Where does my next speech come from?

Most all of us have pondered where do I get my material for my next speech? Here is some food for thought. We all have stories to tell, none of us lives a life where nothing happens or has ever happened. Over the coming days sit down and create a list of headings. I did mine in Microsoft Word. Make as many headings as you feel you need there are no limit or right or wrongs here. Here are some examples of the headings/sub headings for events, people, ect in my life. 1. Before High School. (Schools, Teachers, Friends, ect) 2. High School.(I bet there are stories you have forgotten) A. Friends. B. Clubs C. Sports Teams (Football) D. Other stories or events 3. College (If you attended more than one name each). An example might look like the following. A. Orange Coast College B. Golden West College C. Cochise College - Arizona D. University of Alaska. 4. Military Service (list duty stations, training) A. Fort Ord, Calif B. Fort Benning, Ga C. Vietnam (places in country and stories for each) D. Redstone Arsenal - Huntsville Alabama E. Fort Wainwright - Alaska F. Fort Sill - Oklahama G. Fort Carson - Colorado H. US Army Recruiting Command - Garden Grove Calif I. US Army Induction Center - Los Angeles, Ca J. Fort Huachuca - Arizona E. Cal State University Long Beach. 5. Companies I have Worked For. A. Foodmaker Corporation B. Potlatch C. Franklin Ect 6. Places I have Lived. A. Hamilton Ontario Canada B. Gardena, Calif C. Westminster, Calif D. Montery, Calif E. Huntsville, Alabama F. Fairbanks, Alaska G. Lawton, Oklahoma H. Colorado Springs, Colorado I. Garden Grove, Calif J. Huachuca City, Arizona K. Corona, Calif L. Menifee, Calif ECT 7. Toastmasters. A. Club Name, Number, Location, Year, Offices Held, B. District Offices Held (ie Area Governor) C. Contests (Types, years, speech titles, where you placed, lessons learned). 8. Childern/Grand Children. A. Sean (Wife Joyce) 1. Son Jacob B. Marnie a. 1st husband - Earl Pappas 1. Helena Ann 2. Christian Bernard b. 2nd husband - Tony Squier 1. Jackee Levar C. Patrick (Wife - Kimberly Vandereyken) 1. Bradley 2. Amanda D. Megan 1. 1st husband - Michael Croxton a. Ashley 1. Holloween Candy - Pause. 2. Riding bike 5 yrs old - hot, brain melt, heart cry 3. How else train him 4. Its fat like yours. Cars you owned, Vacations (name places), Names of People who were significant in your life, Any other major event, person, or story that you remember as time goes on. One you have this list you can start adding additional heading/subheadings (key words that help you remember stories about each person or event). Keep a digital recorder with you or a small pad and pencil. Things will happen that will jog your memory or develop new memories. Now you have an outline for developing personal stories to support the main ideas that you want to deliver to your audience. By putting it on your computer you now have the flexability to update the list as events, new ideas, or stories from your past present themselves to you. Now you can expand each catagory as you remember people, lessons learned, or events from your life. I was amazed at the memories that came back to me as I wrote this list. And as time goes by my list continues to grow. As you can see this list could become quite large over time. But think of the possibilities. A second benefit of this exercise in that you now have an outline for a journal that can be passed down for future generations. I'm Bob Freel and this is: "What I've Learned".