Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California

Ideas aren't copyrightable. But if you were to lecture on each of the points raised, say, in a Dale Carnegie book, you could possibly be accused of plagiarizing a Dale Carnegie Course. Unless you are blatantly ripping off someone else's material, odds are you will be all right and if someone complains, the worst that is likely to happen is that you will probably get a cease-and-desist letter from some law firm, and if that happens, consider ceasing and desisting. You could also use material that is known to be in the public domain -- US Government works such as military training manuals always are -- or that is 100 or more years old. Go to archive.org or google.com/unclesam to find US government materials.