Public Speaking about a Social Issue: Styles and Tips

Social issues are one of the most common subject matters of speech, and you'll often find yourself picking out a topic related to a social issue without even realizing!

Social issue speeches, however, can also be extremely tricky to speak about. Social issues, such as income inequality and democracy, are often controversial topics with diverse perspectives, leaving the speaker with the difficult task of being diplomatic yet assertive in their speech. In this article, we'll give you a few guiding outlines to picking "type of speech under social issues" as well as a range of different methods to approach these types of speeches.

Problem - Solution Speech: A problem-solution structure is the most common way of organizing a speech about social issues. As the name suggests, the speech first examines the social issue in detail, and then provides possible solutions to solve the issue.

It may sound easy, but it is important to denote enough time to explaining the solutions to the issue. Many speakers make the classic mistake of using the bulk of their time to explain the problem, leaving hardly any time to discuss solutions. This will make your speech seem more like rant, and very one-dimensional. Solutions will balance out your speech and make you seem more constructive and thoughtful rather than just pessimistic. Example: Darren Tay: Outsmart, Outlast

Cause and Effect Speech

The Cause-Effect speech analyses the reasons leading to a phenomenon and the resulting consequences.

In this type of speech, it helps to look into both short-term causes and consequences and long-term ones. Are there any other larger trends that is reflected in your chosen issue? Does your issue affect other issues? How have other countries dealt with your issue? Let's say we're talking about income inequality. You could compare Hong Kong to Singapore and other neighbouring regions, and note similarities in social and economic factors to draw conclusions.

Example: Deborah Cohen: A Big Fat Crisis

Persuasive Speech When giving this type of speech, your primary aim is to convince your audience of a certain point of view. Your speech should be structured like an argument, with a logical line of reasoning to prove your main point or stance. Furthermore, you also need to incorporate a range of evidence into your speech to support your reasons - consider using statistics, facts, quotes, personal anecdotes, and even visuals (images and graphs) if appropriate.

An important point to note is public speaking has and will always be about mutual communication between the audience and the speaker. That's what differentiates public speaking from debate. If others' opinions differ from yours, in no way should your speech undermine the opinions of your opposing party, even in a persuasive speech. In other words, you can express your thoughts and try your best to convince others, but there's no backfiring if people keep their stance.

Example: Michelle Obama: DNC Speech 2016

Personal Opinion The purpose of this speech is to voice your opinion on a certain issue, but it differs from a persuasive speech in that you are not trying to convince your audience to also hold the same opinion. This speech is simply to share your thoughts, and perhaps introduce an opinion that is not widely held. In this type of speech, it is still important to justify your opinion to establish your credibility. Example: Jia Jiang: 100 Days of Rejection

Check out the video on ted.com:

https://www.ted.com/talks/jia_jiang_what_i_learned_from_100_days_of_rejection