Table Topics Questions

What table topics are

This is a table topics generator with a Toastmasters-style timer: it draws a question, then shows green, yellow and red signals while the speaker answers. Table topics are short speeches you give with no preparation. In Toastmasters clubs and other speaking groups, a member called the Table Topics Master asks a question, and a speaker who has not seen it answers on the spot. Each answer usually runs 1 to 2 minutes, and each club sets its own rules.

It is practice for thinking on your feet. The questions are open, so nobody needs to look anything up: "What is one thing in your home you would save first if you had to move tomorrow?"

Table topics are one kind of impromptu speaking. If you want short statements to talk about instead of questions, try our impromptu speech topics.

A simple structure for a 1 to 2 minute answer

Four parts are enough to fill the time and still sound planned. Here is how they work with "Is it better to be early or exactly on time?":

1. Answer (about 10 seconds): take a side in one sentence. "I think exactly on time is better, and I learned that the hard way."
2. Reason (about 20 seconds): say why. "Arriving early can put pressure on the host, who is still getting ready."
3. Story (about 45 seconds): tell one short, specific moment. The dinner party where you showed up 20 minutes early and ended up chopping onions.
4. Close (about 10 seconds): repeat your answer in new words and stop. "So now I wait in the car until the time on the invitation."

Run a table topics session with the generator

The generator can stand in for a bowl of paper slips. This setup works for a club meeting, a class or an online call:

• Set How many to 1 and press Full screen, so the room sees one question at a time.
• Press Start as the speaker begins. Press Show signal full screen on a second device, such as a phone propped up facing the speaker, so the color fills its screen.
• Press Generate or the Space key for each new speaker. Nobody gets a question someone else already answered in that round.
• The signals follow common Table Topics contest timing: green at 1:00, yellow at 1:30 and red at 2:00. In a contest, an answer under 1 minute or over 2 minutes 30 seconds is disqualified. Club meetings may set their own marks.
• To plan ahead, draw 5 and press Copy all, or press Share to send the same questions as a link.

Themed sessions by category

For a theme night, pick one or two Categories. History works for a night about the past, with questions like "Which job from long ago would you most like to try for a day?" Technology fits a meeting about the future, and Culture & arts suits a music or book theme.

Personal has the most questions, 67 of them, and works for almost any group. Society and Science & nature have more opinion questions, like "Should we try to bring back animals that have gone extinct?"

What to do when your mind goes blank

These moves buy you a few seconds and a way in:

• Repeat the question out loud. It gives you time.
• Pick a side fast. A clear yes or no is easier to build on than "it depends".
• Reach for one story. A real moment from your life is easier to tell than a list of ideas.
• Change the question a little. If nothing comes for "When was the last time you got lost, and how did you find your way?", talk about getting lost in a book or a new city.
• Stop when you are done. A clean close at 1 minute is better than wandering until the sound.

Table topics at dinner and with family

Some people use "table topics" to mean conversation cards for the dinner table. These questions work for that too. Set Difficulty to Easy, skip the timer, and let each person answer one. "If you could have any food delivered to your door every Monday, what would it be?" gets kids and grandparents talking.

For more questions about everyday life, see our conversation starters, which have a Family dinner situation, or the random question generator. For solo speaking practice, try our 1 minute speech topics or the full set of speech topics.