Opinion Speech Topics

Choosing the perfect opinion speech topics to meet your needs can be a little overwhelming, but once you have convinced audience members to accept your point of view, the search for the right topic will seem well worth the hassle.

Opinion speeches, also called persuasive speeches in many arenas, can be difficult speeches to deliver.

Unlike informative speeches where your only goal is to teach audience members about a concept or an event, opinion speeches have the lofty goal of getting audience members to accept your beliefs about a particular issue as the correct beliefs.

Your underlying goal in an opinion speech is to show audience members your side of the argument, and get them to agree with the points you make about your side of that issue. As a result, choosing the right topics for the right occasions can be a bit tough.

Any opinion speech is based on a single premise - one side of the issue is right.

When you begin to brainstorm you should think about the issues on your list. If an issue does not have some sort of value claim attached (something about the issue is not right or wrong, moral, fair, or important), it should not be on your list of opinion speech topics.

However, there are several other things that should not be on your list of opinion speech topics either.

Choosing issues that people have obviously placed an extensive amount of time thinking about are not good issues to put on your list. Ideas like the death penalty and religion are terrible opinion speech topics because you won't accomplish your goal with any of your audience members.

The more controversy your topic generates, the more work you have to do in getting the audience to come to your side of the issue.

One of the first things you should do in your attempt to generate the right topic for you is to make a list of possible topics. Think about the issues that you are interested in.

Do any of those issues have controversies attached to them? For example, are you interested in any small scale community issues? Maybe you have noticed a lack of sidewalks in your town. That's a perfect topic for an opinion speech. Concerns about emergency preparedness also make good opinion speech topics.

If you need to think on a larger scale, think about your educational facility. Are there some problems you might be able to address with an opinion speech? Does the food service in your building leave something to be desired? If you need a more national topic, consider ones that do not receive media attention on a regular basis. For example, speed limits on roads are an accepted part of life for most, but they make a perfect opinion speech topic.

Coming up with the right opinion speech topics may seem a bit tough, but a little brainstorming will help to reveal the issues you care about most.

Check out the topics for persuasive speeches to help brainstorm for your opinion speech.