We all know about the importance of public speaking, but why do we give speeches? The reasons vary, but more often than not we are trying to convince an audience to do something. This means that we’re going to have to deliver a persuasive speech. Before you can do that, you’re going to have to write a persuasive speech. Now I wonder just exactly how one should go about doing that…?
Start By Isolating
If you want to persuade an audience, then what you are going to have to do right off the bat is convince them that a problem exists in the first place. The world is filled with all sorts of problems, this means that you going to have to take the time to isolate the specific problem that you are going to want your audience to do something about.
There is no way that your audience is going to get motivated to take action if the problem that you are talking about seems to be too big to tackle. Finally, once you’ve taken the time to find the problem that you want your audience to tackle, then you’re going to have to convince them that it really is an important problem – this is something that they should do something about.
Next, Identify
Problems don’t just suddenly show up overnight. There is always something that caused the problem that you’ll be talking about with your audience to occur. What this means is that you’re going to have to very clearly lay out for your audience how we got into the situation that we now find ourselves in.
People need to know who is to blame for the problem that you’re asking them to solve. Make sure that you scope down the causes of the problem to a set of items that your audience is going to be able to clearly identify as the root cause of the issue that you are talking about. Be very careful here: there is always a possibility that someone in your audience or their company or organization may be part of the cause of the problem so watch your words.
Finally, Formulate
There are three characteristics of any solution that you propose to your audience. The first is that it needs to be actionable. Your audience must feel that there is some very specific action that they can take in order to deal with this problem.
It needs to be personal. Your audience needs to feel that it is by their personal actions that this problem can be solved. Finally, the solution that you are proposing must be immediate. If you let your audience walk away from your speech without having something to do right away, then it will never get done.
What All Of This Means For You
The ability to persuade an audience with one of our speeches is a benefits of public speaking. However, before we can change minds with our words, we must first create a speech that will allow us to do this. Writing a persuasive speech is a three step process.
First we have to isolate the problem. This allows our audience to focus on what we want to convince them about. Next, we need to identify the causes of the situation that we seek to change. Finally, we need to work with our audience in order to formulate a workable solution.
As speakers we are often called upon to deliver speeches that will cause an audience to take action. In order to accomplish this, we need to have the ability to create speeches that will connect with our audience and change their thinking. By following these three steps, you can now create powerful persuasive speeches!
– Dr. Jim Anderson
Blue Elephant Consulting –
Your Source For Real World Public Speaking Skills™
Question For You: How long do you think that a persuasive speech should be: short & sweet or long and detailed?
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Note: What we talked about are advanced speaking skills. If you are just starting out I highly recommend joining Toastmasters in order to get the benefits of public speaking. Look for a Toastmasters club to join in your home town by visiting the web site www.Toastmasters.org. Toastmasters is dedicated to helping their members to understand the importance of public speaking by developing listening skills and getting presentation tips. Toastmasters is how I got started speaking and it can help you also!
What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time
Almost every speech that we give has one goal in mind: trying to convince our audience about something. In order to accomplish that, we’ve got to find ways to work persuasion into our next speech. It turns out that exactly how to do this was laid out for us some 2,000 years ago by Aristotle. Now all we have to do is go back and listen to what he is trying to tell us to do.