Speaking for one minute is an important skill. It’s useful in both professional and social situations. As you’ve likely observed [the person who speaks for 5 minutes to answer Yes or No], brevity is difficult. Being put on the spot can throw you into fight or flight, fast! See my article I Can’t Answer Questions.
Here I’ll share a one-minute speech strategy to use when someone says, “Share a few words,” but you have nothing prepared. Think theme.
While being succinct keeps the listener’s attention, repeating a focus word reinforces your message. For this topic, I recommend watching how sports athletes apply this strategy in a brief post-game interview. Holding the microphone, tell us, “What happened in that play? What would you do differently?” Typically the response includes a focus word that helped execute the play, or not. “Challenge” is a common example. While the player may only speak 3 sentences, the word “challenge” may be repeated multiple times. For some viewers, the athlete appears to be simply answering a question. Viewers on their speaking journey will see this as 1) a form of public speaking and 2) the speaking task requires a one-minute talk or less.
You can apply this concept whenever approached to share a few words. Quickly identify a focus word or central topic. How many times can you use that word within your one-minute speech?
Here are 150 1-minute speech topics.
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