Persuasive Speeches work best when the
following good speech practices are used:
- The speaker has a clearly focused, specific
persuasive purpose that fits the audience.
- The THESIS for the speech is written and delivered
as an assertion that clarifies the reason why the audience should go
along with the speaker's ideas and support his/her purpose
- The speech has strong, credible, well-cited,
support material that is likely to get the audience to change their
BELIEFS in ways that help the speaker's cause. [Audience
Analysis]
- The speech takes advantage of values and motives
that the speaker knows the audience already holds.
[Audience Analysis]
- The speaker carefully selects a
thought pattern that will be effective
given the purpose and the audience.
- The speech's main points are phrased as persuasive
arguments/assertions (POINTS) that moves the audience toward the
speaker's desired conclusion.
- The speech contains well-written
internal summaries (or main points and
sub-points as needed) that "nail" and reinforce each persuasive point
the speaker makes.
- The speaker uses a mixture of Ethos, Logos,
and Pathos (see below)
- The speech contains a strong call for change near
the end and in the conclusion.
Proof – getting
the audience to accept
your ideas, believe you, and be persuaded. There
are three traditional types of proof originally identified by
Aristotle 2500 years ago:
-
Pathos – using
emotions to get support
-
Ethos -- using
credibility to get support (either your own credibility or that of
your sources)
-
Logos – using logic
and evidence (support material) to prove you are correct and gain
support.
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