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Public Speaking Activities

5 fun speech games to build skills and confidence

By: Susan Dugdale 

There are five public speaking activities on this page, along with numerous spinoffs.

Their principal purpose is to develop speech fluency and confidence through fun!

You'll find they are easily adaptable to groups of all ages and skill levels: from newcomers to advanced.

I've used them all and know they work. People become so enjoyably engrossed in them, they forget to be fearful!

1. Interview Introductions

Interview Introductions are a great way to break the ice with a new group of people. The exercise has them finding out about each other and then introducing the person they interviewed to the whole group.

As it's a lot less threatening or scary to talk about someone else rather than yourself, you'll find people respond really positively as they're generally eager to represent the person they interviewed well.

Instructions

• Divide your group into pairs.
  
  
• Each person interviews the other in turn. The information gained forms the basis of a brief introduction speech they'll give to the whole group when the interviewing process is complete.
  
  
• Ask them to find out their partner's name, where they live/work, what hobbies they have, what their favorite book, film, song...is, what they're most proud of (an achievement perhaps), what they hope for from the class, something funny that happened in their childhood, where they go for holidays, what they think about the latest local issue ...
  Obviously they can't expect to cover all of that in detail inside the brief time they spend talking with each other. One or two interesting points is enough!
  
  
• Establish a time limit for the interviews. I've found 10 minutes works well. Keep track of the time and call change at the halfway point, 5 minutes, to ensure both people get an opportunity to be interviewed and to interview.
   
• When the group comes back together the introductions begin:
  "This is Mary from Taupo. When she's not working for the Social Welfare Department as a community social worker she's collecting stamps. She says part of their charm is that they don't answer back and are quiet!"
  
  

2. Image Starters

Questions to get started are:

• Where is this photo/image from?
  (And the answer doesn't have to be true - merely plausible! Encourage imaginative creativity.)
  
• What's happening in this photo/picture?
  
• What feelings does the image evoke?
  
• Is there a season or time associated with it?
  
• What happened after or before the photo was taken?
  
  

5 activities using image starters

If you'd like specific instructions for five different activities based around images you'll find them here: picture prompts for impromptu speeches. 

They range from introductory 'show and tell', like the starter questions above, to more advanced. There are solo as well as group activities.

3. For and Against

Sample topics:

• money is the root of all evil
  
• a country gets the government it deserves
  
• 'green' politics are just the current fashion
  
• pets in apartments should be banned
  
• marriage is essentially a business contract
  
• 'Religion is the opiate of the masses' : Karl Marx
  
• poverty is a state of mind
  
• euthanasia is unjustifiable
  
• global warming is media hype
  
• cloning animals should be banned
  
• animal testing is immoral
  
  

For variation split your group into pairs and extend the time limit to 1 - 2 minutes. One person takes the 'for' position, and other takes the 'against'.  

More 1 minute speech practice

4. The Object of my Affection

Ideas to help the speakers get started:

• This ... {insert the name of whatever it is the speaker has in their hand} saved my life. It happened like this...
  
  
• Whenever I see a ...{insert the name of whatever it is the speaker has in their hand} it reminds me of the time I...
  
  
• I collect ...{insert the name of whatever it is the speaker has in their hand} and this one is the prize of my collection. It used to belong to ...
  
  

5. Conducted Speech

Divide your class into groups of four. Three in each group will be the speakers and the fourth, the conductor.

The speakers repeat the tongue twister responding to the conductor's direction. He/she can make them go faster or slower, louder or quieter. The conductor could even decide to make it a round by staggering when each person begins! 

The goal of the exercise is to practice articulation coupled with vocal variety ie. speech rate and volume.

It also teaches cooperation and focus, or concentration. Let your mind wander, and it's game over! You've lost it, not only for yourself but your group as well.

Swap the conductor role around to give everybody a turn.

Once everybody is familiar with the activity, give the groups turns at demonstrating their prowess to the whole class. They'll love seeing and hearing each other perform. ☺

If you liked these speech activities ...

For more freebie public speaking activities:

• 10 activities for public speaking - a collection of tried and tested speech class activities for middle school upwards
• Another 7 fun-filled public speaking games for groups
• Improv games - a collection of 5 excellent drama games for groups
• Public speaking exercises - these focus on the individual speaker- how to breathe well, stand, use eye contact effectively...

What's the difference between these freebie activities and your ebook?

• Return to the top of the public speaking activities page