Suggested Activities for Chapter 6

1. On the board, have students list topics they have enjoyed hearing about in the past (excluding those in your classroom). After having students informally discuss which topics they would like to hear more about, tell them to rank the topics and compare their lists.

   Ask if any topics would be offensive, too simple, or overly technical. Conclude by asking students what this exercise tells them about topic selection, the classroom audience, and audiences in general.

2. Have students write down any topics they have used in other speeches. If you are concerned that students might “recycle” their old speeches, you can collect their lists so students know not to use these topics again.

   Some instructors also worry that students may use the outlines of other classmates. These instructors often require students to turn in two copies of all final outlines; one is graded and returned to the student; the other is kept in an outline file. This outline file serves two purposes:

   • It tells students that the file exists and possibly deters them from “revising” the outlines of previous students.
   • It provides useful sample outlines and topic ideas.
3. Have students work individually or in groups on research, brainstorming, word association, and mind mapping with their real speech topic or any topic. If you do not have enough time to let students try each of the four topic-generating methods, put students in four groups so that each student practices and applies at least one of the techniques. Then discuss the results as a class.
4. Either as a class activity or as homework, have students analyze topics of upcoming public speeches in your community. Use the campus or local media, the school’s public relations publications, or academic conference programs to determine the types of topics speakers will be discussing. Ask students why they think the speakers chose the topics and who the target audiences are.