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What Makes a Truly Remarkable Speech?
The Ingredients of an Effective Topic
Ideas & Inspiration: 100+ Topics
Your Next Steps, Step-by-step
This comprehensive blog post serves as a vital resource for anyone looking to craft an impactful persuasive speech. It provides an extensive list of over 100 compelling topics tailored for a wide range of interests and academic fields. Additionally, it offers advanced guidance on selecting the perfect topic, structuring your arguments effectively, and employing persuasive techniques that captivate and convince your audience. Whether you're an academic achiever or an aspiring public speaker, this guide equips you with the insights to deliver a stellar persuasive speech.
If you’re struggling to find a strong topic for a persuasive speech, you’ll find 100+ ideas for subjects and topics below. Use one that grabs you, or simply find inspiration to get unstuck and come up with a topic about something you and your audience will find interesting.
To help you think about the big picture — your larger essay — we also review what makes a truly effective persuasive speech, all the ingredients of an effective topic, and how to pick the best topic for your circumstances.
Here's what's most essential as you consider your topic choices:
Finally, once you’ve picked your topic, and even if you know all the basics — which I’m guessing you do if you’re following posts from Crimson Education — you might still benefit from other advice in today's post, such as numerous speech writing tips and strategies designed to save you time and stress and improve the odds your final speech will exceed expectations.
Here's what you'll find:
Still feeling a bit hesitant or stuck?
Don’t worry. Once you've picked a really interesting and effective topic and start your research, you'll quickly become a subject-matter expert, regaining both motivation and confidence for all the remaining steps.
A good persuasive speech will grab the audience’s attention, help them connect with the speaker (that’s you), and guide their reasoning process — giving the speech the power to persuade your audience why your point of view is logical and compelling, and also superior to the opposing viewpoints.
Did you know that persuasive speech assignments may be testing your mastery of concepts that go back as far as ancient Greece?
The emergence of democracy in ancient Greece (the 6th and 5th centuries B.C.) created a space for the rule of law and political governance informed by the will of the people — making persuasive speech an essential element of social life.
From courtroom trials to political campaigns and democratic assemblies, persuasive speech emerged in 5th-century Athens as an essential tool of democracy. Soon the brightest philosophers of the day became concerned with the principles of "rhetoric" — the study of orderly and effective persuasive speaking.
Now, thousands of years later, little has changed in Western democracies: "constructing and defending compelling arguments remains an essential skill in many settings" (Harvard U, Rhetoric). In short, the principles of deliberation, free speech, and consensus building we use for governance, in school, extracurricular activities, at work, and sometimes our day-to-day life, still rely on persuasive speech.
The 5th-century B.C. Athenian philosopher Aristotle argued that your ability to persuade is based on how well your speech appeals to the audience in three different areas: logos, ethos, and pathos, sometimes referred to as the three points of the rhetorical triangle.
From observation and reflection Aristotle understood that humans are thinking animals (logos), social and moral animals (ethos), and emotional animals (pathos) — such that appealing to all three of these pillars of human understanding and action were essential parts of an effective persuasive speech.
1. Logos — Using clear, logical, and evidence-based reasoning and argumentation to add persuasive power to your speech.
For obvious reasons, audiences will typically expect strong arguments supported by evidence and clear reasoning and logic, all elements that are often prominent on grading rubrics for persuasive speeches.
Maybe you're thinking of speeches you've heard that utterly lacked logic and evidence? It's a reminder that persuasion as such is ultimately about points of view and not always about facts. Even without logic, a speaker can persuade, through effective uses of ethos and pathos, for example. In other instances social phenomena may underlie a lack of logic and evidence, such as "group think," for example, when people are swayed or swept up by a common point of view about an issue, instead of thinking critically about it.
2. Ethos — The component of persuasive speaking that spotlights the appeal, authority, credentials, and moral standing of the speaker.
Have you ever agreed with a speaker simply because you liked the person speaking, or rejected an argument because you disliked a speaker, responding to who the speaker is more than to their arguments? That may not be very logical, but it is very natural for us humans.
Aristotle understood this, that persuasion relies not solely on logical thinking but on relational factors too, including how much we trust a speaker, how much we believe in the integrity of their motives, and the knowledge and expertise they possess (or are perceived to possess).
Take law courts, for example. One common strategy lawyers use to undermine the force of witness testimony is to “discredit” or “taint” the witness, to undermine jurors' confidence in the veracity and motives of the witness. That's using ethos, rather than logic and facts, to impact an audience (the jury).
Likewise, when an audience has a high regard for the speaker's reputation, authority, and credibility, the more convincing that person's arguments are likely to be.
Suggestions for enhancing appeals to ethos in your speech:
Depending on circumstances, you may think of additional ways to bolster your credibility and trustworthiness — enhancing your standing in the eyes of the audience in order to elevate the persuasive impact of your speech!
3. Pathos — This means injecting your speech with some powerful appeals to listeners' feelings and emotions, in addition to using logic and reason.
For example, if your speech entails persuading voters to increase foreign aide to combat world hunger, you wouldn’t just want to cite cold statistics. Painting a picture of ways malnutrition is affecting real individuals is likely to have a strong impact on listeners' emotions, appealing to their innate capacity for compassion towards others and helping them more deeply appreciate the urgency of the subject . This approach impacts listeners' emotions and highlights an urgent and universal moral imperative that adds conviction to your point of view.
In most academic settings, you'll be expected to present a speech with a strong line of evidence-based, logical reasoning, often making appeals to logos prominent in persuasive speeches in school settings. That said, by injecting and balancing appeals to logos, ethos, and pathos, based on what's most suitable for your topic, assignment, and approach, you'll add a significant measure of mastery to your persuasive writing method.
What style, voice, and tone best suit your personality, the occasion, the listeners, and your subject?
With a broader understanding of what goes into a great persuasive speech, you’re better equipped for the important step of picking the topic that will guide your speech.
Conveying passion for a topic is infectious, adding power to your speech. The more interested and invested you are in your subject and topic, the more likely you are to make your speech the best it can be.
Understanding your audience's values, interests, and views will help you make immediate connections with their own thought processes and attitudes. Try to pick a topic that will get your listeners to perk up and move to the edge of their seats.
Choosing a topic that's novel, contemporary, or presents a unique angle on a familiar issue should help you captivate your audience's attention. You also want the topic to be something that matters to your audience with a point of view that challenges their thinking, so you're not just "preaching to the choir."
You might not think there’s not any problem with a topic such as Should we build a wall to keep immigrants out of the country? Or, Should same sex marriage be legal? That said, topics that delve into identity politics or areas that are so controversial that they elicit anger or hostility rather than dialogue and debate may lead to emotional hurt and harm, even if not intended. If you have any doubts, check in with your teacher or a school counselor before settling on your topic!
Before you jump ahead and grab a ready-made topic from the list below, remember that a quick brainstorming or online search could be your preferred method to find the best, most interesting topic for your audience, setting, and individual interests or class requirements. For example, an internet search with keywords such as “biggest problems or biggest issues in the world today” will quickly uncover a host of themes and subjects that are both timely and controversial.
Where you live and what’s timely for you and your audience is going to depend on your circumstances. Finding a “hot topic” in your specific time and place could be an effective way to get listeners' attention and address an issue that feels highly relevant.
If you haven’t already navigated your way to an interesting persuasive speech topic, use the list below for even more ideas and inspiration!
You can go from top to bottom, or you can jump the line and look for the themes that most interest you, such as Art and Culture or Recreation and Tourism.
1. Is digital art really art?
2. Street art: vandalism or cultural expression?
3. Is there a place for censorship in the music industry?
4. Do museums promote culture or appropriate culture?
5. Should other countries have a minister of culture or similar government office, as they do in France?
6. Can schools, or art teachers, define good art vs. bad art? Should they?
7. Censorship in art: when is it justified or necessary?
8. Does creative freedom take precedence over cultural appropriation?
9. The impact of digital platforms on the consumption of art and the value of art.
10. Is there a role for public policy and public funding in arts and culture?
1. The pros and cons of minimum wage laws and policies.
2. Cryptocurrency: the future of finance or a scam?
3. Is student loan debt relief good policy?
4. Gender wage gap: are the concerns justified or unjustified?
5. Sustainable development: Is there a way to sustain economic growth and without an environmental catastrophe?
6. The role of small businesses in the economy, do they promote prosperity or undermine efficiencies?
7. Globalization: economic boon or bane?
8. Is consumerism in the general interest or a threat to the planet?
9. The economic effects of climate change, should they be paid now or later?
10. Universal Basic Income: a solution to poverty or a disincentive to work?
1. The case for and against school uniforms.
2. Should non-citizens be allowed to vote in school board elections?
3. The impact of technology on education.
4. Should college education be free?
5. The importance of teaching financial literacy in schools: promoting independent living or consumerism?
6. Should parents have the right to home school children against their will?
7. Is the grading system improving learning?
8. Is mandatory attendance a good policy for high school?
9. Addressing the mental health crisis in schools: is it an individual problem or a social one?
10. Arts education: valuable or a waste of time?
1. The urgency of addressing climate change and what to do about it.
2. Plastic pollution: are more stringent government regulations, policies, and laws the answer?
3. Should the government subsidize clean energy technologies and solutions?
4. The importance of water conservation, but whose responsible?
5. Should there be a global environmental tax? On what?
6. Should environmental costs be factored into everyday economic activity?
7. The impact of fast fashion on the environment.
8. The necessity of protecting endangered species.
9. Deforestation: Who's impacted? Who should have power (or not) to stop it?
10. Are electric cars truly better for the environment?
1. The changing dynamics of the modern family.
2. The role of the state in protecting children from parents and guardians.
3. Should adoption records be open or sealed?
4. How can employers, or employment laws, support healthy families?
5. Is there an age when euthanasia should become universally legal and accessible?
6. How to balance parental rights with child welfare.
7. Is your child's gender something they're born with, or something they should be free to choose?
8. The responsibilities of women vs. men in addressing an unplanned pregnancy.
9. Should parents restrict children's use of technology? What is too lax vs. what is too restrictive?
10. Balancing discipline and love in parenting.
1. Should junk food advertising be regulated?
2. The dangers of fad diets: free market vs. consumer protection.
3. Should junk food be banned in schools?
4. Nutrition: are schools failing to teach it?
5. Should students be graded on their fitness and nutrition levels and habits?
6. Should sports programs be replaced by fitness education?
7. E-cigarettes: should they be regulated or not?
8. The obesity epidemic: a problem of individual responsibility, genetics, or social policy?
9. Are agricultural subsidies good for health and the environment?
10. Should teens have more options for balancing school attendance and individual sleep needs and preferences?
1. The effects of social media on teenagers.
2. Should there be regulations on influencer marketing?
3. The impact of video games on behavior.
4. Fake news: Its impact and how to combat it.
5. The role of media in shaping public opinion.
6. Privacy concerns with social media platforms.
7. The influence of celebrities on youth culture: is there a role for rewards and consequences to impact celebrities public behaviors?
8. Digital detox: pros and cons.
9. Media portrayal of women and its societal impact.
10. Censorship in media: necessary or oppressive?
1. The importance and limits of voting in a democracy.
2. Gun control laws: balancing safety and liberty.
3. The impact of immigration: universal human rights vs. national sovereignty.
4. The death penalty: justice vs. ethics?
5. The legalization of marijuana: the right policy?
6. The right to protest vs. public order.
7. Affirmative action: whose definition of "fairness" do we use?
8. The future of healthcare in America: market solutions or a public option?
9. Climate change policy: National vs. global approaches.
10. The role of the United Nations in today's world.
1. The benefits of outdoor recreation.
2. Sustainable tourism: protecting nature while promoting travel.
3. The impact of tourism on local cultures.
4. The future of space tourism.
5. The effects of recreational activities on mental health.
6. The importance of historical preservation in tourism.
7. Adventure tourism: reasonable or unreasonable risks vs. rewards proposition?
8. The effects of over-tourism on popular destinations and local communities.
9. Is eco-tourism the right way to promote environmental sustainability?
10. Does international tourism help or harm indigenous peoples, cultures, and communities?
1. Do the ethical downside of genetic engineering outweigh the potential benefits?
2. The potential and pitfalls of artificial intelligence in society.
3. Climate change denial: is it fully within the bounds of free speech?
4. Competing views of vaccine policies and individual rights in pandemics and other health emergencies.
5. Space exploration: is it worth the investment?
6. The use of affirmative action to diversify STEM education and workforce.
7. The impact of technology on job displacement and future employment: is a universal income the right answer?
8. Do renewable energy technologies offer a feasible substitute for eliminating fossil fuels?
9. Ocean pollution: is more government regulation the answer?
10. Protecting biodiversity vs. the right to economic prosperity.
1. The emphasis on athletic programs in high schools: is the hype benefiting students?
2. Should college athletes be compensated?
3. Do teamwork and group activities help or hinder academic and athletic development?
4. Should schools should require more physical education or less?
5. Should there be more emphasis on non-competitive formats in high school and college athletics?
6. The influence of professional athletes as role models: good or bad?
7. Doping in sports: are athletic programs teaching the wrong values?
8. The benefits and risks of contact sports in high schools athletics.
9. Should there be absolute gender equality in school athletics?
10. What should the educational goal of school athletics be?
These topics span a broad spectrum of interests and concerns — look for one that matters to you and your audience, is likely to prompt insightful dialogue or debate, and is challenging enough to put your individual persuasive speech skills to the test!
1. Use Diligent Research to Make a Watertight Argument
To go from just any persuasive speech to a truly riveting one, you’ll want to dig around until you find compelling and authoritative research. Even if you're already knowledgeable about your topic, applying yourself with patience and perseverance at this early stage will usually pay off, allowing you to uncover some real gems when it comes to compelling facts and expert perspectives.
What to look for:
Riveting research will better position you to hit some home runs when you put together your speech. And remember, research is primarily to build a strong logical argument (logos), but citing and spotlighting reputable sources will also lend your speech greater persuasive credibility (ethos), just as experiential perspectives can add appeals to emotion (pathos).
Define Your Thesis
Clearly articulate your stance on the topic. This thesis statement will guide the structure of your speech and inform your audience of your central argument.
I like to create a "working thesis" as a planning tool, something that encapsulates and maps my point of view and essential supporting arguments, and as a way to uncover gaps in my reasoning or evidence early on. Later, it also gives me a ready guide for writing my outline.
Essential Elements of a ‘working thesis’ for a persuasive speech:
As you can see, this kind of "working thesis" gives you a bird's eye view of your thesis along with all the key components of your speech and the reasoning you’ll deploy.
Marshaling Your Evidence
As you delve into researching your chosen topic, such as "Why space exploration is not worth the investment," you'll accumulate evidence, including data, anecdotes, expert opinions, and more. This evidence is vital for adding depth, credibility, and persuasion to your speech. You also need to strategically align the evidence with each of your supporting arguments, ensuring that each claim you make is substantiated.
You can use a simple table format to visually map out how you want to align your subtopics and evidence.
Here's an example using the topic Why space exploration is not worth the investment.
Supporting Arguments | Evidence |
---|---|
High Costs and Little Return on Investment | - "The average cost of a space shuttle mission is approximately $1.5 billion, funds that could be redirected to pressing Earth-bound issues." - According to Dr. H. Smith, 'the economic benefits of space exploration are speculative and materialize over very long terms, often not benefiting the current generation.” |
Innovation Benefits Are Overstated | - "While proponents argue space exploration drives tech innovation, major technologies like the Internet and smartphones resulted from Earth-focused research." - "A study showed that less than 5% of technologies used in healthcare directly benefited from space research, questioning the efficiency of investment in space for technological advancement." |
Resources Could Be Better Used on Earth | - "10% of the space exploration budget could significantly improve infrastructure in underdeveloped regions, showcasing immediate impact." - "An estimated 500,000 individuals become homeless in the USA each year; reallocating a fraction of space exploration funds could provide substantial aid." |
This table is just for illustration, and doesn't use real data and opinions, but you can see how organizing your evidence ahead of time can help you logically present and support your arguments and subtopics. It can also help you spot gaps, in case you need to do additional research, and gives you a head start on the next step: outlining your speech!
Begin with a structured outline to ensure your speech flows logically from one point to the next. Your outline should include:
Now you're making your first rough attempts of turning the key content of your speech into phrases, sentences, and paragraphs. So, this is a could point to refocus on the tone, style, and voice you want to use, and how to use it consistently.
Pro Tip: Write your introduction and conclusion after drafting all of your body paragraphs, because you these two sections to really capture the essence of the larger speech.
Introduction: Start with a strong hook—this could be a startling statistic, a compelling quote, or a relatable and captivating (or entertaining) anecdote— then briefly preview your main points to set the stage for your argument.
Conclusion: Reinforce your thesis with concise references to the the primary evidence you presented. End with a powerful closing statement that reminds your audience of why this topic is important. As suitable, you can also call your audience to action or leave them with something significant to ponder on their own.
Ensure a harmonious balance among logos (logical appeal), ethos (establishing your credibility and using evidence from credible sources and quotes or perspectives from credible authorities), and pathos (emotional appeal).
Here's a rubric, adapted from a real university writing rubric for persuasive speeches, that can help you elevate appeals to logos, ethos, and pathos in your speech.
Logos
Ethos
Pathos
Review your speech and revise for clarity, flow, sentence structure, and word choice.
Remember to use a voice and style consistent with making a speech, with the topic and subject matter, and the specific circumstances for your speech.
Remove any jargon or unnecessary details that might distract from your message.
Sharpen your arguments, making sure they are clear, concise, and compelling.
Dedicate ample time to practicing what it will be like giving your speech. Focus on mastering the tone, pace, and volume of your delivery. If you have time limits on the speech, be sure to time your delivery as well, and make any needed adjustments. Consider body language, eye contact, and gestures, as these non-verbal cues can significantly impact your speech's effectiveness.
The more comfortable and familiar you are with your speech, the more confidently you'll present it.
Also, being nervous, for lots of people, is normal. Practice will help; with better command of your speech you'll feel more confident. Also, practicing your delivery with a friend who can listen and give you some feedback is good way to catch helpful adjustments.
Finding a topic you like and one that your audience will be interested in is a critical foundation for an effective persuasive speech. It will also help you stay motivated and get more out of the experience!
Just remember that investing in some extra research, some thoughtful organization, anticipating counterarguments, and artfully weaving in ethos and pathos alongside a strong line of evidence-based arguments (logos) will help you elevate your speech and your learning experience.
With the insights we've just shared, you're more than ready to turn what is often a rote class exercise into something far more artful. In addition, your effort will help prepare you for college — for debating, editorial writing, legal argumentation, public policy advocacy, public speaking, and even running for ASB President!
If you're interested in taking on the challenge of more advanced research and persuasive writing, or even projects that involve scholarly publication, be sure to reach out to a Crimson Education Advisor for information on ways to get connected to advanced online courses and any number of cool capstone and research projects that will also connect you to networks of motivated young scholars and top-notch research and writing mentors.