Secrets to Success in Presenting a Persuasive Speech

How do you really persuade others to agree with you in a persuasive speech? First of all, it helps to think carefully about both sides of the topics you might want to present so that you can cover your viewpoint effectively. Then choose a subject that you feel most enthusiastic and positive about.  To be persuasive in speeches, you must be confident and your confidence improves as you understand your subject more thoroughly.

It helps a lot if you have interest and enthusiasm for the topic of your persuasive speech, otherwise you will come across as lacking credibility. If you are convinced of your own arguments, it's much easier to convince others. You can't sell someone else on your ideas if you don't believe them yourself. Use confident words in your speech and let your passion for the subject of the speech show.

Be sure to think in advance about what you want to accomplish in your persuasive speech. This will help you in actually writing the speech.  It gives you the focus you need to stay on a limited topic and not try to include too much material.

As you're preparing your persuasive speech, think about a time when you successfully persuaded someone else to change their mind on a issue where they did not agree with you. What did you do? What words did you use?

What is rapport and why is it especially important in presenting a persuasive speech? Rapport occurs when you actually create a space for communication with another person. If you want to get through to your audience, you start with rapport.

In order to get rapport with your audience for your persuasive speech, you want to be as much "like" them as possible. The more they perceive you as "like" them the more likely they will be to listen to what you have to say and to be influenced by your opinion.

Ways to make yourself more like you audience can include the way you dress as well as the way you talk (speed, tone, tempo) and even the words you actually use in your speech. Try to find out such details about your audience in advance of presenting your persuasive speech.

A good way to start your persuasive speech and to help gain initial rapport with your audience is to use an anecdote or personal story that relates to the topic. Then, move into the background of the issue and the facts underlying your perspective.

The Power of Building Up Audience Acceptance
in a Persuasive Speech

Once you have all the convincing facts for your persuasive speech in front of your audience, then make your major point of either a solution or your opinion. Thus you have built the audience up to a point where they will be much more likely to accept what you say than they would be if you had not prepared the ground for your final points.

Adjust the pace of your persuasive speech when you think your audience may be losing interest. Sometimes a little more energy in your voice will wake up your audience and keep them interested.

As you go through the process of preparing your persuasive speech, it's important to keep in mind the fact that you are talking to people. It is not a one-sided activity but rather an interactive one.

If you approach your audience with a positive attitude, enthusiasm and a well researched and organized persuasive speech, you are almost guaranteed success!