Delivering speeches is much easier than you think it is. Delivering effective speeches requires that it is well thought out and is well prepared. As important as it is to know how receptive a given audience might be to a particular topic it is even more important to gauge how much you know about it and how strongly you feel about a given topic. It would impossible to sound honest and convincing about something you yourself don’t understand and know completely.

When choosing an Informative Speech Topic, pick a topic that is interesting to you, and also one that you think will interest your audience, and most importantly a topic that your audience knows has at least a little knowledge about. And it is easy to judge and gauge the audience preferences and tastes based on some predominant features of the audience population such as age, gender, predominant occupation etc.

And if you happen to choose a controversial issue as the topic of the speech then an informative speech would have to describe the various sides, or the pros and cons, of the issue chosen.

And needless to say, you must conduct a detailed research on the chosen topic of Speech. This will help in broadening your understanding and horizon of the speech. And this will definitely impact the confidence with which you can deliver your speech.

Some suggestions for Informative Topics of conversation are given below. These topics are relevant in the changing scenario today and will surely evoke a reaction from the audience:

Personality tests
Aromatheraphy
Inflation?
Electric cars
Political parties
Biography of an important  person………..who is…?
Genetic cloning
Computer viruses
The Bermuda Triangle
History of a type of music, or a musician
Cellular phones
Food preservatives

Conversation is by far one of the most important elements of the human nature. Conversation in most relationships sometimes helps us to communicate and to solve the problems. It is after communication that meets one of our most important emotional needs, that is the inherent human need to talk to someone.

But, of course in a conversation, apart form what you actually talk, it the way you talk also that matters. Interesting topics of course add to the spice and make the atmosphere livelier and brighter, but the same interesting topic of conversation if not dealt with tactfully and with style can prove to be yet another wrongly barked tree. There are so many great ways to make your conversation great. If you can incorporate these ways into your conversations that you have with people around you, then you can keep your conversation interesting as well as lively. The first important tip is to use conversation to investigate, inform and understand the person you are conversing with.

Almost everyone has at least once found themselves trapped in a situation where being they have been faced with a complete stranger and have wanted more than anything to break the silence which stretches out awkwardly. It is in situations such as these that you need to have some sure-fire fallbacks guaranteed to break the ice and start a conversation. This is where it will be handy if you have some interesting topics of conversation up your sleeve so you can slice the ice with some skilfully manoeuvred conversation.

The topic of conversation you choose should depend on the kind of setting you are in and the kind of crowd you are surrounded by. For instance if you find yourself at a party or a get-together where you don’t know too many of the other guests try and steer the conversation towards some object at hand. If you’re a hat person, then narrate a great story that goes with the hat you are wearing and if you have no interesting stories to narrate then make one up. Or if you are wearing an unusual accessory or piece of jewelry that might catch people’s attention or imagination and incite them to ask you some trivia about it, then make sure you try various avenues to continue that bit of the conversation. If you are taking a gift to a party, make sure you add an eye-catching touch to the gift- wrapping, which is a sure-shot way to inspire some other creative soul or the other to ask you about your unique wrapping technique. Objects of Conversation provide a great and non-threatening way to start a conversation.

And also keep your antennae sharpened at occasions. There might just be something that can trigger off a conversation with the stranger standing next to you. There might be something interesting or striking about the decor, an interesting book lying around somewhere, a fascinating wall-hanging or a painting or simply a photograph on the wall.

And if you find yourself in a place where there is no scope to strike a conversation about environmental objects then the safest avenue to explore would be food or drinks as a starting point.

And of course the handiest and yet the most interesting topic of conversation is invariably the nightly news. Keep your general knowledge polished and a working understanding of the current breaking news issues. These definitely provide great conversation starters when all else fails. And if you are not the kind to stay up to date on the current affairs, then some good knowledge of the latest celebrity gossip can also dole you out of stretching circumstances.

And coming to a few serious uses of having interesting topics of conversation stacked in your head, if you’re going to a professional function which represents a networking opportunity served to you on a platter then it’s definitely worth your time to do some good research into the industry as a whole. Make sure you understand some of the concepts and don’t forget to pick up some of the jargon.

Well, these few techniques of striking up a conversation with a stranger are will definitely stand you in good stead and there is absolutely no need for you to dread this simple social task. Just plainly doling out a few lines of conversation and asking open-ended questions will find you in the midst of some good company. Author: Sakina.A K Sakina_kadiwala @yahoo.com. copyright indianchild.com