Inspiration

Sometimes it seems difficult to find inspiration for a Toastmasters speech.

I don't believe for one second that inspiration for a speech topic is difficult to find.  Most of us have tons of stories to tell, even if it something as mundane as "what I did today".  Now "what I did today" may very well make a terrible speech, but that isn't my point.  Speech topics are all around us and  the lack of "inspiration" is likely just a myth.

When people mention a lack of inspiration I think they really mean a lack of motivation.  Who could blame them if their current idea for a speech is "what I did today".  Believe me, you don't want to hear about my average day.  I don't want to hear about my average day!  If you simply pick a topic out of the ether it is hard to get motivated to do the work to prepare, practice, and present a speech on that topic.  The key is to find a topic that does get you motivated to do the work that helps you down the path towards better speaking.

Now you could brainstorm a list of topics when you want to present a speech to your Toastmasters club.  I'm willing to go out on a limb and speculate that this is how the average Toastmaster plans out a speech.  In my speculative state I'll postulate that it is during these brainstorming sessions that people feel they have no inspiration.  My response would be "you're not doing it right", but that is a topic for another time.

Instead of deciding to speak and then find a topic, I'd suggest finding a topic and then speaking.  Actually, scratch that.  Don't find a topic, but work towards having a bunch of topics.  Carry around a small notebook and pen, or create a list on your smartphone.  As ideas come across your path, jot them down.  Pick some time, maybe once a day or once a week, to go through your list and make a few notes.  Maybe some subjects lend themselves better to specific types of speeches.

The act of jotting down ideas and then later consolidating them helps take care of motivational problems when preparing for a speech.  Subjects that have no interest to you, and subsequently no motivation, get weeded out because they won't even make it on the list.  With what is essentially a "pre-approved" list of speech topics you can spend more of your time actually preparing for your presentation and less time wondering what you are going to speak about.

You never know....this might even help your complete your manuals just a bit quicker.....