Here is a list of Table Topics variations that I've found fun and challenging. A good Table Topic bring speakers outside their comfort zones so they can grow. And a great topic adds both pressure and humor to a meeting.

I encourage you to try some of these Table Topics ideas in your meetings!

With Restrictions

1. No movements – the speaker may only use facial expressions and voice.
2. Eyes closed – the speaker uses only the voice to capture the audience.
3. Extreme pauses – The speaker must wait 10 seconds between sentences.
4. No speaking – The speaker practices telling stories with body language only.

Explain the item

The Table Topics speaker gets an item to explain and demonstrate to the audience.

1. Strange item. What is it?
2. Common item, alternative uses – The speaker explains how it can be used differently.
3. Interesting scents – The get something that smells, a herb for example, and explains it.
4. The speaker gets a book and pretends to be the author selling it.

Motivating Toastmasters

Let the speakers motivate each other to join and stay in Toastmasters. They get to practice motivation skills and help the club at the same time!

1. Let the speaker market Toastmasters. Why should people join?
2. Motivating – The speaker should motivate people to stay in Toastmasters for life.
3. Common Objections – The speaker answer common objections about Toastmasters, e.g. too much work load, too scary, slow growth, etc.

Debates

Speakers get a current topic to debate on.

1. Pro vs. Con – Speakers go up in pairs. One speak for and another against something.
2. Everyone disagrees – each speaker disagrees with previous speakers. Can be very entertaining!
3. Quick debates – first speaker speak for 30 seconds, then the next speaker replies for 30 seconds, then first speaker replies, and so on.

Storytelling

1. Storytelling chain – The first speaker starts a story, the next speaker continues, and the last speaker ends.
2. Personal story – Speakers talk about personal challenges and how they overcome them.
3. Living scenes – Speakers tell a story with as much sensory detail as possible – visuals, smells, sounds, etc.

If you want more tips for check out how to be a Table Topics Master.

Why do so many public speakers choose boring subjects?
If not even the speaker find the subject exciting, who will?

If you always choose exciting topics or angles, you get an enormous advantage,

Every speech should be meaningful to you, as a speaker,
and meaningful to the audience.

When you find the message meaningful,
you get excited and convincing,
and you can say it over and over again without getting bored.

When the audience find the message meaningful they listen,
and you don't have to convince them how important the topic is.

If you can’t find an interesting angle on a topic, speak about something else!
Pick the most meaningful message you can.

How to Choose Your Message

First, ask yourself:

1. What excites me about this topic?
2. What do I wish I knew earlier?

Then ask:

1. What’s in it for the audience?
2. What are they really interested in?

Then remove everything that doesn’t excite you,
and remove everything that won’t excite the audience.

If your material seems boring, don’t give up.
I’ve seen math professors transform dry formulas into great lectures
that captured hundreds of people.

But you have to create stories from facts,
make memorable points,
and speak in a conversational way.

Before you've said a complete sentence,
the audience has already judged you.
The first seconds of a speech is usually when you are most nervous.
And your nervousness can make you look unfriendly.

Many books on public speaking explains how to
establish your authority early,
or capture interest with a bang,
but you may not even get the chance to do that.

People have to like you, or they won't listen.
In the first seconds, your audience care for one thing:

Are you a Friend or Foe?

Then, if they like you, they ask themselves:

Are you a Fool?

• Why should they listen to you for advice?
• Do you look and sound confident?
• Do you have a track record?

But, you will not have the chance to prove your authority if they dislike you.

So how do you improve your chances to be liked?

To look friendly, you have to see the audience as friends, not your judges.
And fake smiles won't hide what you feel.

Imagine that you share valuable insights with the audience.
Most audiences want to have a good time, so they want you to succeed.
You all want to have a good time together.
 
Then, you can do the following to increase your likability:

1. Arrive early. Get to know people. Have fun. Help out.
2. Repeat to yourself: I speak to friends that want to have a good time.
3. Smile when you walk up!
4. Connect before you speak. Look around, meet eyes and smile. Take your time!

So in summary:
If you want people to listen to you, they have to like you.
To be liked, you have to like them.
They want a good time, you want a good time.
Don't let nervousness come in between.
Get to know your audience before you speak.
Then meet eyes and smile more!

Most public speakers can't keep good eye contact.

Eye contact is the most important part of body language,
more important than gestures, facial expressions, or how you move.
Your eyes are almost as important as your mouth,
because you connect with your eyes.

Speakers avoid eye contact

• to avoid the audience, their judges

• to look at everyone so they rush between eyes,

• to think of the next thing to say and not get distracted.

Many beginners, but also experienced speakers,
look at the floor, the roof, or their papers.
They hold monologues like the audience isn't there.

Other speakers, usually those with more experience,
look people in the eyes, but their eyes dart around.
They look at one person for a second, then move on.
Most speakers do not look, but glance, at people in the audience.
It feels like the speaker speaks to you, but not with you.

Then there are the few speakers, who look at you,
and speak to you, as you were the only person in the room.
Even when they move to the next person,
you still feel part of a conversation, not a speech.

So how do you become the last type of speaker,
the one who really connects?

It's not complicated, but it takes some practice.
You speak like to a small group of friends.

Look at someone. Say one full thought. Short pause.
Look at the next person. Say one full thought.
One thought per person.
Like a serial conversation.

This has many advantages:
Listeners feel included, not just spoken to.
You don't overload your brain with faces. You see one face per thought.
You look confident when you keep eye contact.

So practice holding eyes for one complete thought.
Then move to the next person.
You won't stare them down.
You will speak as in a conversation,
and you will become a much better speaker.

In conversations we often use sounds like Ah, Uhm and Err when we think so people don't interrupt us. But when we speak in public, the audience seldom interrupts, and our filler sounds just make us sound unsure and unprepared.

To get rid of your crutch words, try the following:

1. Breath in, through your nose. Most filler sounds comes when we breath out. Can you say Ah while breathing in through your nose?
2. Practise pausing – the pause gets you attention and time to think.
3. Rehearse more to avoid unplanned thinking pauses.
4. Replace your filler sounds with gestures that signals you have more to say.

You can practice whenever your speak, not just in public speaking. If you remove filler sounds from normal conversations, you will use fewer fillers on the stage.