iSpeak 2010
Chapter 11
Presenting
Persuasive Messages
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Presenting Persuasive Messages
 The Role of Persuasion in Public Discourse
 Types of Persuasive Presentations
 What Communication
Research Says about Persuasion
 Fact, Value, and Policy
in Persuasive Presentations
continued
Slide 2
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Organizing and
Outlining Your Presentation
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Organizing Your Persuasive Presentation
Persuasive Strategies
Critical Thinking through Reasoning
Avoid fallacies
Ethics and Persuasive Speaking
Slide 3
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Role of Persuasion
in Public Discourse
 You as Target of and Sender of Persuasion
– Satisfaction in private and public spheres
is dependent, in great part, on ability
to be a competent consumer and
producer of persuasive messages
– Persuasive presentations – messages
that influence an audience’s choices
by changing their responses toward
an idea, issue, concept, or product
Slide 4
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Figure 11.1: How Do Informative and
Persuasive Presentations Differ?
Slide 5
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Types of
Persuasive Presentations
 Speech to inspire – influence
listeners’ feelings or motivations
– Often occur at ceremonial events
 Speech to convince – delivered
with intent of influencing
listeners’ beliefs or attitudes
 Speech of action – given for
purpose of influencing
listeners’ behaviors and actions
Slide 6
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
What Communication
Research Says about Persuasion
 Fundamental task in persuasion is
audience analysis – learning enough
about the listeners to predict their
probable response to your message
– Relationship – how the audience
feels about the presenter before,
during, and after the persuasive appeal
Slide 7
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
What Communication
Research Says about Persuasion
 People tend to respond in
three ways to a persuasive appeal
– Critical response – audience focuses on
argument, quality of evidence, and accuracy
– Defensive response – audience fends
off message to protect current
beliefs, attitudes, and values
– Compliance response – audience
does what is socially acceptable
Slide 8
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
What Communication
Research Says about Persuasion
 Audiences respond to messages
depending on their motivation
– Unmotivated audiences respond superficially
– Audiences who choose to hear a presentation
are more likely to respond meaningfully
– Audiences respond favorably
to timely messages
Slide 9
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
What Communication
Research Says about Persuasion
 How Can You Create an Effective Message?
– Employ message production
– Use content to fulfill primary
goal of influencing listeners
– Be explicit
– Use arguments
– Use testimonial evidence
– Use complete arguments
– Use specific numbers
Slide 10
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Fact, Value, and Policy
in Persuasive Presentations
 Question of fact – persuasive presentation
seeks to uncover the truth based on fact
– What is the reasoning behind the current law
concerning the disposal of all electronics?
 Question of value – raises issues about
good and bad, right and wrong
– Should all premature babies be
kept alive even though some may
face a lifetime of health issues?
Slide 11
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Fact, Value, and Policy
in Persuasive Presentations
 Question of policy – attempts to establish
a policy that will regulate behaviors
– Should our college require service
learning as a graduation requirement?
Slide 12
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Organizing Your
Persuasive Presentation
 Introducing the Persuasive Presentation
– Relate the topic to the audience, relate the
topic to the presenter, and preview the
organization and development of speech
• Presenter’s authority to speak is more significant
• Most effective when presenters reveal up
front what they want the listeners to learn
 Concluding the Persuasive Presentation
– May need to be adapted so the stated purpose
falls toward the end of the speech
Slide 13
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Organizing Your
Persuasive Presentation
 Choosing Patterns of Organization
for Persuasive Presentations
– Topical sequence addresses advantages
and disadvantages of an issue
– Cause-effect pattern first reveals
the cause and then the effect
Slide 14
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Organizing Your
Persuasive Presentation
 Choosing Patterns of Organization
for Persuasive Presentations
– The problem-solution pattern reveals the
problem that creates the need for a solution
– The Monroe Motivated Sequence – gain
attention, establish need, reveal a proposal,
portray a solution, and tell listeners what to
do to make the visualization come true
Slide 15
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Persuasive Strategies
 Consistency persuades
– Audiences are more likely to change their
behavior if suggested change is consistent with
their present beliefs, attitudes, and values
 Small, gradual changes persuade
– Audiences more likely to alter behavior
if suggested change requires
small rather than large changes
Slide 16
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Persuasive Strategies
 Benefits persuade
– If you ask for too much too fast, audiences
might respond with boomerang effect –
the audience likes the presenter and the
proposal less after the presentation
 Need Fulfillment Persuades
– Hierarchy of needs – pyramid that
builds from basic physiological needs
all the way up to self-actualization needs
Slide 17
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Figure 11.2: Maslow’s Pyramid:
A Hierarchy of Needs
Slide 18
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Critical Thinking
through Reasoning
 Using inductive reasoning
– Inductive reasoning – persuader
amasses series of particular instances
to draw a general conclusion
 Using deductive reasoning
– Deductive reasoning – presenter bases
claim on some premise that is
generally affirmed by the audience
Slide 19
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Critical Thinking
through Reasoning
 Using hard evidence
in reasoning
– Scientific studies
– Expert testimony
 Using soft evidence
in reasoning
– Analogies
– Quotations
– Narratives
Slide 20
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Critical Thinking
through Reasoning
 Using reasoning from cause
– Showing a causal link and ruling
out other potential causes
• Can be a challenging task
 Using reasoning from sign
– Using multiple clues to infer a conclusion
 Using reasoning from generalization
– Deductive form of argument where
presenter relies on accepted “truths”
Slide 21
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Avoid fallacies
 Fallacies – error in reasoning
that weakens an argument
– Name calling – unfairly categorizes
people by slapping a label on them
– Glittering generality – using virtuous
words to create false relationships
– Bandwagon technique – encouraging listeners
to do something because “everyone” does it
Slide 22
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Avoid fallacies
 Fallacies (continued)
– Circular reasoning – using two
unproven points to support one-another
– Either/Or – assuming two
opposite, or binary, positions
– Post Hoc – assuming that two things
which happened at roughly the
same time are causally linked
Slide 23
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Ethics and Persuasive Speaking
 Distinguishing between ethical and
unethical persuasive appeals is challenging
– Be careful whom you trust
– Analyze and evaluate messages for
reasonableness, truth, and benefit
to you and the community
– Your messages will be more persuasive
if you have a long, positive history
– Be respectful of your audience
– Avoid fallacies
Slide 24
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Figure 11.3: Checklist
for the Persuasive Speaker
Slide 25
© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.