How to be a Persuasive Speaker
To be effective you must…..
Adapt to the physical and
psychological expectations
of the context and people
by extending your normal
self through an increase of
volume, vocal variety and
types of support for your
argument.
Characteristics of a
good speaker:
Characteristics……
• Sound ethics
• Sensitivity to a
multicultural audience
• The ability to recognize
and solve problems
• The ability to locate,
and applies knowledge
Principles of Persuasion
A speaker should embody all of these things:
Principles….
Credibility • having the capability of
being believed, being
worthy of others
confidence, having
strong ethics
Principles….
Competence • Having the ability/skill
necessary to explain a
point of view
Principles….
Trustworthiness • deserving of trust or
confidence, being
reliable, or dependable
Principles….
Attractiveness you need to be attractive
to your audience by being
put together and being
emotionally attractive.
FYI
Research shows that an audience is more
likely to trust a speaker who is helpful,
interesting or possesses an admirable
Trait/Skill.
Principles….
Dynamics
displaying the following
qualities: activity, energy,
forceful, power, vibrancy,
and vitality- these things
are apparent in delivery
and the confidence a
speaker exudes
Organization
Organization….
• gain attention of the
audience
• show that a need exists
for what you are saying
• provide satisfaction of
the need through a
solution
Organization:
*Paint a verbal picture
of what will happen if
the solution is (or is
not) put in to place.
* call for action - tell
the audience what they
need to do and how
important it is to act
Use claims to support your
position
Types of Claims
Claims of fact
• clarify your position
• identify the facts the
audience already
accepts as true
• provide additional
reasons (examples,
statistics, analogies,
testimony) to prove that
claim is true
Claims of value
• clarify the meaning
of your position
• identify and rank in
importance the
values that apply to
cases similar to this
one
Claims of Value continued…..
• identify and develop
the claims of fact that
pertain to the situation
• illustrate or explain the
ways that facts justify
the claim in light of the
situation
Understanding your
Audience
Types of Audience
A Friendly Audience
an audience who holds beliefs
similar to your own and who will
be congruent with your
persuasive goals
A Hostile Audience
an audience who hold beliefs
opposite to your own and will be
hard to persuade to your line of
thinking
A Neutral Audience
an audience who is neither for or
against you
An Apathetic Audience
an audience who has no
knowledge or interest in
your persuasive goal, they
are not aware of the
impact of the issue you
are discussing
A Mixed Audience
an audience that has two
or more of the above
audience types present,
most classroom situations
Know your Audience
The audience type will change how you should deliver your
speech. You cannot sell an idea as easily to a group that does
not agree with you, you need to use many methods of
persuasion to be effective!
Audience Motivation
Emotional Appeals
this approach appeals to a
listeners motivation to act in the
short term, it helps them see how
they can make a difference and
how it will effect them emotionally
Motivational Appeals
This appeals to a person’s need to
get something from their action,
meeting their goals by helping
with your plan. A person who has
no money to eat will probably not
donate to a charity; you must be
able to logically motivate your
audience to do things that make
sense for their life.
Rational Appeals
This approach appeals to the
logical side of a person and
focuses on a reasonable concept.
Consider the following motives
for your listeners
Listeners Motives……..
• Acquisition of material
things
• Adventure or
achievement
• Companionship
• Competition or conflict
• Creativity
• Curiosity or discovery
• Fear
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Guilt
Imitation
Independence or freedom
Love
Loyalty
Peer acceptance
Pleasure
Power
Pride
Listeners Motives Continued…
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Religious conviction
Revulsion or avoidance
Self preservation
Social responsibility
Status
Sympathy
Persuasive techniques for all
audience types
For a friendly audience:
• use strong emotional
appeals
• provide a lot of reasonable
arguments to increase the
chances that your
presentation will have
lasting effects
• stress your trustworthiness
• if you have strengthened
your audiences convictions,
make direct, concrete
appeals for action
For neutral listeners:
• Illustrate the importance of the
topic to the audience. Show
them ways the topic affects (or
probably in the future will affect)
their lives and/or the lives of
those they love.
• use moderate, but not extreme,
emotional appeals
• be dynamic and enthusiastic, it
will be hard to get people
involved if you are not excited
• use many reasonable arguments
to increase the chances that your
presentation will have lasting
effects
For hostile listeners:
• set reasonable goals for
your presentation
• pay careful attention to
building credibility,
competence,
trustworthiness, and
attractiveness. If the
audience can reject you
as a valid source of
information, they can
dismiss your ideas
FYI
• be sure to stress your common ground and
play down differences of opinion
• organize your speech with the least
objectionable material first to warm up your
audience
• never attack the values of the audience or
make comments that could be interpreted as
insulting or demeaning
FYI
• present well documented evidence and
arguments, preferably from sources the
audience respects
• show the audience that your plan will meet
their goals without making emotional appeals
that may be seen as manipulative
FYI
Overall, you need to develop your argument based on how you
believe your audiences will perceive your ideas. You should
never lie to persuade but you should adapt your wording to
best fit your speaking situation! Focus your speech to target
a specific part of the audience so that you will be more likely
to complete your goal.
9 To Do’s of public speaking:
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use a “soft-sell” approach
don’t get angry if your advice is not followed
know what you are talking about
be trustworthy
give advice sparingly
be brief
be clear
respect views
display sincere caring
The End