34 Topics For a Great Motivational Speech

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Written By Jim Peterson

Jim Peterson has over 20 years experience on speech writing. He wrote over 300 free speech topic ideas and how-to guides for any kind of public speaking and speech writing assignments at My Speech Class.

Good public speaking speech topics and topics for an actuating speaker.

A set of ten to wake up and persuade your audience to change their habits and attitude.motivational speech topics

And a set of brand new ideas to prompt and propel your listeners to discover new views, contemporary worlds and unfamiliar opinions.

Let’s start with the behavior-altering speech topics.

If you succeed to get them to act like you propose, then you happen to be expert as a motivational speaker!

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  1. How to motivate the audience members to change their nutrition and diet food behavior and consume enough of fruit and vegetables daily.
  2. Does the iPod speech technology foreced PC users to migrate to Apple? Or work out other issues related to computers and stuff like that for alternative good public speaking speech topics.
  3. Five strategies to promote savings for a comfortable life when you are retired. (You know, for example, the earlier students start with a solid personal pension plan, the better their retirement situation later … )
  4. Five humanitarian things you can do to help other people after a hurricane, tropical cyclone or other natural disaster.

E.g. tell about a non-governmental organization (NGO) like the International Red Cross or Red Crescent Movement.

  1. How to motivate scouts to get a complicated job done as a team?
  2. Free coffee service at work helps to increase the productivity and loyalty of employees.
  3. How to convince an African tribe that there has been a man on the moon. That is a real big challenge for motivational public speaking πŸ™‚ – a good idea for some interaction with your listeners.
  4. Methods for coaching and training a cheerleader team, and show how you motivate them to win competitions.
  5. Scientific discoveries that make living with color blindness easier.
  6. What the heck, just go after your dreams and your own pursuit of happiness!

Motivational Speech Topics

Good public speaking speech topics for the cause of changing opinions on hot topics, or amazing undiscovered ideas that could give insight in not very well-known themes and subjects:

  1. Measuring national well-being is measuring national happiness.
  2. Conscious living results in personal growth.
  3. Managing people means leading, motivating, inspiring, and encouraging workers by applying motivational and other persuasive speech topics in chats in between the official functioning interviews that are held often each half a year.
  4. Why and how to re-program your own memory structures with wise vizualisation techniques and avoid expectation failure.
  5. Be pro-active in all you want to achieve, it pays off in the end.
  6. Having to do things that we do not enjoy doing is called discipline.
  7. Why people are never satisfied with what they have.
  8. Happiness can be measured.
  9. Making fun in life is more important than working.
  10. Personal experience is more valuable than knowledge gained at school.
  11. Time is much more worth than money.
  12. Waiting is the hardest part of life.
  13. Why nasty radio, television and internet programs should be banned.
  14. Congress shall not abridge the freedom of speech, under no circumstances. (Retrieved from the constitutional fundamental political principles)
  15. Convince your public that playing golf after someone’s retirement is not a complete waste of time.
  16. How to motivate students to see the relevance of researching education resources for good public speaking speech topics.
  17. Teens who play violent games do worse in school than teens who do not.
  18. Botox injections make women look unnatural with an artificial facial expression.
  19. Do not take illegal steroids in sports activities, they are dangerous!
  20. The One Minute praising method is the ultimate answer on the How to Motivate Your Employees question.
  21. Video games encourage teamwork and cooperation when played with others.
  22. Football stadiums are modern equivalents of Ancient Roman amphitheatres.

Not found what you like? Try my other list:

  1. Local veterinarians should make health care control visits for the animals in pet shops. Because sometimes you have no idea what you notice in such animal so-called welfare stores – not to mention the smell πŸ™‚
  2. Why an implanted microchip is the most reliable identification purpose system for the recovery of your companion animals. Put between one of the shoulder blades that are just beneath the surface.
  3. Architects and urban planners should be more aware of the values of a rich wildlife population in urban areas – e.g. squirrels, skunks, raccoons.
  4. Global environmental issues can only be solved by discussing an interdisciplinary and multicultural approach.
  5. The planet’s ecosystem is the base of the human race.
  6. The effects of wind turbines, or so-called wind farms, on the weather, bird population and local communities. And do not forget to explicate the effects on human health of the loud noise the sometime make. And the impact on the landscape views.
  7. How to earn and implement an ISO 14001 certification on Environmental Management, and why it is important.
  8. How climate change affects society; federal, state and cities.
  9. What are the costs of an earthquake, a tsunami, a volcanic eruption or a hurricane hurricanes or a wild fire? Evacuation, rescueworkers, rebuilding, et cetera.
  10. If the sea level rises by over 1 feet, what are the consequences? What about 2 feet? 3 perhaps? Those are variation public speaking persuasive speech topics. And: what if our temperature rises with 1 degree, 2, or even 3?
  11. The quality of our water supplies is threatened by many pollutants, causing water-related diseases.
  12. Why you, as a speechwriting student, need to learn about earth sciences in class, including biology, chemistry and physics.
  13. Ocean acidification on marine organisms intensifies and there is a relation with the CO2 increase in our atmosphere.

Motivated Sequence Patterns

These patterns are often applied by famous speakers. If you follow the order precisely nothing can go wrong.

The Monroe’s Motivated Sequence Pattern

A very useful to elaborate on motivational speech topics. When professor Alan Monroe designed this sequence in the thirties of the previous century he uses elements of the psychology of persuasion.

Step #1 – Attention
Get the attention of your public. State the importance of your specific angle of approach. List the main benefits to arouse interest.

Step #2 – Need
State the need for change. Show why it should concern them. Relate the issue or problem to the values, attitudes, interests and needs of the listeners.

Step #3 – Satisfaction
Satisfy their needs. Provide the details and interesting facts. Show how your solution works.

Step #4 – Visualization
Visualize the benefits. That is the heart of the message. Illustrate them with examples, anecdotes, comparisons, statistics, definitions and visual aids. Show successful implementation in other organizations. Tell your public what’s in it for them.

Step #5 – Call to Action
Call to action. Show them what to do to implement your plan.

Comparative Advantages Pattern

This looks like the one above and is often used for business presentations. The big difference occurs in the satisfy and visualization steps. In those steps you have to compare and contrast two or more plans, solutions or alternatives.

Show your listeners which one is the best. E.g.: Compare and contrast two cellphones and tell which one is the first-class one for your job or personal life and why.

The Goal

You have just one goal: to instigate your audience to act or to agree. Write down what you want them to do, and how you are going to persuade them that you are right. Phrase your goal in a declarative statement, in a way that will motivate.

There are two ways:

1. The first way is the use of the imperative mood in relation to activities, issues or problems at college, in your work environment, or in your community. Examples:

Become involved in …, Buy …, Change …, Choose …, Do …, Donate …, Establish …, Join …, Make …, Pay …, Quit …, Sell …, Sign …, Study …, Support …, Take …, Volunteer …, Vote …

2. Another way to create good verbal addresses is to relate these general themes below to personal, educational or professional activities, issues or problems:

Breakthroughs – Career Development – Challenge – Change – Coaching – Commitment – Communication – Competence – Competitiveness – Confidence – Decision Making – Discipline – Effective Meetings – Ensure Safety – Ergonomics – Focused Thinking – Future – Involvement – Inspiration – Integrity – Interpersonal Skills – Leadership – Negotiation Tactics – Personal Effectiveness – Personal Growth – Personal Improvement – Personal Productivity – Personal Wellness – Responsibility – Self Respect – Set Realistic Goals – Stress – Teambuilding – Teamwork – Trends – Values – Work Ethics

Call To Action Speech Topics

Call to action speech topics are equal to (specimen):

  • Sharing emotions,
  • Initiating a debate on a hot topic,
  • Promoting your book or other craftsman project,
  • Forcing a change in daily habits,
  • Motivating them to achieve something in life,
  • Persuading your listeners to vote for you in some kind of an election campaign.

For example:

  1. Protest Against Nuclear Testing.
  2. Sign up For My Newsletter.
  3. Make Every Workday Feel Like a Lazy Sunday.
  4. Remember The Oath You Took For Your Country.
  5. Sponsor Our Center for Community Innovation.
  6. Improve Your Concentration Skills With Mind and Mental Exercises.
  7. Provide Good Conditions For Teambuilding and Cooperating.
  8. Just Think Positive!
  9. Always Affirm Your Business Deals in Writing.
  10. Set at Least One Career Goal a Year.
  11. Relax, and Your Presentation Will Be Better.
  12. Enjoy Walking the Great Wall of China.
  13. Release Your Life With Energy Psychology and Meridian Energy Therapies.
  14. Do Not Hesitate, Make a Decision About Your Future.
  15. Prioritize Your Daily Goals.
  16. Volunteer in Thailand For Tsunami Reconstruction Jobs.

These are random Toastmasters International examples. Watch the so-called action words and verbs, I have written them in italic style. As you perhaps have noticed, the list of phrases and terms is open to your sole discretion …

Other action terms could be:

change,
profit,
produce,
nominate,
sale,
master,
save,
vote,
help,
reward,
reveal,
map out,
manage,
organize,
invent,
modernize,
et cetera.

You see, almost every active verb can be the base of an appealing motivational call to action speech topics. Be creative and find yourself a way in discovering other words

5 thoughts on “34 Topics For a Great Motivational Speech”

  1. My topic is “your ability”. In this topic we can tell listeners about their ability by giving some examples and thoughts and can motivate them to do a work / task in which they are able and interested . This speech motivate them to identify their ability and to become a successful person.

  2. All people in society need motivation. It plays a very good role in the success of the people.I am agree with this article.

  3. Your article is great but I would like to point out that I don’t understand where you would get an African tribe that would be hard to convince that there has been a man on the moon. Why would that be a challenge??? I quote you below:
    “How to convince an African tribe that there has been a man on the moon. That is a real big challenge for motivational public speaking – a good idea for some interaction with your listeners.”

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