Whenever you are scheduled to make a speech, it is important to find a topic that interests you. Two techniques will help you discover topics: making a personal inventory, which means taking a careful look at what interests you, and Internet brainstorming, which is a method of generating ideas through free association using the Internet.

Once the topic is narrowed, you should test whether it is appropriate for the audience, whether it is appropriate for you, and whether it is appropriate for the occasion.

Once you have an idea for a topic, you should narrow it so that it can be adequately covered within the time set for your speech. Narrowing the topic means taking some specific aspect of the subject and speaking about it.

Every speech should have a general purpose, a specific purpose, and a central idea. The general purpose relates to whether the speech is informative or persuasive. The specific purpose focuses on what you want to inform or persuade your audience about. The central idea captures the main idea of the speech--the idea you want your audience to retain after the speech.

Audience analysis is the process of finding out what the audience knows about the subject, what it might be interested in, what its attitudes and beliefs are, and what kinds of people are likely to be present. Useful demographic information about an audience includes age, gender, education, occupation, race/nationality/ethnic origin, geographic location, and group affiliation.

In analyzing the speech occasion, the speaker should consider the length of the speech, the time of day, and the physical setting where the speech will take place.