How to Select the Right Topics for Your Manual Speeches
You've just joined Toastmasters and are eager to give your speeches. The first one, the Ice Breaker, is easy — it’s about you! Then you read ahead in your manual and you draw a blank. What to talk about? The following tips will help you get through the Communication and Leadership Manual while maintaining your excitement about speaking. Selecting the right topics is the secret. * Speak about you. Tell the audience about things that you've experienced. * Speak about things you know. You many not realize it, but you have knowledge that the rest of your club members would like to have. Think about areas of interest and expertise and share them with others. * Speak about things you would like to know. If something interests you or is a lifelong dream, your enthusiasm for that topic will be contagious. Research the subject and present it to the audience.
Speech 2 — “Be In Earnest”
This speech challenges you to convince the audience of your sincerity or conviction on a topic. I did my second speech on “Unfinished Business” — someone dear to me had just died and I realized how much we leave unsaid to those people closest to us. It was an emotional speech for me, and it helped the club members get to know me better. Other great topics for this speech are political issues, social causes, relationships and anything else you feel strongly about.
Speech 3 — “Organize Your Speech”
I love this speech because it can be about anything. Its purpose is to establish a clear opening, body and conclusion. I encourage everyone giving this speech to make an outline. This will help organize your thoughts and ensure a logical flow. My third speech was called “Wine and Noble Motives.” I opened with a quotation and told of a lesson I learned through a personal experience. This was a funny speech, but it had a serious message — which was my conclusion.
Speech 4 — “Show What You Mean”
The purpose of this speech is to explore different ways to use body language. While this speech can be about anything, be sure to pick a topic that allows you to move and use gestures to illustrate points. In my speech, “Stay in Touch,” I explored the different types of touch and how touch that is inappropriate for a situation can send a very wrong message. I used a member of the audience (with the member’s prior consent) to help demonstrate my points.

Speech 5 — “Vocal Variety”
For this speech, it is important to pick a topic that will allow you to exercise your vocal range — voice volume, pitch, rate and quality. I have heard this speech given to demonstrate different accents, teen vernacular and unpleasant encounters. In my vocal variety speech, I told a personal story and demonstrated peacefulness, fear, frustration and relief through my voice. It has been my experience that this speech is most effective when used to describe people or situations.