With Toastmasters International Speech Contest in full swing I wanted to share some advice I received from Lance Miller (World Champion in 2005) last year.
I was talking to Lance about my 2008 District speech entry. The title was “Spread Your Wings.” Lance asked me what my message was. I told him that the message was to… spread your wings. He immediately told me that it is generally not a good idea to have your message be part of your title.
It’s tempting to use your message as your title, but it unfortunately detracts from your message. There’s no element of surprise or mystery. You put your audience on the defensive and the judges may find your speech predictable.
Try to use a creative title based on an aspect of your speech. It can be difficult coming up with a great title. I posted some of my thoughts on a speech title for a Region winning speech.
Posted under Public Speaking
This post was written by john on March 22, 2009
Excellent advice. I am wondering what your initial thought would be on a speech entitled, “Make Your Sparks Fly”.
Bob,
I like that title. It doesn’t give away what the message is. Without hearing/seeing the speech, it is hard to tell how appropriate a title it would be.
I like to create titles with some mystery to them. In this case, something like, “Making sparks fly out of your nose!”
Have fun with your title and capture the imagination.
John.
My biggest concern about the title was that people would immediately think, uh oh, he’s going to be talking about a fight!
My speech goes on to talk about how when we get really inspired about doing something, it becomes like a spark of interest for me. My speech premise was to suggest to others that when you feel that spark down deep in your gut, fan the flame and make that spark come to life, maybe even fly. I’m not sure it worked, because in the speech contest, I did not even place.