Deciding upon a topic for a great persuasive speech is no easy task. As a matter of fact, simply deciding upon a topic can be nearly as hard as actually writing the speech. But far too often, novice public speakers fail to take advantage of simple tactics that could make their jobs much, much easier. With a little insight into who your audience is and a lot of preparation, you should have no trouble narrowing your topic ideas down to the very best one.

 

When it comes to persuasive speeches, it's a good idea to make your primary goal getting positive attention and admiration from your audience. If you can manage to do that, regardless of what your topic may be,  you're well on your way to successful persuasion.

 

Know Your Audience…

Actually, in all reality, your audience will play the single most important role when it comes to deciding upon a topic for a persuasive speech. It's always a good idea to choose a topic that will be of interest to them. If there are some shared commonalities among attendees, capitalize on them! While this hardly seems like original advice, you'd be amazed at how many speakers fail to take this into account. Also, be sure to remember that most audiences are going to seminars and attending functions where persuasive speeches prevail in an attempt to learn more about themselves. If you can also make that an underlying benefit of your persuasive speech, you're light-years ahead of most speakers!

 

Start out by asking yourself what you can do to somehow show your audience something that will somehow enhance the quality of their lives. Topics that fall under this category might include:

 

• Improved health
• Deeper, truer love
• Increased joy
• Strengthened power
• More wealth or
• Satisfying relationships

 

However, not every public speaker can have total freedom when it comes to deciding upon a topic. If you're speaking at an event catering to dentists, you're probably not going to be welcomed if your topic is "How to Never Have to Visit a Dentist Again…"  However, you can still increase the impact of your persuasive speech if you keep in mind certain trends that nearly all audiences share - even if you're dealing with a seemingly dry topic. Audiences want you to sell them the benefits of your topic or idea, and not just features. If you can answer the question, "What's in it for me?" for the majority of your audience members, you're much more likely to convince them that you're way of thinking, acting or behaving is the best.

 

Still searching for possibilities? Here's a little tip: the two greatest sources of interest for ANY audience are financial prosperity and self-development. Can you include either (or both) of these factors into your persuasive speech?

 

Still Stumped?

If you're still a little stumped, pay attention to current values, thoughts, events and ambitions that may be shared by your audience members. Are they all working in the same industry? Are they all the same sex? Do many of them fall under the same income bracket? What demographics does your audience share?

 

While trying to persuade your audience, don't neglect opportunities to inform and educate, motivate and inspire or offer new solutions or new behaviors to help out with old, pressing problems. Whatever you decide to say, make sure that the information is clear-cut and easy to understand for everyone attending.

 

And, if you're still totally stumped, here are a few popular persuasive topics you might want to consider:

 

• Adoption rights
• The environment
• Affirmative action
• AIDS
• Drugs and alcohol
• Foreign policy
• Suicide
• Reproductive rights
• Immigration
• Gay Rights
• Erosion/Deforestation
• Home-Schooling
• Paranormal Phenomena
• The War in Iraq
• Animal Rights
• Capital Punishment
• Cloning
• Elections
• Euthanasia
• Evolution
• Vaccines
• Homelessness
• Cost of Living/Minimum Wage
• Inflation
• Private School vouchers and/or
• Religious Intolerance