SAMPLE INFORMATIVE SPEECH TOPICS
An informative speech frequently can be identified by its content, which often falls under one of these categories:
Confusion about informative speeches can arise because virtually every speech of any sort will inform the audience at some level about something. However, true informative speeches are a tool for conveying basic material at an introductory course level.
What follows is an alphabetical list of potential topic areas, including subtopics where applicable. This list is not meant to replace or contradict any topic guidelines given by your class instructor. When in doubt about a topic, please speak with your instructor to gain approval.
AGRICULTURE
Evolution of farm production technologies
History of domestication of animals
Organic and biodynamic farming
ANIMALS
Animal skills
Bats and echolocation
Best father in the animal kingdom
Best mother in the animal kingdom
Monogamy in the animal kingdom
What makes spider webs sticky?
Strange animals
Bioluminescent fish and animals
Creatures and their strange behavior (e.g. gastropods, march of the fire ants, emperor penguins)
Odd looking animals (e.g. naked mole rats)
Meet an animal (e.g. the Tibetan fox)
Value of parasites (e.g., remora)
Threats to an animal’s survival (e.g. the Tasmanian devil)
Human and Animals
Animal in life and art (e.g. Tasmanian devil)
Exotic animal as domestic pets (e.g. african serval, chinchillas, raccoons)
De-extinction
Feasibility of genetically engineering life (dangerous insects, plants, etc.)
Wild animals
Air sharks off Seal Island
Evidence for a living 40-foot shark
Likelihood of species survival in the wild (e.g. pandas)
Current efforts to save the next extinct species (e.g., elephants, big cats, gorillas)
ART
Art and science
History of fractal art
Scientific analysis of art
Unconventional art
Banksy’s graffiti art
3-D chalk art
Definition and examples of outsider art
CLOTHING
History of high-tech materials in electronics
Use of high-tech fibers in space exploration
COMMUNICATIONS
Frequency and implication of the use of long words versus short words
How to recognize common regional accents
Techniques for assessing the credibility of information on the Web
Cultures with unusual communication practices
Individuals with unusual communication histories (e.g. The story of Nell, Helen Keller)
DISASTERS
Avalanches
Predicting and preventing avalanches
Technologies for finding avalanche victims
Hurricanes
Improvements in hurricane forecasting
The Galveston hurricane
Flying a hurricane plane
Technological disasters
Role of weather in the sinking of the Titanic
Residual effects of the Chernobyl reactor meltdown
Three Mile Island chronology
Why submarines sink
Tornadoes and floods
Improvements in tornado prediction and advance warnings
State of flood prediction
Volcanoes
Threat posed by Cumbre Viejo
Discovery of supervolcanoes
Ring of fire around Seattle
ECONOMICS
Consumer products
Improvements in crib safety
Corporations
Effect of 3-D printing technology on manufacturing sector
Risks of investing in totalitarian economies (e.g., China, Russia)
Economic justice
Historical effects of income inequality around the world
Labor
Decline of labor unions in the last half century
Roots of labor unions
History and banning of child labor
Product History
How to make a product (e.g. wine, guitars)
History of a product or food (e.g. pizza, electric cars, escalators, mattresses)
Famous corporate rivalries (e.g. Coke versus Pepsi; Burger King versus McDonalds)
Stock market
Creation and evolution of the stock market
EDUCATION
Colleges and universities
History of hazing
Role of community colleges in higher education
The rise of the MOOC
K-12 education
Using smart phones on nature field trips
Green schools movement
Standardized Testing
Lessons from standardized testing in other Western countries
STEM education
Participation of girls in STEM education initiatives
Engineering for all: the maker movement and the Maker Faire
The Tinkering Studio at the San Francisco Exploratorium
ELECTIONS
Access to voting
U.S. turnout for local, state, and federal elections
Right to vote
History of expansion of the right to vote in the United States
Voting in another country
ENERGY
Using microbes to clean up oil spills
Prospects for green gasoline
State of solar energy technologies
Historic development of wind power
Producing plastic from waste methane
ENVIRONMENT
Changes in the environment
How to assess the weight of scientific evidence on climate change (and other significant scientific issues)
State of the permafrost worldwide
Changes in Amazon Basin weather patterns
Plants and animals
Definition and examples of invasive species (e.g., Asian carp, zebra mussels, West Nile virus, Dutch elm disease, brown marmorated stink bugs)
Flatulent cattle
Death of the sugar maples
The oldest tree in the world
Tectonic plates
Discovery of tectonic plates
History of continental drift
FOOD AND NUTRITION
How the tomato overcame its poisonous reputation
History of rooftop gardens
GAMES
Gambling
The MIT Blackjack team
Nonverbal tells in Poker
Games in education
Gamification movement in education
Video games
Video games and learning
Economics of online games
GOVERNMENT
Congress
How Framers of the Constitution felt about political parties
Evolution of lobbying industry
Executive Branch
Importance of the decennial U.S. Census required by the Constitution
Role of whistleblowers in a democracy
History of the presidential pardon process
HEALTH CARE
Drug addiction
Description, pervasiveness and treatment of a drug addiction (e.g. heroin, cocaine, crack, meth)
Treatments
Advent and future of exoskeletons in treating paralysis
Available treatments for Lyme disease
Research on cures for deafness and blindness
Vaccines
Reductions in childhood disease associated with vaccines
HOUSING
Historical and current patterns of geographic segregation
Introduction to Earthship housing
History of technologies to earthquake-proof buildings
Evolution of the “tiny house” movement
HUMAN RIGHTS
History of the suffragette movement in the United States
Effect of the Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner murders on the U.S. civil rights movement
The civil rights movement in Birmingham, Alabama, in the 1960s
INFRASTRUCTURE
Highway system
Creation of the interstate highway system
INNOVATION
Lone inventors
Artistic and designer inventors (e.g. Walt Disney, John Lennon)
Product inventors (e.g. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerburg)
Specific innovations
New technology to deal with existing problems (e.g. Mine Kafon for landmine detection )
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
China
Opening the door to China
Level of Chinese exports to the United States
Chinese efforts to secure mineral rights around the world
Latin America
Building of the Panama Canal
Maritime law
Who owns the treasure in sunken ships?
JOURNALISM
Founding Fathers’ view of a free press
Snapshot of the free press in the electronic age
Sacrifices of war-zone journalists
LAW AND JUSTICE
Mapping crime using geography and mathematics
Historical discrepancies in sentencing for different populations
MAPS
History of maps
Role of maps in history
MATHEMATICS
Applications of math in real life
Pi Day
MEDICINE
Artificial Limbs
Evolution of orthopedic devices
Status of exoskeletons
Brain
Characteristics of autism
Lobotomies throughout the ages
Current understanding of memory paths and memory erasure
Brain-machine interfaces
Diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease
Synesthesia (e.g. smelling colors and seeing sound)
Capability of the brain to rewire itself after traumatic injury
Gene Sequencing
The discovery of DNA
Story of sequencing the human genome
Research on Cures
3-D printed implants
Current state of sleep research
Evolution of HIV/AIDS treatments
Story of the AIDS quilt
Significance of the ALS ice bucket challenge
Micro-targeted cancer cures
History and future of Ebola
Advent of medicated adhesive patches
Plant diversity and the development of medicines
MUSIC
Connections between music and the brain
Evolution and worldwide importance of reggae music
History of the electric guitar
Origins of hip-hop music
Objectives of the National Jukebox
NATIVE AMERICANS
Government compliance with treaties with Native American tribes
PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS
Families
The influence of sibling birth order on personality
Friends
Social media and friendship
Marriage
Long distance marriages
Odd marriages (e.g. the woman who married the Eiffel Tower, the man who married himself)
Research on longevity of marriage
RELIGION
Characteristics of a religious cult
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Basic research
Value of basic research over time
History of time and clock research
Development and improvement of batteries
Potential impacts of 3-D printing
Citizens and Science
How to assess the weight of scientific evidence
Discoveries of individual citizen scientists
Advent and growth of citizen scientist research (e.g., supernovae, extraterrestrials, nature observations, Great Pacific Garbage Patch)
Computers and robotics
Plum Landings: getting kids moving with educational computer applications
Development and uses of snake robots
History of supercomputers
Status of research on cybercomputers
Weather Prediction
Role of ice cores in prediction models
Utility of weather forecasts at the neighborhood level
SPACE EXPLORATION
Discovery of planets outside of our solar system
Firefly satellites to investigate lightning and thunderstorms
Significance of viewing the Earth from space (unity, lights of commerce)
When galaxies collide
Current state of information on black holes
SPORTS AND ATHLETICS
Major professional sports
Historical timeline of the integration of major U.S. sports
Most memorable moment in sports [choose specific sport]
Other sports
Felix Baumgartner’s record-setting base jump from space
Definition and history of extreme games
History of surfing
History of wrestling
How to do a handspring
How to play disc golf
STRANGE AND SUPERNATURAL THINGS
Red sprites and blue jets
Paranormal activity
Principles of palmistry
TERRORISM
The bunker at the Greenbrier
Increase in doomsday prepping
TRANSPORTATION
Status of driverless car technology
The Blackbird and invisibility cloaks
History of electric cars
Uses for old tires
U.S. HISTORY
Evolution and effects of the Dust Bowl
Causes of the Civil War
Joshua Chamberlain at the Battle of Gettysburg
Evolution and importance of the Bill of Rights
VALUES AND ETHICS
Role of altruism in society
Institutions that teach and reinforce social values
WATER RESOURCES
Drinking Water
State of desalinization technologies
Potential of nanotechnology to clean up contaminated water
Oceans
Discovery of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Search for evidence of rogue waves
State of coral reefs and their ecosystems
El Niño and La Niña
Exploration of the Marianas Trench and Challenger Deep
Increases in jellyfish blooms
WORLD HISTORY
Archeology
Discovery and analysis of the antikythera mechanism
The search for King Tut’s tomb
Specific historical events
Events and timeline of the Shackleton expedition