Provide Facts and Statistics Most people need evidence to accept a new idea or point of view Facts: documented occurrences, actual events, dates, times, people, places Statistics: numerical / quantified evidence that summarizes, compares & predicts things Provide Facts and Statistics. If you are giving a persuasive speech and are trying to talk people into seeing a new point of view, especially on controversial topics, you are going to need facts and statistics. People are not going to easily adopt a new idea, they will need evidence that supports your claims in order to accept them. You can use facts to document occurrences, actual events, dates, times, people, and places. Statistics are used to represent numerical or quantified evidence that summarizes, compares & predicts things.

Use Statistics Accurately Statistics can be an effective way to prove a point IF used correctly Know what the numbers mean, describe them accurately Use sparingly. Don’t overload a speech with numerical data. Statistics can be an effective way to prove a point, but only if you use them correctly. Make sure that you know exactly what the numbers mean, and describe them accurately. Also remember to use them sparingly. The audience is going to loose the main focus of the speech if you use too much statistical data.

Use Statistics to Indicate Counts Frequency – a count of the number of times something occurs Frequencies help an audience differentiate between categories, indicate size, or describe trends A frequency is basically a count of the number of times something occurs. They can help the listeners understand comparisons between two or more categories, indicate size, or describe trends.