‘I don’t know what to talk about!’

Posted on May 12, 2009
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Do these thoughts ever go through your mind when you plan a speech?

‘I don’t know what to talk about!’ ‘Other people seem to have such great original ideas, but mine are so small!’ ‘I don’t think I have anything to say!’.

Sometimes I feel like this, so this post is about getting ideas for speeches.

Amongst the recommendations in Toastmaster educational materials are:

1. Find ideas through the media, e.g., newspapers, television, the Internet.
2. Tell stories about your own life.
3. Use famous stories or anecdotes or quotations as a starting point.

These are all great ideas, but I want to add something.

Nothing is too small or too insignificant for Toastmasters.

I enjoyed TM Miyazaki’s great icebreaker speech ‘The sooner, the better’ because she took a simple thought that had obviously been in her head for some time. She took this thought and then explored it. This idea wasn’t something she had consciously sought out; it was something that was already there.

You know how when you clean out an old drawer and find something you have forgotten about. ‘Wow, I still have that? Why haven’t I used it yet?’ I found some cute origami paper, and stickers and writing cards, just waiting for me to use them.

Apply the mottainai concept! Treasure your ideas

Sometimes you find speech ideas inside you, just waiting to be taken out of the dusty drawer, pondered over, and used. You just need to start by being aware what floats through your mind and believe that it is worth taking your own thoughts seriously.

Helen

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