Persuasive Speech

Minimum Time Requirement





2nd Year Students: Seven (7) Minutes
1st Year Students: Five (5) Minutes
Typed Outline Required
Pick a topic that you have a strong opinion about,
write a proposition about your topic, gather
information
Need to provide three specific sources for
information
Speeches to
Persuade
Unit 3
What is Persuasive Speaking?
Analyzing Your Audience
Appealing to Your Audience
Introduction





Would you like to ask your parents about having
friends over for a party this weekend?
Would you like a later curfew?
Would you like to convince your teacher it would
be a good idea to work in groups for your next
project?
Would you like to make more money per hour at
your job?
YES: Need to know how to speak persuasively!
Introduction



If you show us how to put a car engine
together, that’s a demonstration speech.
If you explain to us how the car engine
works, that’s an informative speech.
If you then convince us to buy the car,
that’s a persuasive speech!
What is Persuasive Speaking?




Asking audience to “buy” something you
are selling.
Product, belief, attitude, or idea.
Informative speech supplies important
information to increase understanding.
Persuasive goes one step further and asks
audience to do something based on the
information presented.
Persuasive Speaking
demands that you effectively…


1. induce your audience to believe as you
do.
2. influence your audience in order to
cause some sort of directed action to take
place.
Persuasive Speaking



First, awaken a belief on the part of your
listeners that what you are proposing is a
good idea.
Next, show them that you have a well
thought out plan of action available.
Finally, be able to convince your audience
that your plan of action is realistic and the
right thing to do.
Analyzing Your Audience

Four categories of audiences (usually
mixed)




Supportive
Uncommitted
Indifferent
Opposed
Analyzing Your Audience


Remember, your main purpose is to gain
the most number of supporters possible.
Use all of your tools





Effective Introduction & Conclusion
Convincing Arguments
Congeniality
Sharp Appearance
Sense of Humor
Supportive Audience




Friendly
Like you and what you have to say
Easiest audience to address b/c ready to
support and promote your ideas
Main objective is to reinforce what they
already accept
Supportive Audience

Examples:


Political Candidate asking his staff for its
continued efforts after a big win.
School team asking the student body at a pep
rally for continued support.
Uncommitted Audience



Neutral (not for or against you)
Audience simply needs information to make
up their minds
Main attitude of members, “OK, let’s hear
what you have to say. Convince me!”
Uncommitted Audience

Examples



When interviewing for a job, employer usually
impartial—not taking sides, simply wants best
person for the job
Scholarship committee, or college rep, usually
unbiased (objective). They want the best
applicants to be rewarded or accepted.
Jury in court of law—must be uncommitted until
all information is presented.
Indifferent Audience




Speaker’s job gets a little tougher
Audience members are apathetic toward
you, can appear openly bored.
May be a captive audience: forced to be in
attendance
Often don’t believe what you are saying is
relevant to their personal situations
Indifferent Audiences

It’s your job to:



Jar the members into paying attention to what
you have to say, by offering a different approach
Show them how your message is applicable to
their lives.
Information is important, but info alone is
not enough!
Indifferent Audiences

Example



Teacher working with a group of students with
poor academic performance
Their interest: get out of school, get a job, make
some money, buy a car
New approach


Bring in community business owners to discuss
what it takes to get hired
Car salesman break down itemized analysis of
how much money needed per week for car, gas,
repairs, insurance
Opposed Audience




Hostile to you, to what you are promoting,
or to both
Feel no warmth for you and in no way
sympathetic to your feelings or cause.
Your objective: Simply a fair hearing
Determine why hostile: You? Your cause? A
specific statement you made previously?
Opposed Audiences


Often wise to show you are willing to
compromise, or make some concessions
of your own.
Let listeners know you see merit in some of
their arguments and that you aren’t perfect.
Opposed Audiences



Student leader addressing student body at rival school
I’m not surprised at your reaction. May I share with you that I
am currently scared to death! Even though we might be
adversaries on the basketball court, could we be friends at
this assembly and meet each other halfway? Could we
forget our differences and work together today? I respect so
many things about your school. Today, I trust that we can
share with each other about how our respective schools
operate. I also trust that one of you will catch me if I faint.
Audience laughed; Courteous for remainder of speech.
Speaker endeared herself to audience through her
personality and sense of fair play.
Opposed Audiences


Another method: Use Disclaimer, telling listeners
what you are not saying or lets them know that
you don’t consider yourself the expert.
Addressing school officials about needing a
skateboard area, you could say:

Now I’m not saying that every time students have a
concern the school should bow down and passively
agree. I’m also not saying that I am the person who has
all of the answers. However, I would appreciate it if you
would listen…
Opposed Audiences

Best chance of getting a fair hearing from
your audience



Convince them that you know how they feel and
you believe that their position has worth
Avoid needless confrontation
Create a situation where there aren’t winners and
losers.
Appealing to Your Audience

Appeal?




An urgent request
What is attractive or interesting about someone
or something.
Persuasive power of a speaker depend on
his reasoning, the emotions he is able to
stir in the listeners, and his character.
Logical, Emotional & Personal Appeal
Logical Appeal



You appeal to the intellect of your aucience
by offering a clearly defined speech that
contains solid reasoning and valid
evidence.
Greek word logos
Satisfies the analytical side of your
audience, “I want this to make sense to
you!” “Do you see how all this logically fits
together?”
Logical Appeal



Promote by being ORGANIZED & offering
PROOF
ORGANIZED
Read excerpt from pg. 364


Well organized & easy to understand
Told specifically what speaker’s thesis was and
what her three major areas of analysis would be.
Logical Appeal



Offering PROOF
Specific evidence; that which establishes
the truth of something.
Read example on pg. 365


“Oh yeah, what do you know” vs.
Over the past 25 years, nearly 100,000 grants
have been awarded by the NEA. Of those
100,000 grants, fewer than 20 have been
considered controversial.
Emotional Appeal


Logic by itself is not enough!
The following topics cause many people to
react instinctively in an emotional manner:


The homeless, cruelty to animals, nuclear power,
abused children, elderly, sex education in
schools, gun control, victims of crime…
Emotional appeal often has a stronger
impact on an audience than logic or reason
Emotional Appeal

People like to think they make decisions
based on reason, however, most people
rely on their feelings at least as much as on
their reasoning.



Car that gets 35 mpg is the smart choice
Sportier model with sunroof may win out
Logical aims for the brain; Emotional aims
for the heart
Emotional Appeal


Greek pathos, appeals to people’s feelings of
love, anger, disgust, fear, compassion, patriotism,
etc.
Read example on pg. 366


Read example on pg. 367


Attention of entire country—Patriotic
Intertwined evidence with emotional appeal
Example on pg. 368

Need for a stoplight at intersection. Logical plus Emotional
Personal Appeal



Greek “ethos”
Listeners will buy what you are selling
because they trust in you and your
credibility—your believability.
Two essential elements of personal appeal:


Honesty
Competency
Personal Appeal: HONESTY



Personal integrity: a strong sense of right and
wrong
Reputation, how you are known by others, causes
audience to believe you and proves you are a
person of your word
Appeal of honesty


You will be an example of what you say
You are a person of sincerity- mean what you say and
speak from your heart
Personal Appeal: COMPETENCY




Means capability
You can get the job done, have a solid work
ethic, and value being prepared.
Speak with composure- a calm, controlled
manner
Examples are difficult to provide


Much comes from an internal energy
Jefferson example on pg. 370