Spending some quality time researching and thinking about what you want to speak about is a pretty great idea. It's an important decision on your "Platform Journey". I actually keep an on-going list of ideas (and I'm not even a competitor). You should too! With phones that take notes and access to computers, jotting down a few ideas that you can explore when your ready to dive in, is pretty easy. This list doesn't start when the speech season starts... It's on-going.
There are so many fascinating subjects, people, events, etc. I honestly don't know if I was competing, if I would ever be able to choose?
When I was a student myself, I competed in a UIL event called Ready Writing. This essentially was an impromptu essay competition that required competitors to produce an essay on the spot after any given a prompt. It was judged on a number of factors including the articulateness of the response, the ability of the writer to allude to other sources, the use of stylistic devices, and of course, correct usage of grammar and spelling! Years, later, when the College Board added an essay component to the SAT exam, the parameters of that exam looked an awful lot like my old Ready Writing requirements, and at that time I began teaching workshops on how to write that essay for a maximum score. I realized in the process that most of my material actually crossed over into preparing for limited prep speeches as well! The main points I always hit on are developing your structure, content, and style and then getting a LOT of practice! After that, you can develop some real strategies.
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