10 Epideictic Speech Topics

Epideictic speech topics to display a proposition of the ethical and universal values of a person, group, product, organization or idea in a ceremonial speech or an oratory which seeks to persuade.



Epideictic comes from the classical Greece and means to show or to display. Really the best speech topics persuade the audience of the praiseworthiness or vice versa the lack of worthiness of the subject being discussed. I will not try to convey and cover all the theoretical ins and outs about focussing top epideictic speech topics, but before I give some sample ideas for an address, here's how Michael Osborn and Susan Osborn define epideictic public speaking:

An epideictic or ceremonial speech is a speech of praise or blame, celebration or thanksgiving, condemnation or mourning. Ceremonial speaking stresses that sharing of identities and values that unites people into communities.
Retrieved from Osborn and Osborn (1994), Public Speaking.

My Examples of Epideictic Speech Topics

Examples of speeches with epideictic speech topic elements are praising, blaming or celebrating a birthday, wedding roasts and toasts, eulogies or funeral speeches, farewell addresses, political and Fourth of July orations. All praise or blame the virtues, feelings and values of exceeding boundaries, achieving, justice, overcoming obstacles, condemnation, commendation or mourning. Ten sample specific thesis purposes you can work out:

Praise:

person Rosa Parks for her act of protest against the segregation on city public transit vehicles which strengthens the America's civil rights movement.

group Sessions of meditation groups in order to transmit powerful spiritual energy for the benefit of humanity.

idea Praise in public and criticize in private, as Russian empress Catherine II teached.

Blame:

person Britney Spears for attracting aggressive news paper paparazzi in down town Los Angeles because of her behavior.

organization Blame the commercial and investment banks that are responsible for the ongoing financial meltdown.

theory The idea of correcting injustices of governments in history, because it will causes modern problems.

Celebrate:

person Nobel Peace Prize 1983 winner Lech Walesa, the Polish worker from the Gdansk Shipyard who negotiated the transition from communism to democracy.

group Wedding ceremony attendees generate feelings of closeness and community.

idea Sharing grief is the best recipe for emotional healing.

value The best Thanksgiving speech topics praise and welcomes the feeling to be surrounded and supported by close friends at the dinner table.

A Few Tips From Aristotle

The famous Greek philosopher and teacher of Alexander the Great instructs that the best epideictic public speakers by full amplification:

a. Consider the attitude of the audience;

b. Reckon the values and ethical virtues they think are to praise;

c. Take into account that favorably inclined, antagonistic or even indifferent listeners indicates the way you have to convince them.

My own humble nowadays tips are not very complicated. Be concrete and personal in the examples you offer to advocate for the statement. Use simple and active language and repeat words and phrases. The I Have a Dream Speech displays very well the need to apply the figure of repetition to fortify epideictic speech topics.



 Home From Epideictic Speech Topics