Launchpad Activity 12

In most situations where you need to speak, it will be to inform or persuade or influence or all three. You’ll need to apply the techniques and skills to achieve this effectively.

Activity 12 – Persuasive Presentation

Duration: 5-7 mins
Pre-requisites: Activity 1-11.

Outcomes

By the end of this activity, you will be able to:

  1. Use your speaking skills to persuade or influence the audience to change the way they think, feel or act.

Objectives

To do this, you will need to keep the following objectives in mind:

  • Choose a topic which you can come across as clearly passionate about.
  • Decide what you want your audience to change as a result of your speech.
  • Ensure the content is congruent with your message.
  • Provide a compelling reason for the audience to change.
  • Build a logical structure which balances the impact on intellect and emotion.
  • Have a clear call to action.

The Why…

In most situations where you need to speak, it will be to inform or persuade or influence or all three. You’ll need to apply the techniques and skills to achieve this effectively.  

Where do I start?

Persuasive speaking is one of the most powerful tools you can have in your speaking armoury. The trick here is to choose the right topic about which you want to persuade the audience.

Like other activities, a good place to start is by consulting with your family, colleagues and friends. Find a cause, position or idea that you want people to support.

Start gathering ideas and settle on one relatively soon. Don’t fall into the trap of spending the majority of your time deciding a topic and leaving yourself short to actually design and build your presentation. 

The How

Specific guidelines on how to tackle this activity.

Choose a topic which you can come across as clearly passionate about.

  1. Your topic should be something to which the audience can relate.

Decide what you want your audience to change as a result of your speech.

  1. Once you have decided on a topic think about what effect you want to have – the end result.

Ensure the content is congruent with your message.

  1. Everything you say has to relate directly to your message and purpose.
  2. Use persuasive language rather than technical terminology or jargon.

Provide a compelling reason for the audience to change.

  1. Think carefully about how to move your audience from where they are to where you want them to be – think about design and structure.
  2. Ask yourself: what would it take for your audience – who are probably not committed to the idea – to be persuaded? Where are they likely to be now? Take them on a journey from where they are to where you want them to be.

Build a logical structure which balances the impact on intellect and emotion.

  1. Gather information or data that will support your position.
  2. Think about how you’ll use that information / data to persuade the audience.
  3. Think about the best sequence to present the information.
  4. Think about how to segue (link) from one point to the next.

Have a clear call to action.

  1. Make crystal clear what you want the audience to think, feel or do as a result of you having spoken.
  2. Finish strongly.

Tips and traps

  1. Think about what it takes to persuade you to a particular view then use that to think about how you will persuade your audience.
  2. Choose a topic about which you know or could find out a lot.
  3. Choose a topic on which you can persuade others. 
  4. Focus on your audience – what they get out of changing the way they think, feel or act.
  5. Be aware of your purpose.
  6. Choose appropriate, persuasive language.
  7. Use all your presentation skills – voice (tone, expression, volume, timbre), body (gestures, stance), pausation, etc.
  8. Challenge yourself with a topic you don’t feel strongly about.
  9. Avoid introducing too much material.
  10. Avoid relying on not enough material.
  11. Be mindful of where you might be wavering in your argument.
  12. Avoid repeating yourself.

Guidelines for Program Director:

  • Persuasive speaking is an activity that has a specific purpose – to influence the way the audience thinks, feels or acts.
  • Remind the speaker that this is not just a normal club speech – it needs to be persuasive.

Resources that may be helpful

  1. Links to speaking hacks (#7, #9 etc)
  2. video links
  3. how to sheets