This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "The 16 Undeniable Laws of Communication" by John C. Maxwell. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.
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Have you been asked to give a speech? Are you seeking out opportunities to improve your public speaking skills?
Public speaking expert John C. Maxwell shares advice on how to choose a topic for a speech in his book The 16 Undeniable Laws of Communication. He recommends that you don’t go it alone; rather, you should find a few people who will brainstorm with you.
Read more to learn how to find the right people and, together, come up with winning ideas for your speech.
How to Choose a Topic for a Speech
Maxwell’s advice for how to choose a topic for a speech is to gather a team of people to help you brainstorm ideas. He recommends finding people who are open to new ideas, are flexible when tackling problems, and believe that there are many different ways to solve a problem. Maxwell argues that groups often come up with better ideas than individuals. When you brainstorm by yourself, you can work from only a single perspective. When you collaborate with others, you have access to diverse experiences and insights, which can help you recognize blind spots in your thinking.
(Shortform note: Maxwell seems to imply that any group is composed of people with diverse experiences and insights, but this isn’t always the case. In Rebel Ideas, Matthew Syed writes that some groups are homogenous in that members think similarly and therefore don’t bring fresh perspectives. Not only that, but members of homogenous groups tend to reinforce one another’s viewpoints, which makes them overconfident about flawed ideas. It might therefore be a good idea to ensure your team is cognitively diverse. To assemble a group with cognitive diversity, Syed suggests you find competent people who have many different perspectives and thought processes so you can avoid collective blindspots and generate innovative ideas.)
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- The secrets to becoming a confident and effective communicator
- How anyone can master public speaking, no matter how nervous they get
- How to write a clear and engaging speech
