.

Science Speech Topics

Providing some of the best Science speech topics below,

● A scientific and ethical perspective on the developments of human cloning

● Achievements of Albert einstein

● Contribution of Charles darwin to science

● Existence of Black Hole

● The theory of the Big Bang

● Technological revolution

● Latest inventions

Society Speech Topics

Here are some Society speech topics,

● What is the ethical standpoint for abortion?

● Why are stereotypes harmful?

● Should a prisoner be able to vote?

● Is Social Darwinism true?

● Public toilets should be cleaner.

● The danger of propaganda

● The importance of preventing cyberbullying

Environmental Persuasive Speech Topics

There are many environmental topics; some of the Environmental Persuasive speech topics are written below.

● Is banning zoos a good idea?

● Does recycling help the environment, and how?

● How banning plastic bags will help to build a sustainable environment?

● Why shouldn't people keep exotic animals as pets?

● How the Government is lacking in taking care of environmental resources.

● What are the steps we should take to tackle global warming?

● How to control water pollution?

Speech Topics About Yourself

Exclusive Speech Topics about yourself, including,

● My favorite subject in the school

● My last summer break

Speech Topics on Proverbs

Some of the most common Speech Topics on Proverbs are given below.

● Knowledge is power

● Health is wealth

● Unity is strength

● Laughter is the best medicine

● Many hands make light work.

● Strike while the iron is hot.

● Honesty is the best policy.

Speech Topics on Social Issues

Here are some of the popular Speech Topics on Social Issues written below.

How to Choose a Public Speaking Topic?

For choosing public speaking ideas for students, you must consider several factors. Some of them are written below.

● Target audience

● The theme of the presentation

● Identify the purpose and the nature

● Contemporary affairs

● Personal interest, knowledge and experiences.

● Brainstorm possible topics based on the theme

● Shortlist the top Choices You are Confident About

Also Read : What Are the Public Speaking Tips for Kids ?

By now, you must have got a clear idea regarding public speaking. So, what are you waiting for? Start training your ward and guide them towards the right direction. We are sure this will help them have a promising and bright future.

Ms Ranjana, a highly accomplished French teacher, joined the GIIS East Coast Campus after moving from Australia. She has been teaching French, English and EAL for more than 20 years and graduated from Monash University, Australia. As a polyglot, she shares her passion for languages with her students. She helps them understand how our experiences influence our communication.

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Centering Students’ Voices in a Public Speaking Genre Study by Burke Scarbrough

Today’s students have access to stirring, powerful text in an ever widening array of forms. As we invite our students to discover the power of the carefully crafted written word, many of those students are even more strongly inclined to celebrate the power of language in oral performance. I’m referring to the genres and media in which artists breathe life into the written word through a sort of magic trick: they develop performances that make painstakingly crafted writing look and sound natural, spontaneous, or even effortless. In speeches that inspire, songs that transfix, movie moments that land, stand-up comedy that doubles us over, and spoken word poetry that sets fingers snapping, artists are hard at work behind the scenes—sweating the details, practicing to exhaustion.

English teachers can invite these oral performance genres into the classroom as the stuff of rigorous literacy learning. Whatever else they leave out, the Common Core State Standards emphasize the importance of organizing opportunities for students to read and write in a range of forms, and as they do, to learn to see writers’ choices as careful design moves that authors make depending on their genre, audience and purpose. They should make different decisions depending on whether they’re trying to persuade, inform, or tell a story. They should make and defend choices about language depending on what sort of communicating they’re doing, and to whom. And, we keep telling them, they should read like a fellow writer and write with their reader in mind. Too often, though, school reading and writing assignments come with the substantial baggage of being business as usual in the classroom; some students read with the hope of enjoying a good story, but when that doesn’t work out, they read and write (or don’t) because they’re told to.

Bringing public speaking into the English classroom, and widening the definition of public speaking to include many sorts of oral performance of written text, lets students treat popular and engaging works as texts worth studying. It can empower students to crack the codes of texts that move them and put those codes to use in the arguments they want to make and the stories they need to tell.

A Workshop for Text and Performance

As a former high school English teacher turned teacher educator, I scratch my secondary school teaching itch these days by teaching at a summer academic enrichment program at a New England boarding school. I work with high school students who come from around the US and the world to challenge themselves with enrichment courses and try out a boarding experience before many of them encounter it in college. When they walk through the door on the first day of my Speechmaking class, they’re not chasing grades or transcript credits; they want the academic challenge that they associate with a prep school, but they also want to be excited and inspired in ways that justify their choice to spend the summer back in a classroom. This is a motivated and self-selected student population, and the class sizes are small, so the summer program has always been an exciting space for me to try out engaging teaching units before doing the head-scratching work of adapting them for the other school settings in which I’ve worked.

The structure of the summer Speechmaking class follows an approach to writing workshop I got to know well through an earlier study of a high school English class taking on spoken word poetry (Scarbrough and Allen). While some famous examples of reading and writing workshop involve letting students choose the sorts of texts they want to read and write (Atwell), Speechmaking is different in two ways. First, the whole class works together to study a single genre—speeches—as a strange and mysterious type of text that the class needs to hack. As Sarah Andrew-Vaughan and Cathy Fleischer ask students to do individually in their Unfamiliar Genre Project, I ask the whole class to join me in an inductive inquiry process: to “gather and analyze model examples of that genre, to identify key characteristics of that genre, [and] to write in the genre” (38). Students have quite a bit of choice in what they want to communicate and accomplish through oral performance, but as they make those decisions, we are there to help each other figure out the rules and moves that characterize powerful public speaking.

Second, the class treats both written speeches and the performances of those speeches as types of text that we are there to study, draft, and revise. As obvious as it might seem that delivery is its own set of skills in public speaking, we bring that point home by switching our focus back and forth between the moves that seem to characterize effectively-written speeches and the performance choices that seem to do the most justice to those words. Part writing workshop, part performance workshop, the class gives me the chance to fuse my experience teaching English and teaching drama—a pair of skill sets many language arts teachers bring to their jobs or are asked to develop after they arrive.

Cracking the Code of a New Genre

Doing this inductive study of a genre—poring over examples in order to derive important features and patterns together—empowers students to do the noticing and thinking that teachers and textbook authors so often do for them. That said, it is time-consuming to have our students derive the very things we could show them. The Speechmaking class takes something of a middle ground, using a book about effective speechmaking to get us started with some important features, and then using extended discussion of sample speeches to first look for the features we’d read about and then widen our view to other aspects of the speech that we found valuable.

Public speaking textbooks are pricey, but Carmine Gallo’s Talk Like TED is an inexpensive paperback that presents features of popular TED Talks through the same sort of inductive process the Speechmaking class was undertaking; Gallo reviewed dozens of TED Talks, determined what many of them have in common, and suggests ways we might do something similar in all sorts of public speaking situations. Each chapter focuses on a particular facet of effective public speaking, and it refers to numerous famous TED talks as illustrations. Of course, there is more to public speaking than TED Talks—in fact, such a lengthy staged lecture might bore or scare off many students, including those with a strong interest in a distinctly different form of public speaking (spoken word poetry, perhaps, or church sermons). Still, TED is a vast, free digital resource for storytelling, teaching, and persuasion, so it offers us a starting point as we develop our own language for effective speechmaking. Moreover, Gallo approaches the crucial but sometimes tired trio of classical appeals—ethos, pathos, and logos—as a modern set of speaking principles that students can see and hear in many of the TED Talks he cites. Students can study ethos through chapters that emphasize how good speakers unleash their passion and reveal themselves authentically through their speeches; they can consider pathos in chapters that examine how good speakers tell stories, make the audience smile, and deliver jaw-dropping moments; and they can approach logos by being exhorted to teach the audience something new and organize clear main points and supporting evidence around the “rule of 3s.”

Of course, there are many other public speaking textbooks and online primers available. I have found excerpts and sample speeches in Stephen Lucas’s The Art of Public Speaking to be useful. In particular, I have used (with permission) an excerpt about different ways speakers establish credibility, another about different approaches to introductions in speeches, and some model informative or persuasive speeches (of manageable length) written by college students. Crucially, though, our purpose is not to march through any public speaking textbook from start to finish; textbook readings are there to model and reinforce the sorts of patterns we might go on to notice as a class as we spend time responding to all sorts of speeches. A few days each week—and numerous homework assignments—are devoted to reading or watching a growing variety of texts: TED Talks, political speeches, spoken word poetry (see YouTube channels for All Def Poetry or Youth Speaks), personal stories (see themoth.org), speeches from movies or TV, videos by YouTube celebrities, and written speeches by former students. While I come to the unit with numerous examples, it isn’t long before students begin nominating all sorts of oral performances that they love, and as time permits, I challenge interested students to prepare a rationale for why a given speech is worth studying and, if their rationale is compelling, invite them to present their chosen speech and facilitate the class’s analysis.

One way to keep track of the traits of good speechwriting and delivery that we discover is to develop a shared Speech Feedback Form and update it every few days. This Google Doc rubric includes a growing and reshuffling set of traits that the class is ready to hold each other accountable for in our own writing and speaking. By the time we add a new trait to this rubric, the class has identified it as a key to good speechmaking, discussed it in the context of several speeches, and talked about tips for adapting that trait to other speaking situations. Students’ speech assignments then follow this growing rubric: for instance, once we discover and discuss “passion” and “credibility” as keys to good speechmaking, students draft short informative speeches that teach the class something meaningful to the speaker; once we become aware of an effective “rate of speech” and study how speakers make a main point clear and relatable through “storytelling” as well as “volume” and “tone” of voice, students draft and revise a speech that makes a point by telling a story (see Figure 1 for how the co-constructed rubric might look at this point); and as we go on to focus on “body language,” clear and engaging “introductions” and “conclusions,” and “content” that brings together evidence and storytelling around the rule of threes, students begin to research, draft and revise persuasive speeches on a topic that moves them. In other words, our rubric serves as common ground between the features we notice through reading and the writing and performances students develop.

What’s Worth Speaking About?

With structures in place for annotating sample speeches and assessing what students come up with, I want to make sure that my students have ways to generate speech ideas that matter to them. For some, this is as easy as pausing after the speeches we study to let students take note of possible speech topics in a growing notebook list. Upon hearing a spoken word poet or a storyteller on The Moth recount a personal story with deep significance, some students quickly identify life-altering incidents or deceptively significant small stories that they want to craft for an audience. Upon hearing TED Talks or political speeches or speeches by students addressing social injustices, some students identify issues that make them want to speak out. Others come to class already motivated to speak out about current events. And on a lighter note, a few have been interested in the rhetorical challenge of arguing a counterintuitive point, as I have sometimes done by inviting students to give me an “impossible” topic to address in a speech at the end of the unit. Past examples have included “Water: A Threat to Us All” and “The Many Uses of Rubber Ducks.”

As students brainstorm topics of personal interest, I challenge them to go one step further and consider—particularly in their persuasive speech, the longest speech I assign, and one that includes a research component—speech topics that occupy a “sweet spot” among three criteria: being of interest to the speaker, being of likely interest to the listener, and being something that many people don’t know or disagree about (See Figure 2). I also have students come to class with two potential speech topics, and for each one, a brief rationale and a few questions they wish they could ask their audience before preparing the speech. After writing this information at the top of blank sheets of paper (or posting it electronically), students pass papers from one classmate to the next, engaging in a “silent conversation” (Wilhelm) that lets each speaker read reactions and answers to a few audience analysis questions before committing to a topic and beginning a draft. Amid the hard work of reconciling their own interests with the varied responses of their classmates, speakers are learning to consider their responsibilities to an audience and to strategize about what it will take to persuade that audience.

Studying Performance As a Text

The classic features of a writing process workshop appear in the Speechmaking class: students spend time generating ideas, drafting and revising text, and giving and receiving feedback from peers and from me. But a key feature of studying the public speaking genre is splitting this workshop time between drafting and revising written speeches and drafting and revising performances of those written words. One of the first challenges I find in studying performance with students is helping students to see performance choices as choices. One powerful way to make that visible is to show students short scripts or transcripts from a video performance before they have the chance to see the performance. Many genres can work nicely with this, but I tend to use TV and movie scenes. Students read and mark up bits of text that range from a single line to a full dramatic monologue, and they use annotation markings to indicate where they would use pacing, pauses, pitch, or volume to bring the words to life. Hearing volunteers share different choices about the same text, and then turning to the filmed performance by a famous actor or passionate spoken word poet, students see how much decision-making there is in the move from page to stage. Once we began to play with vocal performance choices in this way—and, soon, eye contact and gestures as well—students are also more likely to refer to these features of speechmaking in each of the speeches we watch and discuss as a class.

Another challenge in performance workshop is getting students to commit to trying out strong performance choices, including some that might be more extreme than what the speaker will ultimately settle on. I explain this as a version of the goldilocks story: for choices about volume, rate of speech, variety in pitch and tone, emphasis through volume and pauses, or emphasis through facial expression and gestures, sometimes it is useful to make a choice too extreme in one direction, and then too extreme in another direction, before settling on a middle ground that is (for the particular situation) just right. Sometimes students practice delivering portions of a speech draft in each of these three ways, playing with what it would mean to go “too far” in one direction or another and, in the process, discovering the full range of performance choices they have available. Other times, I bring children’s books or short ghost stories to class for shared reading—for many, a familiar context for making dramatic choices about vocal delivery when reading. As we make these performance styles visible, we begin to discuss the sometimes subtle similarities and differences between reading, acting, and delivering a speech without quite sounding like one is reading or acting.

Above all, students need rounds of practice that let them try to bring words to life, get quick feedback, set a manageable goal, and try again. While there isn’t time for me to give every student individual coaching during each day of performance workshop, I try to create spaces for students to accumulate some “reps” making and evaluating performance choices. Sometimes, students pair up and practice delivering part or all of a draft speech for a peer; these sessions go best when each speaker identifies one aspect of performance that would be a particular focus in this round of practice. When technology allows (and, increasingly, it does), students might film or audiorecord their partners so that each speaker can spend time doing the awkward but private work of seeing oneself on screen. Other times, I organize students into an inner circle and simulate “speed dates” in which pairs would take turns delivering part of a speech, hear a moment of focused feedback from a partner, and then rotate to a new partner for another round of practice. Sometimes students would tell their partners what they were interested in working on with this round of delivery; other times, I would call out instructions for a given round of practice (“this time, try adding in one really dramatic pause,” or “this time, see what happens if you deliver the speech a little too loudly”). Students are often surprised how well-received their attempts are when they thought they were speaking too loudly, too slowly, or with too much emphasis on important words or phrases. Whatever they discover, the best way for them to develop performance choices that work is to have numerous rounds of low-stakes practice with the chance to see how choices look and sound to oneself and others.

An Adaptable Unit

For a final speech of the unit, I want students to have lots of freedom, but I also want us to be able to organize some speaking situations that were one step more authentic than sitting in our classroom pretending to be one audience or another. As a middle ground, I often have students choose one of several types of speeches, and the class then travels to a different space each day to hear the relevant speech: toasts in the cafeteria, stories or spoken word poems in the theater, and mini-TED Talks in the classroom. Grading student work isn’t a priority in my summer course, and the speeches that closely match our developing speech rubrics are already behind us, so we focus on positive feedback after each speech and only record them if the speaker wishes. Rather than a culminating assessment, this final speech is a low-stakes celebration; the students’ hard work and learning is evident in their annotations, discussions, co-constructed feedback forms, and many cycles of drafting, revising, assessing, and goal-setting for written speeches and performances.

Over nearly two decades of teaching Speechmaking in the summer, I have expanded and contracted the course to prioritize different speech assignments, different speaking traits worth working on, different ways of balancing textbook readings with analysis of real speeches, different ways of balancing reading and writing emphases, different ways of balancing writing and performance workshop time, and different outside-of-class expectations given students’ workloads and access to technology. What has stayed constant for me is the power of defining “public speaking” in a way that includes a variety of texts that many students already find powerful, treating students as capable critical analysts who can help author the speechmaking principles we study, and treating skilled writing and performance as important enough to hand over to students.

That said, the scope of the unit will change depending on how many students are in the room, how safe the classroom community is for sharing writing and taking risks with performance, and what sorts of work can be expected outside of class. This unit is useful in that the oral performances we study are short; each of them can be viewed, discussed, and even emulated within a class period. Similarly, the writing and performance workshop process can unfold largely or entirely during class time. With students who are less immersed in a discussion-driven pedagogy, as students in my summer enrichment setting are, I would be more deliberate in modeling the ways of annotating and responding to printed speeches. I would also ramp up to student-driven discussions by making explicit the sorts of moves that help people build on and politely challenge each other’s comments. And with students who are less likely to think of themselves as current or future leaders likely to speak in public, I would spend more time uncovering the interests and issues that might motivate students to speak out, making sure that analysis and workshop practice are clearly serving goals that students find relevant.

There are many other ways to adapt the broad strokes of this unit into assignments and daily lessons that match different school settings and learning goals.In addition to the perennial balancing acts I listed above, here are a few more choices and challenges that I’m excited to think about each time I prepare to teach Speechmaking:

Oral performance is a vital part of language arts, and it is too often either neglected or relegated to elective courses and after-school experiences. Workshop and genre study pedagogy gives students the opportunity to analyze, draft, revise, and “publish” oral performance in many of the same ways, and in service of the same learning standards, that teachers readily apply to print genres. The more widely teachers can define “text” (and “public speaking”) in the classroom, the more that literacy learning can emerge from forms of art that truly stir students’ passions.

Works Cited

Andrew-Vaughan, Sarah, and Cathy Fleischer. “Researching Writing: The Unfamiliar-Genre Research Project.” English Journal , vol. 95, no. 4, 2006, pp. 26-42.

Atwell, Nancie. In the Middle . 3rd ed. Heinemann, 2015.

“Club Meeting Roles.” Toastmasters International. www.toastmasters.org/membership/club-meeting-roles . Accessed 29 August 2017.

Gallo, Carmine. Talk Like Ted: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds . New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2014.

Lucas, Stephen E. The Art of Public Speaking . 11th ed. McGraw Hill, 2012.

Scarbrough, Burke, and Anna-Ruth Allen. “Writing Workshop Revisited: Confronting Communicative Dilemmas Through Spoken Word Poetry in a High School English Classroom.” Journal of Literacy Research, vol. 46, no.4, 2014, pp. 475-505.

Trefor-Jones, Glyn. Drama Menu: Theatre Games in Three Courses. Nick Hern Books, 2015.

Wilhelm, Jeffrey D. Action Strategies for Deepening Comprehension . Scholastic, 2002.

Feedback form for storytelling speech.png

Fig. 1 How our co-constructed feedback form might look by the time of a “Storytelling Speech” assignment

Persuasive speech topic venn diagram.png

Fig. 2 What makes a good persuasive speech topic?

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