Finding a Good Persuasive Topic

The task that usually causes difficulties for many students is finding a good persuasive speaking topic. Here are some practical tips on how to cope with this difficulty:

1. Pick something you feel strongly about. If you don’t feel strongly about your topic, how are you going to persuade the audience to feel the same way? You may say, “But I don’t feel strongly about anything!” Yes, you do. Sit down with a piece of paper and brainstorm. If you like football, give a speech for or against electronic systems to assist referees. If you like classical music, give a speech on why classical music is not as popular as it should be. You get the idea.

2. Avoid your “hot button” topics. Don’t pick something you feel too strongly about. Hot button topics are issues you feel so strongly about that it’s hard for you to understand where the other side is coming from. In order to give a good persuasive speech, you need to understand the other side’s point of view, because how else will you change it?

3. Pick something controversial.It doesn’t have to be extremely controversial, but you do need to present a topic that not everyone agrees with. Otherwise there is no persuasion going on, and it is not a very good persuasive speech. For example, don’t give a speech on why smoking is bad for your health. Who’s going to disagree with that? Instead, try giving a speech for or against a campus-wide smoking ban. Now you have some controversy and a super topic.

4. Avoid “tired topics”. Tired topics are those that students pick all the time and that your instructor has heard over and over again. The audience is likely to get bored and tune you out. And since the instructor has heard this topic before, he or she knows what kinds of mistakes students make when giving a speech about this topic, and will be on the lookout for these errors.

5. Pick a current event.Having trouble thinking of the topic? Go read a newspaper. What’s going on in Ukraine and in the world? If there’s an election, endorse a candidate or a ballot referendum.

6. Pick a campus or local issue. Are there controversial issues about campus? Are there controversial issues in your college town? These topics will be very relevant to your audience members.

7. Pick an issue of interest to the audience. Give a speech about cell phones, or music downloads, or tuition hikes, or something the audience cares about. If they don’t care about your issue, they won’t be persuaded.

8. Pick a smaller part of a big issue. Don’t try to change people’s mind about a huge issue in your short speech, because it is usually very hard. However, you might change their minds about a portion of this issue.

9. Be cautious with issues that some audience members might find offensive. Speech topics that some students might consider to be racial, discriminating, or something along those lines are not great topics. Think about this: the object of this speech is to persuade your audience. If some of your audience members feel offended on a personal level, they sure are not going to be persuaded.

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“Tired” Topics

It does not mean that you should definitely avoid giving a speech about one of the well-known issues, as mentioned in item 3.1.4. If you feel very strongly about one of such topics and want to give a speech about it, you can try. Or choose a creative and more interesting variation of one of these topics.

Yet, here is a list of some “tired” persuasive speaking topics that you probably want to avoid:

· The death penalty. While admitting the gravest nature of this topic, this is by far the number one “tired” topic chosen by students, and it is doubtful that many students have personal experience with the death penalty.

· Why you should join a fraternity or sorority. There’s nothing wrong with this topic, but everyone on campus has heard these arguments before. Your audience will tune you out.

· Why marijuana should be legal. If you choose this topic, you need to give an excellent speech or the class will dismiss you as a stoner.

· For the same reasons you should probably avoid the topic like “Why the drinking age should be raised”.

· Abortion. This topic isn’t as tired as you think, but everyone has heard these arguments before.

· Why you should wear your seat belt. Or why you should wear your helmet. This is not new information.

· Why you shouldn’t smoke. Also not new information. Why you shouldn’t binge drink is kind of a tired topic too, but it’s more timely.

· Why you should use condom. An important message? Yes. A new message? No. If you do this speech, don’t demonstrate how to put a condom on a banana.

· Why you should give blood. Another useful topic that unfortunately has been overused.

· The same can be said about Why you should recycle.

· Violence in the media. This topic is both tired and difficult. There’s so much information out there about violence in the media, and lots of it is conflicting. Sex in the media also is a tired topic.

· Why you should adopt a pet. This speech always goes the same: cute pictures of kitties and doggies, followed by horrible stats about how many animals are put down. To be more creative and controversial try making Get your pet spayed or neuteredspeech.

· Affirmative Action,which means the policy of giving jobs and other opportunities to racial minorities or women who might not otherwise have them. There’s nothing wrong with a controversial topic, but this one has been overused big time.

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