Choosing a topic for both oral presentations and written reports has always been a challenge for me. When brainstorming I normally have many ideas fighting each other, but the act of pointing out the best takes forever. The fourth chapter of our textbook listed a few simple, effective ways on how to narrow ones choices when preparing for a speech and knowing the specific purpose of a presentation.
The important things to remember when choosing topic ideas are ones personal interests, audience, available resources, timing and setting. Obviously most individuals choose topics which are related to them, meaning that the subject matter is at least somewhat interesting to them (in some cases not though, e.g. getting an assigned topic). It is crucial to know who your audience is because interests change drastically in different groups of people. The odds of speaking to senior citizens about the latest video game development are pretty low. Of course knowing the setting, time limit and the resources which will be available to oneself are good to know for a myriad of reasons. Considering the time aspect, you might choose a broad topic such as global warming in the Amazon, but it would be difficult to cover that in four to five minutes.
Having an idea of where we want to go with our speech, what our purpose is, is the whole theory behind giving a speech or writing a report. One must know exactly what the goal is. Is the speech to inform, persuade or entertain? Questions like that must be asked continuously. When the purpose is clear, one will know, or at least estimate well, how the audience will respond. Therefore, it is necessary to weigh topic choices and to know the reasoning and purpose behind ones presentation.
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