General Topics
	Topics for Youth

1. Paula Horwitz wrote me with these ideas:
   
   1. Give a sheet of paper with about 75 words to every member. Each participant gets up and speaks using as many words as possible from the list.
      
   2. Debates - give a pro and con assignment to two members and let them each speak on the subject. Have various topics for several members.
      
   3. Panel discussion - call several people up, give them roles and then question them of the subject. i.e. Attorney for beauty queen's parents, police commissioner in Denver, press, tabloids, friends of family.
      
   4. For a variation of having members bring something in - have a White Elephant Sale.
      
   5. Bring in quotations and ask people to comment on them. Make them short since it works better.
      
   6. Create three letter club names i.e. JOY for Just Our Youth, WIN for Work Inside Now, or FUN for Friends United for Nature. Require the speaker to persuade members to join. For extra challenge, provide a three letter word and make the speaker come up with the title of the club AND persuade us to join.
      
   7. Questions regarding various Toastmaster programs.
      
   8. Valentines to or from various government agencies and industries.
      
   9. Vacations - best, worst, most exotic, fun, adventurous, people met, unexpected.
      
   10. Give participants clever or unique phrases and tell them they are all book reviewers, that they should give their comments.
       
2. Tell the members that they have just returned from a vacation. Have an envelope or bag with pictures cut from a magazine. Have each speaker reach into the bag and pull out a photograph "from your vacation" then tell us about the photo.
   
3. Franklin Chun [chunlaylun@aol.com] wrote about "Round-Robin" Table Topics: The club has 12 members and the first table topics speaker would speak about a subject for one minute. The next speaker must pick up the story from that point. The last speaker can end it or give it back to the first speaker for one more round. The story will change from person to person and is hilarious. Table Topics Master brings in a tape recorder and is the first speaker.
   
4. This week in our meeting, Mike Guest had a list of "how to" book titles. He then invited each speaker to stand up and "read" a paragraph from each book. For example, I had to read a paragraph from the book "Building a Better Mousetrap." It was great fun and quite challenging.
   
5. Try bringing several different hats: a Cowboy hat, a hard hat, a military hat, a baseball cap, a "pimp" hat, a "bonnet," and such. Each contestant chooses a hat (of course a 'gentleman' would never put the hat on if he were indoors) and takes it from there.
   
6. Kim Wagenvoord at our club came up with this. She started by saying that "every newly-wed's worst problem is the Mother-In-Law." She then assigned us roles to play. For example, she said "George, you are the new mother-in-law. Tell your new daughter-in-law what you really think about her." Then, "Bill, you are the daughter-in-law. Reply to your mother-in-law." Next, "Jean, you are the groom. Tell your mother about your new bride." Mike was told to be the ex-girlfriend who was going to give advise to the mother-in-law. Toni was the marriage counselor who had to advise the couple. This was a lot of fun and can lead to great role-playing! Thanks, Kim.
   
7. Have several sealable plastic containers (such margarine containers), each with a cotton ball soaked in some scent. You can use perfume, vinegar, alcohol, soap, or any other scent that comes to mind. Have the speaker smell the cotton ball and then tell what the odor brings to mind.
   
8. Try pulling some threads from various USENET groups, read the original post along with the first response or two. Then ask the speaker to "post" the next response.
   
9. At a well stocked crafts store, you can find pieces of poster paper in very wild colors. Try to find six or eight different colors (such as day-glow orange, violent violet, etc.). After the speaker has selected a color sample from a paper bag, have a speech about "Why I'm painting my house this color," "Why my clothes will all be this color this spring," "This is the color of my new car -- and this is why. . .", or other similar topics.
   
10. To practice introductions, put four or five raw vegetables in a bag (use a carrot, a potato, an onion, or whatever). Tell the club that today's "guest speaker" is "in the bag." Then invite a club member to step up, select the "speaker" from the bag, and introduce the speaker to the club.
    
11. Bring some "Dear Abby" type letters to your meeting. Read one aloud and ask the speaker to respond.
    
12. Have a club auction. Have members bring in some item of nominal value to sell to the other club members. Any money generated will go into the club treasury.
    
13. Select a word from the dictionary (an obscure word is best). Write the word on a piece of paper in great, big letters so everyone in the room can see the word. Have the speaker stand and expound on the definition of that word. As an alternative, you can tell the speaker what the word actually means (have the definition printed on the back or at the bottom of the sheet in tiny letters), then the speaker can either tell the true definition or make one up. Finally, have the club members vote on whether the definition the speaker said is the true definition or one that was made up.
    
14. Put some everyday objects in a paper bag. Have the speaker select one of the objects from the bag, show it to the audience, then describe what the object is used for. By the way, the speaker must pretend to be an archaeologist in the year 2525 who found the object in an ancient dig from the 20th century.
    
15. Buy a tabloid at the supermarket (you know you want one!). Clip a few of the "better" headlines and have the speaker make up a story to match the headline.
    
16. Bring in a bag of pennies and ask the speaker to choose one from the bag, then describe what happened in the year that penny was minted.
    
17. Cut some pictures from a magazine. Bring them in and have the speaker describe what is happening in the photo. You may try to find some "artsy" photos of surrealistic landscapes, fractal images, etc. and have the speaker describe the photo without showing it to the audience until after the speech.
    
18. This may take some extra effort, but would be worth the pain. Bring in a recording of sound effects. Play a sound effect then have the speaker describe what he/she heard. This would be fun to combine with a "continuous story" type of day. Play a sound (for instance, of a helicopter taking off) and ask someone to start a story. After a minute, stop the speaker and play a new sound (perhaps a scream). Have the next speaker pick up the story line but incorporate the new sound effect.
    
19. At our District Toastmasters Leadership Institute I lead a brainstorming session that generates Table Topics ideas. Here are the best of those ideas:
    

    	Describe your own face
    	Dreams you really shouldn't tell
    	Embarrassing moments
    	Explain to St. Peter why you should be let in
    	Describe far away places
    	High school memories
    	Inkblot test
    	Mime a topic
    	Your most creative date
    	Your most memorable sports moment
    	Your "significant other"
    	What animal would you like to be?
    	What three wishes would you make?
    	What would you do if you had all the time and money in the world?
    	Who do you admire and why?
    	Why I joined Toastmasters
    	The worst movie I ever saw
    	The worst vacation I ever took

This Document Last Modified on April 29, 1998.