Outline/speech due in 8 hours

SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1Topic Ideas for Informative Speech #1

** These ideas are meant as a starting point for your topic brainstorming.

** The more specific your topic area...the more new information you will bring to the speech.

**Have some fun...get interested in your subject area!!! Learn something & teach us!!!

**More ideas may be found by brainstorming the various areas of your other courses.

**Visiting a website like Wikipedia may help you develop ideas. However, this is not college level resource. Encyclopaedias and dictionaries are not good research tools for your actual speech (info is often too generic and most of us will already know that information).

The Speech to Describe/Demonstrate: (a speech to describe an object or event)

Demonstrate how something works.

a. Elevator/escalator

b. Nuclear Power Plant

c. Construction crane

d. DVD player

e. Television screen

f. Computer hard drive

g. Laser printer

h. Some element of an Internal combustion engine (your car)

i. Human organs (brain, heart, ears, lungs, eyes, kidneys, etc.)

j. Military tactics (the Battle of Midway, The Battle of Waterloo)

k. Planet/moon/stellar formation

l. Animals: pick something new – not the whole animal

1. Dolphin/bat sonar

2. Cooling effect of elephant ears

3. Zebra striping

4. Fire ant mounds

5. Army ant march

6. Dogs’ hearing

7. Polar bear fur

8. Blood - Fish that won’t freeze

9. stinging tentacles of a jelly fish

Demonstrate how something is made, built, or designed.

a. Bank vault

b. Medieval armor.

c. Skyscraper – well some part of it, anyway

d. Modular Prison

e. Suspension Bridge - cables

f. Traffic tunnel – digging process

g. Airplane

h. Aircraft Carrier (any ship of interest - cruise ship, exploration ship, submarine)

i. Pyramids (Egypt, South America, or Native American burial mounds)

j. Stonehenge, Easter Island statues, Roman Coliseum (or some Ancient Wonder),

Tower of London, St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans, Angola Penitentiary

k. Any item of interest: concrete, linoleum, sugar, honey, soda/ginger ale/root beer, champagne, formica, cardboard/paper, cork, chalk, silk thread, nylon/rayon, plastic

Describe a process

a. Mummification or building the pyramids/sphinx

b. aging (effects on hair, skin, organs, reflexes, etc)

c. Human fetal development – pick a single “trimester”

d. metamorphosis (insects’ life stages)

e. Glacier formation or how they movement

f. Heat exchange through earth’s atmosphere/oceans

g. Causes of earthquakes, types of faults, causes of tsunami

h. How oil deposits form or the different types of deposits

i. How an oil derrick works

j. Describe the “fracking” process – don’t get persuasive and say it is “bad or good”

k. How glass is blown

l. How neon signs work or are made

m. How a diamond is cut.

n. How a specific medical procedure is performed.

o. How the telephone or a smart phone works.

p. Describe the stages of a scuba dive.

q. Give a detailed description of how a piece of scuba gear works.

r. How the jet engine works.

s. Give a detailed description of how some power tool or machine works.

t. How diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, opal, or other gems are formed

u. Agricultural processes: crop rotation, fertilization, bioengineering of crops, soil composition, soil erosion, crop dusting, insecticide application, weed control

v. decoupage, sculpture, refinishing, lost-dye casting, candle-making, printing

SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1Topic Ideas for Informative Speech #2

OK – now we can start explaining ideas and concepts. This speech deals with intangible ideas – if you can “touch” it then it won’t be a good topic. This speech runs 4-6 minutes and you should pick a topic that will add to your audience’s knowledge – pick something new!

It is VERY important to make sure that you keep from becoming persuasive with this topic. This is still an informative speech. You can describe the effects of violence on TV, but the second you say that this is “bad” for kids – you turned your speech into a persuasive event.

Speech of Explanation (explain an idea)

A. Philosophy

a. explain the prevalent ideas of a famous thinker; Descartes, Plato, John Locke, Jefferson

b. The philosophy of zen, chivalry, samurai, Buddism, Confusionism, or a religion.

c. pain treatment in chronic cases of ___________

d. explain a psychological disorder (depression, schizophrenia, phobia)

e. explain a psychological process (child development)

f. Explain new breakthroughs in disease diagnosis or in treatment

B. Concepts in the Legal/Penal system

a. Process of appeals or jury selection or jury deliberation

b. winning a libel case

c. product liability/responsibility

d. civil rights (privacy, freedom of expression, due process, heirship)

e. Censorship

C. Culture:

a. how women are treated in another culture

b. how families function in another culture

c. how business practices differ in another culture

d. Explain an accepted economic theory

e. the role of government control in another culture

f. “rites of passage” (male/female maturation rituals)

g. Some concept dealing with language

h. Explain customs...e.g. chivalry, the Samurai code

D. Science/social science - explain a theory of some note in biology, geology, physics, astronomy, archeology, chemistry, or some social science. For example:

a. Why dinosaurs may have been warmblooded.

b. Why the rainforests are so important.

c. What is cold fusion

d. What is a black hole’s “event horizon”

e. Why is cloning so genetically difficult

f. What effects does the media have on adults or children

General Interest Topics for Informative Speaking

Marriage customs and traditions for couples in India–

How to survive if stranded in the wilderness–

How to recognize if someone is lying.

Symbolism in flags, uniforms, art forms, etc.

How to protect your online identity

The basics tenets of yoga–

The precepts of one of the martial arts...code of conduct.

The mission of the U.S. Army Rangers, Marines or some other group like the Am. Red Cross

How to gain admission to the United States as an immigrant–

Dressing for success.

How color effects human mood.

Developing good eating habits in kids.

Effects of TV viewing, Internet usage, social media and the like.

Effects of stress

How amphibians are the environmental “canary in a coal mine.”

How police dogs are trained