I Built a Random Topic Generator to Help People Practice Speaking Without Preparation
One of the simplest ways to improve public speaking is also one of the hardest things to practice:
Speaking when you don't know what you're going to say.
When you're preparing a presentation, you usually have time to write an outline, prepare slides, and rehearse your answers.
Real conversations don't work that way.
Someone asks you an unexpected question.
An interviewer asks a follow-up you didn't prepare for.
A teacher suddenly asks you to explain something.
Or you're in a Toastmasters Table Topics session and someone gives you a completely random subject.
At that moment, the problem isn't necessarily that you don't know English or don't have enough vocabulary.
It's that you need to think, organize, and speak at the same time.
That's why I built Random Topic Generator.
The original idea was extremely simple
The first version was based on a very basic question:
What if you could press one button and immediately get something to talk about?
No complicated setup.
No need to search Google for “interesting speaking topics.”
No need to prepare a list of questions yourself.
Just generate a few random topics, pick one, and start talking.
The current version can generate up to 10 AI-generated impromptu speech topics in a single round. You can also specify the output language and optionally provide a topic requirement.
For example, you might get topics like:
“The best advice I ever received”
“If I could change one rule”
“The future in five years”
“A small mistake that taught me something”
The important part is that you don't choose the topic in advance.
That's what makes it useful for impromptu speaking practice.
Turning a random topic into a real exercise
Generating a topic is only half of the problem.
If you simply generate a topic and think about it for ten minutes, you're practicing preparation — not impromptu speaking.
So I added a built-in timer.
You can choose a 1-, 3-, or 5-minute session and start speaking immediately.
The basic workflow is:
Generate → Pick a topic → Start the timer → Speak → Review
It's intentionally simple.
A one-minute session can be a quick warm-up.
A three-minute session gives you enough time to develop an idea.
A five-minute session is useful when you want something closer to a presentation or interview exercise.
Why random topics?
This is probably the most important part of the product.
If you always practice topics you already like, you're not really training your ability to think on your feet.
Randomness introduces a little bit of pressure.
You might get a topic you love.
You might get one you know nothing about.
Or you might get something completely unexpected.
And that's the point.
The goal isn't to produce the “perfect” speech.
The goal is to become comfortable with the process of:
thinking → structuring → speaking.
Over time, that can make unexpected speaking situations feel less intimidating.
From a topic generator to a speaking practice tool
As I worked on the product, I realized that generating topics wasn't enough.
People don't just want more topics.
They want to know:
“Am I actually getting better?”
That led to the next part of the product: AI speech analysis.
After a practice session, users can submit their recording for analysis. The system can generate a transcript and provide feedback on areas such as grammar, pronunciation, pacing, pauses, tone, filler words, and word choice.
Instead of simply saying:
“Your speech was good.”
the goal is to provide actionable feedback.
For example:
Which sentences had grammar problems?
Which words could be expressed more naturally?
How often did you use filler words like “um” or “uh”?
Was your speaking pace consistent?
Where were the long pauses?
How could the speech sound more natural?
The product can also provide a rewritten version of the speech, allowing users to compare what they actually said with a more polished version.
Who is this for?
I think there are several groups that can benefit from this kind of practice.
English learners
You can practice speaking English without needing another person.
Instead of memorizing vocabulary or reading prepared sentences, you have to form your own thoughts and express them out loud.
Students
It can be useful for classroom discussions, presentations, oral exams, and general communication practice.
Toastmasters
The format is particularly well suited to impromptu speaking exercises such as Table Topics.
Generate a topic, start a short timer, and practice delivering a structured response without preparation.
Job seekers
Interviews rarely follow a perfect script.
You can use random questions and timed speaking sessions to practice answering unexpected questions clearly.
Professionals
Meetings, presentations, networking events, and Q&A sessions all require the ability to communicate without having every sentence prepared in advance.
The multilingual angle
Another thing I wanted to avoid was making the product useful only for English speakers.
The generator supports multiple output languages, including English, Chinese, French, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, German, and others.
That opens up an interesting use case beyond English learning.
Someone can practice public speaking in their native language.
Someone learning a second language can practice in that language.
And language learners can gradually increase the difficulty by forcing themselves to speak about unfamiliar subjects.
The product is intentionally simple
There are already many AI tools that can analyze speech.
There are also countless websites that generate random questions.
The interesting part, in my opinion, is putting the pieces together into one short feedback loop.
You shouldn't need to open five different websites:
Find a speaking topic.
Open a timer.
Record yourself.
Transcribe the recording.
Look for grammar mistakes.
Count filler words.
Analyze your pacing.
Instead, the whole exercise should feel like one small training session.
One topic. One timer. One speech. One feedback report.
That's the direction I'm taking with Random Topic Generator.
What I've learned building it
The biggest lesson so far is that a small feature can become much more useful when it's connected to a complete workflow.
At first, “random topic generation” sounds like a tiny utility.
And technically, it is.
But once you connect it to:
randomness + time pressure + speaking + recording + AI feedback
it becomes something closer to a personal speaking practice loop.
That distinction matters when building small products.
Sometimes the opportunity isn't creating a completely new technology.
It's taking several existing capabilities and combining them around a very specific user problem.
What's next?
There are several directions I'd like to explore.
One is making practice more personalized.
For example, users could eventually have different training modes for:
Job interviews
English conversation
Toastmasters
Presentations
Debates
Business communication
Daily speaking practice
Another area is progress tracking.
Instead of treating every speaking session as an isolated exercise, I'd like users to be able to see how their fluency, pacing, filler words, vocabulary, and other areas change over time.
The long-term goal is simple:
Make speaking practice as easy as doing a few push-ups every day.
You don't need a classroom.
You don't need a speaking partner.
You don't need an hour.
You just need a topic, a few minutes, and the willingness to speak.
That's what I'm trying to build with Random Topic Generator.
If you're interested in improving public speaking, English fluency, interview skills, or simply getting better at thinking on your feet, I'd love to hear how you currently practice.
You can try it here:
