“Sir, we are looking for a motivational speaker for our event on Friday. May we invite you to speak to our group?”
I opened my inbox and saw this message from Ma. Cynthia Aquino. Her email was polite, hopeful, and hurried.
“Sorry sir, I do not have any idea of what you can speak about. This is our first time. Maybe you can suggest. Or maybe, anything about leadership?”
That last line made me pause: Anything about leadership.
It’s a request I’ve heard many times. Too many events are designed this way—deciding on a date, booking a speaker, filling in the blanks with a word like leadership, motivation, or teamwork.
And yet, if we stop there, the event becomes a performance, not a pivot. People clap, they smile, they thank you. But they walk out unchanged.
Cynthia asked me three questions in her email, and today I want to address one of them.
How do you choose your topic when you are asked to speak before a group especially if there is no theme given?
Her second question was this: Which is better—get to know the audience in advance or just stick to current events?
I’ll answer both in one sentence: Define the needs of your audience, and you will not waste a single minute of their time.
Why Themes Fail (And People Leave Empty)
Most events do have themes. Organizers love them. They gather around a table, sip coffee, and spend hours wordsmithing until a catchy acronym appears.
The theme becomes the centerpiece. They put it on the tarp, print it on the program, and repeat it in every speech.
But here’s the danger: too often, themes are created in the absence of the most important question—what do the people attending actually need?
Without that question, the theme is decoration, not direction.
It reminds me of politicians who use the acronyms of their names as acronyms of their programs. Clever on the surface, empty underneath. They begin in wordplay and end in wordplay.
That is not leadership. And that is not speaking.
Because the purpose of a speech is not to entertain with clever words. The purpose of a speech is to create change.
Don’t Craft a Speech. Craft a Shift.
👉 Do not craft a speech if you do not know how it can change the lives of the people who are attending.
That sentence may sound heavy, but it is liberating. It frees you from guesswork. It saves you from wasting words.
A speech that begins with the audience ends with impact. A speech that begins with you ends with applause—but often nothing more.
Let me tell you why.
Every audience is a mix of people—different backgrounds, different jobs, different stories. You cannot meet the needs of everyone. That’s impossible. But there is always a group within the group that is starving. They are restless. They are aching for answers.
Your job is to find that group. To know their hunger. To serve them first.
Feed your crowd, not your ego.
The Empathy Map: A Speaker’s Shortcut
When I prepare for an event, I do not start with PowerPoint slides. I do not begin with stories from my own life. I begin with a tool called an empathy map.
It is a simple framework, but it can save you from delivering a useless speech.
Here’s how it works.
Take a sheet of paper and divide it into six sections:
- What does my audience see?
- What do they hear?
- What do they say and do?
- What do they think and feel?
- What are their pains?
- What are their gains?
Then fill it in.
If I am speaking to front-line employees, I imagine their workplace. What posters are on the walls? What messages do they hear from their managers? What words do they say in the pantry when the boss is not around? What frustrations fill their thoughts before bed?
If I am speaking to executives, the map looks different. They see performance dashboards. They hear investor questions. They say, “We need results.” They think about risks. They feel the weight of reputation.
The empathy map helps me step into their world, not drag them into mine.
Interview the Sponsors. Ask Hard Questions.
Once I’ve mapped the possible emotions of the audience, I go to the organizers. The sponsors. The people who invited me.
And I ask them questions many speakers are afraid to ask:
- “Why this event? Why now?”
- “What do you want people to do differently after they leave?”
- “What problem are you hoping this speech will solve?”
- “What has not worked before?”
Sometimes they give vague answers. Sometimes they confess: “Honestly sir, we just needed a speaker.”
That’s fine. It’s my job to push further.
I am not there to fill time. I am there to create a shift.
Talk to the Audience Before You Talk to the Audience
Here’s a secret I rarely hear other speakers admit: I talk to the audience before I talk to the audience.
If I arrive early, I walk around. I sit beside people. I ask questions.
“What brought you here today?”
“What challenges are you facing in your work right now?”
“What’s one thing you hope to learn?”
I remember their names. I recall their stories. And when I stand on stage, I mention them. Not as statistics, but as humans.
And something magical happens.
The room leans forward. Because suddenly, the talk is no longer abstract. It’s about them.
Why Current Events Alone Don’t Work
Cynthia asked: Which is better—get to know the audience in advance or just stick to current events?
My answer: Use current events only if they connect to the current needs of the audience.
News without relevance is noise.
You can talk about the latest election, the newest technology, or the most recent viral story. But unless you connect it to their hunger, it will not land.
Remember this: people are not looking for your commentary. They are looking for clarity. They want to see themselves in the story.
Speaking Made Simple
When you know the needs of your audience, speaking becomes simple. Not easy—but simple.
You do not have to pretend to be profound. You do not have to cover a hundred points. You do not have to impress with jargon.
You only need to do three things:
- Name the struggle they feel but cannot yet say.
- Offer a story that mirrors that struggle.
- Open a path where change feels possible.
That’s it.
Everything else is decoration.
A Story of Two Speeches
Let me close with two contrasting stories from my own speaking journey.
Years ago, I was invited to a corporate event. The theme was “Excellence in Action”. Nice words. Shiny tarp. No clear direction.
I built my slides. I crafted my stories. I gave them my best.
The audience clapped. They thanked me politely. And then they went back to their phones.
I left the venue with a sinking feeling. I had spoken, but I had not shifted anyone.
Months later, I was invited to a small gathering of teachers. This time, I asked the right questions. I interviewed the organizers. I talked to the teachers before the program began.
One teacher told me, “Sir, I feel like I’m failing my students. They don’t listen anymore. I don’t know if I’m still making a difference.”
I carried that story into my speech. I began with her words.
Halfway through, I saw eyes welling up. Not because of my brilliance, but because I had mirrored their hidden fears.
After the session, a teacher came to me and whispered, “Now I know I’m not alone.”
That was the shift. That was the reason for the speech.
What This Means for You
If you are ever asked to speak without a theme, don’t panic. Don’t settle for “anything about leadership.”
Do this instead:
- Map your audience’s world.
- Ask the sponsors hard questions.
- Talk to the people in the seats before you talk from the stage.
And then build your message not around what you want to say—but around what they most need to hear.
Because when you define the needs of your audience, you will not waste a single minute of their time.
And you will never waste yours.
