Motivational speeches encourage and inspire others to take action in their own lives. Some common motivational speech topics stoke the speaker’s pass and center on just what students, colleagues, clients, coworkers, parishioners, and other groups want to hear.
Looking for good motivational speech topics? The key to good topic selection is to find something that resonates with you (the speaker) and those listening. When considering topics from self-improvement to self-motivation, an issue you are passionate about will likely result in an excellent speech idea.
Talking about something unlikely to engage most of those listening might feel like a waste of time for everyone involved. We encourage you to read through the five things that make excellent motivational speech topics before selecting one.
What 5 Things Make A Good Motivational Speech?
- Determine Your Purpose: Whether you plan to discuss being a better role model or engaging actively in self-growth activities, determining your speech’s purpose will help you focus and get things started in the right direction.
- Understand Your Audience: To whom are you speaking? Another critical piece to successful public speaking engagement is to know your audience. Even the best motivational speech topics will fall flat if those listening are not likely to relate to the topic.
- Hook Those Listening: There are many ways to immediately pull the audience into your speech. How you pull them in is often called a hook because your goal is to “hook” the reader or listener right from the start.
- Use Stories & Anecdotes: Personal success stories and real-life examples are two sure ways to get people to listen to your speech. And we mean really listening. For example, a motivational speaker talking about personal growth will connect with the audience better by sharing relatable stories.
- Call to Action: Finding yourself motivated to change is one thing, but change only happens if you have a plan. Remember, a dream without a plan is just a wish. A call to action has the audience thinking through implementation. What are the steps that you can take to make change a reality?
What is Monroe’s Motivated Sequence?
Another type of motivational speech is one meant to persuade using Monroe’s Motivated Sequence. There are five steps:
- Get Attention: Regardless of your topic, if you want people to listen to you, it is essential to get their attention. You can do this in many ways: a story, a statistic, or even a rhetorical question.
- Establish the Need: When persuading people, you need to get them to recognize the need for your discussion. Establishing the need can be done with examples. When speaking about the importance of time management, one might talk about how you need to manage your time well to accomplish everything you need to do.
- Satisfy the Need: After convincing the audience that a problem exists, the next step is the meat and potatoes of the speech. How are you going to solve the problem? Discuss the facts, use testimonials, etc.
- Visualize the Future: How will things look different as a result of the change? Let’s talk about global warming as another example. If everyone present has made lifestyle changes and set daily goals to elicit actionable change, what positive impact will that have on the earth? Paint a picture of how very different the world will be.
- Action/Actualize: Lastly, you want decision-making to occur right there and then. What specific changes can each individual make to see the future you described?
What Are The Best Motivational Speeches Ever?
Motivational speeches can fall into a variety of different categories. Some encourage competitiveness, while others help to foster positive thinking or a growth mindset.
- Steve Jobs spoke at Stanford University’s Commencement about being an entrepreneur.
- Matthew McConaughey Commencement Address at UH
- Richard St. John Secrets of Success in 8 Words
- Simon Sinek How Great Leaders Inspire Success
Can Motivational Speech Topics Be Funny?
Motivational speech topics can be serious, but they can also be amusing. So how can something meant to inspire us to greatness also be funny? Sometimes we poke a bit of fun at ourselves and our journey.
You need to combine humor with knowledge to get the desired impact.
- Don’t be afraid to poke fun at yourself. Imagine being a distant runner talking about perseverance by talking about the time nature called, and you almost pooped your pants in the last 3 miles of a marathon. Will your antics amuse the audience? If you adequately describe running with your buttcheeks slammed shut, you bet they will be. Also, frame it so that they see this is really about not quitting.
- Use a bizarre scenario to set the stage. What might that look like? How about using a conversation between you and your dog to open up a speech on loyalty? Imagine what your dog might say, and let your imagination run wild. Sure, no one expects those listening to believe you. But can anyone deny that the best form of loyalty is between man and dog?
- Tell a funny story. We all have funny anecdotes to share, whether they are garnered from our experiences or someone else’s. Artfully weave these into your motivational topic. It can be the hook, but it does not have to be.
Best Motivational Speech Topics For Students
- Why Hard Work Matters
- Advice for College Students
- The Importance of Extracurricular Activities
- Protecting and Prioritizing Your Mental Health
- Exercising Self-Control Throughout Life
- Surviving High School and the Social Media Age
- Balancing School, Family, and a Social Life
- How Not to Succumb to Peer Pressure
What Are Some Examples Of Business-Related Motivational Speeches?
There are different approaches when one thinks of business-related keynote speaking topics. Business keynote speaking topics can fall into different categories.
- Customer Experience: Most businesses would like to be notorious for having exceptional customer service. Imagine leading up a company that gets tagged on social media for treating people so well that they can’t help but shout their stories from the rooftops. Businesses with this kind of customer service can inspire other companies by walking others through their non-negotiable service. The most watched training video in the world is the FISH philosophy which focuses on a positive attitude and strong customer service. Watch this video to be inspired.
- Innovation: Part of creating great products, having inspiring service, and creating a culture where people desire to be part of your team can have to do with running an innovative business model. Another inspirational speech topic is walking other companies through how your team keeps things cutting edge. Especially fun for upstart entrepreneurs who have decided to upset the apple cart with a new leadership style, this is a great topic!
- Leadership: Strong, inspiring leadership is a “must-have” for business excellence. How do CEOs cultivate this type of leadership? How do leaders ensure that people follow?
- Motivational: Running a business can be challenging and complex. How do good companies stay motivated? Check out this Mulligan Brothers motivational video.
- Team Building: Just because you put people together to work together or toward a common goal does not mean you will automatically have teamwork. Sometimes, collaboration has to be nourished and cultivated. Remember when we said that telling a story makes a concept relatable? Steve Jobs has this excellent anecdote where he talks about teamwork.