I’m going to inspire you to find Inspirational speech ideas.
I know that’s a big promise but read along.
If someone asks me what gift would I like to have as a speaker, I would say, ‘The gift of ‘inspiring’ my audience’.
I get excited about writing and delivering inspiring speeches. Why? By your mere speech – you are influencing someone’s life? Think about it. It is powerful stuff.
Creating an inspiring speech, is one of the profound things you can do to yourself. You know what will happen? At least one person will be inspired after your speech. And that person will be YOU. You will be automatically following your message because you have created it. I cannot explain this in words but you have to feel the thrill and excitement when you create an inspiring speech.
Let us first understand the function of Inspirational Speeches. These are speeches that will:
a) Help your audience reach their highest potential.
b) Change the way your audience will think, feel or act.
Thought Process for Selecting the Topic:
When do you get inspired? That is a very important question to ask. Don’t you get inspired when you ‘feel’ a speech? Why is it going to be different for your audience? And when would they ‘feel’ your speech? Don’t think that you don’t have content because you created a revolution, lead a nation through freedom struggle, or save a dying person. Someone said – if you reached adulthood, you would have more stories than you ever thought.
Practical Techniques to Select the Topic:
My mentor Jerry Aiyathurai gave me an advice. He asked me, to write down three surprises of my life and write down what I learnt from them. When I did, BING – I got an idea that led to another and I formed an inspiring speech for a speech contest. It took a lot of iterations before I could arrive at the core thesis.
Idea #1:
a) Write down the three surprises of your life?
b) What did you learn from it?
Idea #2:
a) Write down three painful moments of your life.
b) How did you overcome them?
Idea #3:
a) What are the three things you believe in?
b) Why did you start believing in them?
c) When did that happen?
Solid examples of Inspiring Speeches with Simple themes:
- Darren Lacroix’s World Championship speech ‘Ouch’ was to inspire the audience to be willing to fail. I have heard Darren share how he came up with this speech. So I am sharing that idea directly so that you can use it to create your inspiring speech. It seems his mentor, 1995 World Champion Mark Brown asked Darren, ‘What will be your message to your child if you were to die tomorrow’? This is powerful stuff. What message will you come up with? If you don’t have children – it’s ok. What will be your message to your most loved one if you were to die tomorrow?
- Jim Key’s World Championship speech ‘Never too late’ was to inspire the audience that it is never too late to follow your dreams. I think this is a great example where Jim chose not to be the protagonist. Instead he inspires the audience by citing the instances when he got inspired. In your life, what inspired you and when did that happen? Why can’t that be your next inspiring speech?
- Hannah Brencher’s TEDx speech ‘Love letters to strangers’ was to inspire people to spread love. If you see, this speech was an outcome of who Hannah became. Do you resonate with this theme ‘spreading love’? What did you turn out be in life? What changed you? Do you have stories to share that in turn can inspire the audience for the better?
- Nigel Marsh’s TEDx speech ‘how to make work-life balance work’ tears upon the extremely wide pandemic – struggling work life balance. He also goes all the way to give an example of how he constructs his day. He has four major points for the audience to ponder upon. Do you have a career? What are the things you want to change? Have you done something about it?
I hope this information has been helpful in your search for find a speech idea.
If interested, you can check out my book “Public Speaking Topic Secrets” where I cover more strategies and tactics to find ideas for all types of speeches.
