Page 33 - PUBLIC SPEAKING_Neat

reminded him of lotteries. Lotteries are a form of gambling. Suddenly, this student
remembered an article he had read on the problem of gambling addiction in
America. The idea clicked in his mind. After considerable research, he developed
an excellent speech titled “Gambling Addiction: Why You Can’t Beat the Odds.”
That’s a far cry from movies! If we started out free-associating from movies, we
would doubtless end up somewhere completely different. This is what clustering is
all about.

3. Internet Search
By clustering, most people come up with a topic rather quickly. But if we are
still stymied, try an Internet search. Browse through a subject-based Web site, an
online encyclopedia, or some other reference portal until we come across what
might be a good topic. As an experiment, one student scanned the Merriam-

Webster Online Dictionary, limiting herself to the letter m . Within 10 minutes, she
had come up with these potential topics:
Magic Minimum wage Medal of Honor Middle ear
Madrid Moon Martial arts Muscular dystrophy

Monarchy Meteorite Maple syrup Mardi Gras
Marriage Marine corps Mushroom Mafia

Whatever the mean we use to select a topic, we need to start early. Pay attention to
interesting subjects in conversation, on television and the Internet, in newspapers and
magazines. Jot down ideas for topics as they occur to us.
Adapted from: The Art of Public Speaking Eleventh Edition
Write our brainstorm topic in a draft. It will ease us to write the speech text later
and focus to the topic. The following picture is the example of the draft.

Public Speaking | 27