Persuasive Speaking
Speech #5
http://youtu.be/V57lotnKGF8
Persuasive Speech
A speech designed to change or reinforce the
audience’s beliefs or actions.
Informative and Persuasive
Speech Differences:
Informative Speech
Persuasive Speech
Speaker’s Intent
To increase knowledge
To change mind or action
Message’s
Purpose
To define, describe,
explain, compare
Listener’s
Effect
To know more than
before, to advance
what is known
To shape, reinforce,
change audience
responses
To feel or think
differently, to behave
or act differently
Audience
Choice
To willingly learn
new knowledge
To change behavior
by choice
What is a persuasive speech?
To convince someone to think, believe, or
act as you want them to.
 Establishes a fact
 Changes a belief
 Moves an audience to act on a policy

When do we use persuasion?
How often each day do you try to get someone
to do something?
 Take a moment and think about this past
weekend. List three times you tried to get
someone else to do something.
 Examples: Aw, Mom, can’t I drive to the
concert? I bet you could drive when you were
16! OR Let me borrow your jacket, it looks
great with these jeans. I’ll take good care of it!

Degrees of persuasion
Some persuade on small matters: door-todoor salesperson, taking a “study break”
 Others persuade on more pressing issues:
Parents/teachers influence career
decisions; friends influence your choices
regarding alcohol.

Types of Persuasion
Question of fact: Recycling can save the local
community money. Coffee drinkers have a
higher risk of heart disease.
 Question of belief: Small schools are better for
most students than larger schools are. It is
wrong to avoid jury duty.
 Question of policy: High school athletes should
be required to maintain a B average. Funding
for space exploration should be increased.

Question of Fact
A question about the truth or falsity
of an assertion.
Questions of Fact.
 Want
audience to accept speaker’s view
on facts of issue
– Some can be answered w/certainty—some
can’t
 Different from an informative speech
– Try to get audience to accept your view
 Usually organized topically
– Each main point is a reason why audience
should agree with you
Persuasive Speech--Question of
Fact
Specific Purpose:
Central Idea:
Main Points:
I.
II.
III.
To persuade my audience that another
major earthquake will hit California by
the year 2025.
There are three good reasons to believe
that another major earthquake will hit
California by the year 2025.
California is long overdue for a major
earthquake.
Many geological signs indicate that a
major earthquake may happen soon.
Experts agree that a major earthquake
could hit California any day.
Question of Value
A question about the worth, rightness,
morality, and so forth of an idea or
action.
Questions of Value.

Judgments about:
– right or wrong,
– good or bad,
– moral or immoral,
– ethical, unethical.
Justify position according to clear standards
 Usually organized topically

– 1st main point establishes standards
– 2nd main point applies standards to topic
Persuasive Speech--Question of
Value
Purpose:
To persuade my audience that capital
punishment is morally and legally
wrong.
Central Idea:
Capital punishment violates both the
Bible and the U.S. Constitution.
Main Points:
I.
II.
Capital punishment violates the biblical
commandment “Thou shalt not kill.”
Capital punishment violates the
constitutional ban on “cruel and unusual
punishment.”
Question of Policy
A question about whether a
specific course of action should or
should not be taken.
Questions of Policy
Deal with specific course of action
 Most common in persuasive speeches
 Two types

– Passive agreement that policy is desirable,
necessary, practical
– Motivate audience to take action
Persuasive Speech--Question of
Policy
Purpose:
To persuade my audience that America
should act now to protect the quality of
its drinking water.
Central Idea:
Impure drinking water is a serious
national problem that requires action by
citizens and government alike.
Main Points:
I.
Impure drinking water has become a
serious national problem.
II.
Solving the problem requires action by
citizens and government alike.
Which type of persuasion is being
used in these examples?

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


Seattle does not deserve its reputation for
having an extremely rainy climate.
The US should abolish the electoral college.
South High has a better basketball team than
North High.
You should watch the documentary about jobs
for teenagers.
Illiteracy continues to be an important national
problem.
Presenting Your Speech
Monroe’s Motivated Sequence
 Attention: get interest of receivers
 Need: establish the need for
change/action
 Satisfaction: relieve the problem
 Visualization: picture the benefits
 Action: what can receivers do?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0ED3PckYaM&feature=share&list=ECA4047C91F7DA0347
Monroe’s Motivated Sequence
1. Attention:
2. Need:
Gain attention of audience.
Make audience feel need
for change.
3. Satisfaction: Satisfy need by providing
solution to problem.
4. Visualization: Intensify desire for solution
by visualizing it’s benefits.
5. Action:
Urge audience to take
action in support of solution.
Monroe’s Motivated
Sequence
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
Have you ever felt unsafe walking home
from the library on a dark evening?
College students face many crime issues.
Enrolling in a self-defense course is one
way we can help.
After taking a self-defense class, you will
be much better able to deal with an
emergency situation.
I encourage you to enroll in a self-defense
class.
Why Use Monroe’s Sequence?
Organizational pattern
 Develops a sense of need or want in the
audience
 Offers satisfaction for that need/want
 Gets the audience excited/enthused about
the advantages of that solution

Need vs. Want
Need = necessity
fills a significant, life impacting void
 Want = desire for
something we would like to have
 Determine whether your topic addresses a
need or want so as not to mislead the
audience

Attention
Goal: to get the audience to listen
 Use attention getting devices to gain
interest and ease the audience into the
topic
 Do not offer your solution during this step
 Relate the attention directly to the
audience.

Need
Goal: to get the audience to feel a need or
want (audience should agree)
 Step 1: Statement
 Step 2: Illustration
 Step 3: Ramification
 Step 4: Pointing
 Show the problem exists, it is a significant
problem, and it won’t go away by itself

Satisfaction
Goal: to tell audience how to fill need or
want
 Step 1: Statement
 Step 2: Explanation
 Step 3: Theoretical Demonstration
 Step 4: Reference to Practical Experience
 Step 5: Meeting Objections
 Solutions can be specific or general

Visualization
Goal: to get the audience to see the
benefits of the solution
 Option A: The Positive Method
 Option B: The Negative Method
 Option C: The Contrast Method
 Tell the audience what will happen if they
don’t do something about the problem.

Call for Action
Goal: to get the audience to take action
 Brief
 Powerful
 Well worded
 End on a strong note
 Offer alternatives to your audience that
they can do personally to help solve the
problem

Things to watch out for…
Similarities in steps.
 Do not skip a step
 Take time to build the need.
 Use clear statements at the beginning of
each step.
 Solution really does meet the need.
 Workability

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D00efRkCWw&feature=share&list=EC
A4047C91F7DA0347