TIPS FOR AN EFFECTIVE PERSUASIVE SPEECH

MYP INTERNATIONAL G1

PERSUASIVE SPEECH VS. INFORMATIVE SPEECH

Persuasive speech urges us to do something vs. Informative Speech reveals and claries options !choices" Persuasive speakers lead, evoke emotions and ask for audience commitment vs. Informative speakers teach

GOALS OF PERSUASIVE SPEECH

Persuasive speeches can be aimed at earning passive agreement, for example to see the value in a policy, value or service Persuasive speech can be aimed for personal action, as in getting people to join an organization, buy a product or service, or support a cause. In your persuasive speech you will do both: Convince the audience to agree that your issue is important Get them to join your ECA/Community Service Activity

METHODS OF PERSUASIVE SPEECH

CREDIBILITY # Sometimes, people believe in something because they trust the person telling them. You must look like you know what you are talking about. EMOTIONAL APPEAL # Sometimes, people do things because of a gut feeling or an appeal to their emotion # usually compassion or fear. You must make your audience care about what your issue and your ECA/CSA because they sympathize with your cause. Sometimes, you must work on their fears # you must act now or it will be too late/this might happen to you.

METHODS OF PERSUASIVE SPEECH

RATIONAL APPEAL # Even if you are primarily appealing to their emotion, it is still important to provide good reasons. You must provide evidence and reasoning. Provide examples # this helps clarify your point. Use statistics # statistics combined with examples could be very powerful. However, too many statistics will overwhelm your audience. Translate your statistics into examples that are easy to understand. Give personal testimony # this provides dramatic support material. This brings an emotional aspect to the issue you are focusing on.

COMPOSING YOUR PERSUASIVE SPEECH

INTRODUCTION # First impressions last. The audience will decide if they are going to be interested or bored with your speech after the rst 3 minutes. Some tips: Start with a greeting # keep it simple but this is the best place for you to establish credibility After your greeting, o$er a hook to capture attention. You may: Ask a question: Are you a victim of bullying? Give an interesting fact or statistic: More than 50 percent of high school students are being bullied # if you have not been bullied, you can be sure the person next to you has been. Once you have their attention, follow through by dening the topic/problem and introduce your solution: Bullying is so common but nobody seems to try and do something about it. And when no one is doing anything, the bullies become stronger and more brazen. Add the solution: We should all gather together and stop this endless cycle. The bullies should see that we are united. We need each other. We need you. Join the Ban the Bully Crusade.

COMPOSING YOUR PERSUASIVE SPEECH

BODY # So what are you saying? Now that everyone is listening, your next task is to provide THREE MAIN POINTS to argue your position. Some tips: Use transition statements # these help the audience see that your arguments logically follow each other and that your conclusion is clearly valid. Your arguments must BUILD on each other and reach an unavoidable conclusion.

COMPOSING YOUR PERSUASIVE SPEECH

CONCLUSION # Recap and leave a nal lasting impression. Summarize by re#emphasizing your argument and re#stating your supports in slightly di$erent language. It mustnt sound repetitive. Make a clear nal sentence or passage, something that will stay in the mind of your audience even after your speech, and after the class. Think about the people in the news who committed suicide because of bullying. What if it happened today, to your friend or your sibling? What if it could have been prevented if somebody raised their voice against the bullies? What if that somebody was you?

THE LANGUAGE OF PERSUASIVE SPEECH

The content and organization of your speech is important, but dont forget the nal ingredient: persuasive language. Here are some examples: Repetition # The same words or the same idea repeated for e$ect: Free at last. FREE at last. Free AT LAST. or Friends, Romans, countrymen = Classmates, OFS students, Children of the International Community Parallelism # repeats the same sentence structure in a series: I came. I saw. I conquered. Emotive words # words that have an emotional e$ect. Which of these words are more emotional? Discuss or Fight? Suspect or Killer? Leader or Dictator?

THE LANGUAGE OF PERSUASIVE SPEECH

More examples of persuasive language: Imperative verbs # A strongly phrased instruction, for example: Save water now! Unite to end poverty! Listing # to build up examples: They are su$ering from diseases, war, malnutrition and worse of all. the indi$erence of the rest of the world. Rhetorical questions # Questions to which a verbal answer is not required # it is only there to make the audience think: Should poverty exist? Humor # use it to keep your audience entertained. Contrast # to emphasize di$erences, opposites: Discuss the di$erence between the life of a wealthy OFS student vs. the life of a starving child in West Africa

THE LANGUAGE OF PERSUASIVE SPEECH

More examples of persuasive language: Use of rst person singular: I rmly believe that... Use of rst person plural: We should all.... Use of direct address: You must ask yourself... Use literary language: alliteration, metaphor, simile, hyperbole, etc. to capture your listeners interest ALWAYS vary your sentence structure between short and long, simple and complex to add rhythm to your language !You dont want to sound like a droning robot".

AND FINALLY...

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT. Give it a go # lets see how it goes.