Sixteen ideas for Table Topics speeches from The Moth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table Topics is the impromptu speaking part of a Toastmasters club meeting. It’s where attendees who don’t have another formal role get to answer a question by speaking off-the-cuff for one to two minutes. There are lots of good ideas for questions, but some are called by other names, like icebreakers.

 

This year there is an excellent book titled How to Tell a Story (the essential guide for memorable storytelling from THE MOTH). Buried at the back, on pages 289 and 290 is the following list of sixteen ideas (story prompts) in five categories, condensed as follows:

 

STORY PROMPTS (Tell us about…)

 

FIRSTS

a breakthrough moment.

a first time that you regretted.

a first time that changed your life.

 

NINE TO FIVE

a time you worked hard and played hard.

a time when you were working for the weekend.

a time you didn’t see eye-to eye with management.

a time you definitely weren’t paid enough.

 

LOVE HURTS

a time it was too little, too late.

a time you had to follow your heart.

a time you loved and lost.

 

CAUGHT

a time you were busted.

a time you wove a tangled web.

A time your hand was in the cookie jar.

 

LOST AND FOUND

a time you couldn’t see what was right in front of you.

a time you couldn’t find a way out.

a time you were reunited with something you treasure.

 

The drawing of a moth came from Wikimedia Commons.