Monroe's Motivated Sequence

This purpose of this speech is to affect listeners' behaviors. This means that you ask them to do or not do something. This speech tends to be the one where people find it hard to be creative, because many of the topics seem "worn out"- such as "don't drink and drive", "don't smoke", etc.
The 2 criteria that are crucial for the action are: 1. It must relate to the audience (It cannot be an issue that only affects the elderly if you are speaking to teens) 2. It must be something the listener has the ability to do (you personally cannot change the law- you CAN join a group, boycott, etc.). Considering these criteria, sometimes the simplest topics work best like-
Why you should wash your hands, why to brush and floss your teeth, etc. They are simple, but relate to all.

Problem-Cause-Solution Speech

This format allows students to dissect an identified PROBLEM by exploring the possible CAUSES to why the PROBLEM exists. After that, the student must then identify a SOLUTION for each the CAUSES. Remember, the student must SOLVE the CAUSE, not the PROBLEM itself. For example:

Problem: Not enough people wear their seatbelts.
Cause 1: Seatbelt laws are too weak.
Cause 2: People have misconceptions about seatbelts.
Solution 1: We need stricter seatbelt laws.
Solution 2: We must educate the public about seatbelt facts.

Please use the following format to generate and critique ideas.

Informative Speech Topics

Every semester, the first actual speeches that my classes perform are informative speeches. These speeches are simply intended to provide knowledge to the listeners. Since this is the first speech, students often find it difficult to choose a topic because they think it will be boring, too broad, too hard to do, etc.. Therefore, I would like to have people place as many ideas for topics as possible. REMEMBER, these should influence listeners' behaviors, beliefs or attitudes.