I just was given “homework” from my place of employment to give a 15 minute “how to” speech but I really need some how to speech ideas. The problem I’m having is that the things that first pop into my mind to teach some in a “how to” speech will take either 2 seconds or 2 hours.

The other thing I’m having a hard time with is that when my manager announced to our entire team that we’d all be giving 15 minute “how to” speeches, he concluded the announcement by saying that the topics were not important because this was an exercise to help us improve our communication and leadership skills.

When I tried “google-ing” how to speech ideas I came across a few websites that had some lists of ideas or commonly used topics but that didn’t really help me. I think I was struggling more with teaching something worthwhile and would help me accomplish the true purpose of the how to speech.

When I was searching amazon.com for ideas I came across a book that caught my attention. It was a book about the lost art of great speeches and since I need to write a speech that I want to be great, I bought it.

It was very different from what I expected but it was everything I needed. After reading the book I realized that I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Think about that for a second….

I learned how to write and deliver a powerful and memorable speech. I learned how to create a how to speech that would help me to deliver an interesting and memorable as well as help me accomplish the goal/purpose my manager set for us.

Don’t laugh but I decided to write my how to speech on tying shoes. It wasn’t until I was in my late teens that I realized I had been taught how to tie my shoes differently than pretty much everyone else. I didn’t know anything about “rabbits” running around “trees” and then going through the “hole.”

The way my dad showed me how to tie shoelaces is more of a hybrid of the “normal” way of tying a shoelace and what is typically called a “double-knot.” Basically you do all the normal steps of tying shoelace two times in a row. I won’t bore you with my how to speech but that’s what I’ll be sharing.

The important thing to remember when doing a how to speech is to keep your topic and your “language” simple. Simplicity with repetitive themes will make your speech more powerful and more memorable than the typical public speech.

Another thing that is important is to pick a topic that you personally know really well. Well enough that you could consider yourself an expert. I’ve been tying my shoes, my kid’s shoes and my grandkid’s shoes for decades; I think I’m an expert in that department now.

There are lists and lists of random how to speech ideas out there on the internet and at the library, but a list won’t necessarily make your speech great; check out this book and hopefully it’ll help you like it helped me.