“Inside-Out”

The first approach, I call the “Inside-Out” method. This can be loosely defined as choosing a topic without any immediate external stimuli. “Inside-Out” is most effective when you have some time alone with few resources or distractions – three places I can think of for which this method is perfect are the shower, the car, and an airport terminal. You start by simply opening yourself up to ideas; let your mind wander so ideas seem to “float” in. Don’t force yourself to think of anything specific, just say “What would I like to talk about?” and let yourself go. There is no need to nail down an idea at that moment, actually, the point is to refrain from asking any logistical questions. “Do I know enough about this topic?” “Will the audience find this interesting?” “How will I ever compose a talk about that?” are all questions to be avoided. Do not reject ideas for any reason. The goal, if you need a goal, is to end up with a few generalities, one of which can later be honed into a speech topic.

“Outside-In”

The second approach is called (surprise, surprise), the “Outside-In” method. As you can probably guess, this method uses influences outside of oneself to come up with a speech topic. Similar to “Inside-Out,” logistical questions should be avoided here. Instead, you should plug into sources like the television, radio, internet, other people, your pet etc. to give you speech ideas. More often than not, a wallow with a newspaper will give you plenty to think about, and at least a few speech topics. It was the “Outside-In” method I used when I was stuck with my fifth speech for Toastmasters.

It was a time when I was very busy with graduate school, so even though I had come up with a topic weeks ago, I hadn’t had time to properly prepare it. Now it was too late because I had a speech to give that very evening and a school paper that still need writing. At mid-morning I took a break from writing my research paper on cloud computing to consider what I would do; it wouldn’t have been right to call and cancel since I had been booked weeks before, and there was no way I could speak about the topic I had in mind. I remember mulling the problem over when something sparked: Why not talk about cloud computing? There I was writing a paper about a subject I was interested in, knew about, and felt was important for the average person – a classic example of the “Outside-In” method. Everything worked out in the end, click here to read about the rest of my preparation for “The Future is in the Clouds” speech.

Evaluating Topics

Okay, you’ve used the “Inside-Out” or “Outside-In” methods and have come up with a few topics. Now it’s time to get real think about logistics; here are the three keywords and subsequent questions that derive from them I use to evaluate speech topic possibilities:

Excitement – Am I excited about the topic? Does it interest me enough to spend time composing a speech about it? Will it be interested for the expected audience?
Circumstance – Do I have enough time to prepare the talk? Are all the resources I’m going to need obtainable? Is the venue equipped to present the speech?
Justice – Can I do the topic justice in the time I am allotted? Will I have to simplify or expand my topic too much?

Certainly you can come up with more questions specific to your situation and I urge you to do so.

The bottom line is that choosing a speech topic should not be difficult; everyone’s life is full of ideas and let’s get real, the average Toastmaster’s speech length (5-7 minutes) is about as long as most talks last in the real world – not very long. So next time you’re stuck on choosing a topic all you’ll have to remember is five words: “Inside-Out,” “Outside-In,” “Excitement,” “Circumstance,” and “Justice.” And if all else fails, talk about your parents.

In the elementary school textbooks of Hebrew in use a quarter of a century ago, there was a story of a schoolboy who would be in great distress every morning, having forgotten where he put away his clothes and books before he went to bed. One evening he arrived at an answer to his problem. He wrote on a slip of paper: “The suit is on the chair, the hat is in the closet, the books on the desk, the shoes under the chair, and I am in bed.” Next morning he began to collect his things together. They were all in their places. When he came to the last item on the list, he went to look for himself in the bed – but his search was in vain. (pg. 106)

One is made to think: Is this a humorous story of an absent-minded little boy, or does it have a deeper symbolic value? My first impression of the story was similar to the inquisitive wonder I experience when I read or hear a Kōan.  A part of me wants to look at it realistically, to see the little boy’s note as a real catalog of the objects he needs for school and their location. On the other hand, when I un-examine this passage extra-rationally, I see the boy’s role as the creator of the note which demarcates his own existance as nullifying the Cartesian “I think, therefore I am” imperative. The self-consciousness by which we know that we exist unravels in the final line of the story; the cycle of referentiality that necessitates our ‘place’ in the world is broken. This explanation hit me at the moment that I finished the story and I chuckled, how post-modern, I thought continuing with the essay.

In the liquor-soaked umbrella lives
maroon and tingly bubble gumshoes
letting pistols fall from shrugging beasts
I’ve never had to learn to let loose,

but the panorama isn’t mountain-filled
we’re driving through the Cali-middleland
the car is hitting about ninety now
hundred magazines with contraband,

I’m nervous living like a text defender
stricken with a senseless child of passion
can I light the darkest standing room
with magic like a blonde Aladdin?

Doesn’t matter death is closer
farther to the rose in gardens
fragile languor stacks departing
bloody knuckle barely hardens

His momma turned to him and said, “Boy, that don’t make no sense.”
“I know,” he answered, “but it sure do cast a big shadow.”
“Now go wash your feet and get ready for bed.”
“Yes momma.”
And with clean feet he struck off to bed, head on a feather pillow, dreams unhinging themselves from their daily hooks. His mother watched Jay Leno, laughing not once, and had some ice cream before her own big shadows shushed her waking life.

The next morning it dawned on her that she had forgotten to bolt the front door. Probably no big deal.

Well-played, Unit Interactive.

I do.

This photo of an actual 17th-century commonplace book comes from the James Marshall and Marie Louise Osborn Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

As you’ll have noticed if you visit my page, I have a new tab up on top. I’ve gathered and formatted a bunch of quotes that I’ve been transcribing for years and posted them online. I often use these quotes as inspiration for speeches, or just plain inspiration. Please do take a look.

Senator Gregg

Senator Gregg appears to be, correct me if I’m wrong, the 5th appointee that has been pulled or stepped down after being recognized as a viable candidate for a post in a relatively short amount of time. This trend leads me to believe that there are forces at work that the general public is not (yet?) aware of that are convincing top politicians not to join the Obama administration. I’m not sure whether this is a matter of, to be blunt, blackmail, or the administration doing a thorough job of vetting it’s appointees, but it does ring some sort of bell.

Maybe all of the politicians that have been almost appointed have some skeletons in their closets, but if this is the case, why is it only now that Tom Daschle and Governor Richardson are dinged for “questions about unpaid taxes” and “an investigation into state contracts,” respectively? Richardson could’ve been Vice-President, or President even, right? In an equally puzzling move, Senator Gregg steps down because of differences over economic philosophy. Are they serious? How can Mr. Gregg act as if he did not know that Barack Obama was a Democrat with economic policies in-line with his party thinking?

Lots of questions, not so many answers. Politics as usual.

p.s. – Meanwhile, where’s Joe Biden? At the Special Olympics!

“We Alone” by Alice Walker

We alone can devalue gold
by not caring
if it falls or rises
in the marketplace.
Wherever there is gold
there is a chain, you know,
and if your chain
is gold
so much the worse
for you.

Feathers, shells,
and sea-shaped stones
are all as rare.

This could be our revolution:
to love what is plentiful
as much as
what’s scarce.

from Words with Wings: A Treasury of African-American Poetry and Art