Persuasive Speaking

How is persuasive speaking different from informative speaking? There are seven major differences…

First Difference Informative speeches reveal options. Persuasive speeches urge listeners to make a choice between these options.

Second Difference Informative speakers function as teachers. Persuasive speakers function as advocates. ad-vo-cate [noun]: a person who speaks or writes in support or defense of a person, cause, idea, etc.

Third Difference Informative speakers offer supporting material to illustrate and clarify points. Persuasive speakers offer evidence to justify advice.

Fourth Difference Informative speakers don’t ask for much commitment from their audience. Persuasive speakers ask for audience commitment.

Fifth Difference Credibility is important for informative speaking. Credibility is very, very, very, very important with persuasive speaking.

Sixth Difference Informative speaking uses few emotional appeals. Persuasive speaking uses more emotional appeal.

Seventh Difference The ethical obligation for informative speakers is important. The ethical obligation for persuasive speakers is more important.

Emotional Targets Sex: the desire to be attractive to, and to attract others Conformity: the desire to appear and behave like others Wealth: the desire to possess, earn, save and invest money (assets) Pleasure: the desire to feel good; to experience happiness, joy and pleasure Personal Growth: the desire to examine life, explore different aspects of selfhood, and ideally, make strides toward growing as a human being

Group Activity As a group, select the target that you feel is the most important and influential with regard to persuasion and decision making. Why? What is missing here? Are there any other “targets” that you could/would add into this list?

Emotional Targets Sex: the desire to be attractive to, and to attract others Conformity: the desire to appear and behave like others Wealth: the desire to possess, earn, save and invest money (assets) Pleasure: the desire to feel good; to experience happiness, joy and pleasure Personal Growth: the desire to examine life, explore different aspects of selfhood, and ideally, make strides toward growing as a human being

A Few Important Tips…

Audience Members Must See A Benefit From Changing You, as the speaker, must explain why making the change will benefit your audience Can benefit audience members personally Or can benefit the world around them

Ask For Small Change People are naturally resistant to change We are more likely to make small changes than big changes Example: It is easier to change the type of toothpaste we use, than to change our religious beliefs

Provide Specific Instructions On How To Make A Change Make it easy for your audience to change the attitudes, beliefs or behaviors! The easier it is to make the change, the more likely your audience is to do it!

What is Persuasion? The attempt to influence the beliefs, attitudes, values, or actions of others Persuasion is a process – doesn’t just happen Persuasive process goes through FOUR phases…

Awareness Understanding Agreement Enactment Persuasive Process Awareness Understanding Agreement Enactment

1. Awareness Before persuasion can begin, listeners must know that a problem exists The speaker must show that the problem is important and that it affects the listeners’ lives directly

2. Understanding Here, the speaker uses supporting material to describe and explain the problem Logical, reasonable explanations are very important The speaker must support his/her points with credible evidence

3. Agreement Here is where your audience begins to say to themselves: “Hmm, this is a serious problem.” “I should really be concerned about this.” “I never thought of that, but she’s right.” “This problem directly affects me!” “I would like to do something about it!”

4. Enactment It is one thing to get your listeners to agree with you It is another thing to get them to act on it Enactment is when your audience members actually change their mind or go out and do something about the problem

Awareness Understanding Agreement Enactment Persuasive Process Awareness Understanding Agreement Enactment

Three Purposes of Persuasion To reinforce an already held belief To change a belief To motivate to action

The Proposition This is the goal of your speech What do you want your audience to believe or do? Must be clear and specific Must be able to fit into one sentence

Proposition Examples “To reinforce the audience’s belief that testing products on animals is immoral.” “To convince the audience that school children should not be forced to wear uniforms.” “To persuade the audience to donate blood.”

Your Claim This is your “should” or “should not” statement Should be very clear and direct Examples: “You should donate blood.” “The United States should not execute a military strike against Syria.” “You should not smoke.”

Organizing Your Persuasive Speech

Speech of Reasons Approach Proposition: You should drink more water Drinking water helps you lose weight Drinking water helps your skin stay healthy Drinking water helps prevent cancer

Problem-Solution Approach Proposition: You should donate blood There is a shortage of blood supply worldwide (problem) Donating blood can help to increase the much needed supply of blood (solution) Therefore, you should donate blood (be sure to provide specific instructions on how to help with the solution)

Criteria-Satisfaction Approach Proposition: You should buy a Toyota You need a car that meets these criteria: It must be affordable It must be safe It must have a good warranty Toyota vehicles satisfy this criteria because: They are affordable (provide evidence) They are safe (provide evidence) They have great warranties (provide evidence)

Negative Approach Proposition: You should quit smoking Smoking increases your chance of heart disease You are spending a lot of money on cigarettes Smoking makes your clothes smell bad Therefore, the best solution is to quit smoking

Monroe’s Motivated Sequence Approach (Attention) One in three American adults is overweight. (Need) Being overweight leads to heart disease, cancer, diabetes and it is unattractive. (Satisfaction) Eating healthy can help you lose weight and avoid disease. (Visualization) Imagine looking great and feeling healthy! (Action) I want you to start eating healthy!