Category: Entertainment

We took a further plunge into the world of persuasive speech, last week. We considered some characteristics of the speech such as: urging the audience to choose one option above the others, not being about teaching but about advocating, focusing on evidence, demanding commitment from the audience and focusing on leadership. Today, we shall go on to talk about some of the methods of persuasive speech.

Method can be simply explained as a systematic way of doing something. Hence, we want to examine some of the systematic ways of delivering persuasive speeches. The knowledge of the methods will help us to understand how we can maximize the results of our speeches. So, today, we will be looking at persuading using: facts, statistical credibility, speaker’s credibility and appeals to basic human needs, wants and desires. Like we usually do, and like I suggest you continue to do, we will highlight our points and take them one after the other.

•Persuasion through the use of facts: facts are statements or assertions based on verified information about a particular subject. Without sounding too academic, this simply means that the information you are dealing with must be one that can be proved. Using fact is one of the major ways of persuading your audience. Of course, the information you are presenting is one that cannot be contested by your listeners. This helps to strengthen your case while you are trying to make them adopt your point of view. There are three types of facts you can make use of:

•Past Facts: this involves presenting information about past events or situations as evidence for your points. If, for instance, you want to present a persuasive speech on the need for job creation in Nigeria, you can use past facts by providing statistical data of the number of unemployed graduates from Nigerian higher institutions in the last five years and compare them with the rise in crime within the •Present Facts: you may find yourself in a position where you are expected to defend your current level of productivity in your office. What you need to do is gather information about the current activities you are undertaking and convince your employers that those activities are vital to the overall objectives of the organization. That is one of the ways to use present facts.

•Future Facts: This is a kind of projection into the future. You cannot do this effectively without drawing from past and present facts. This is how it works, if your speech is on malaria for instance, you can say something like this (the figures here are made up): within the last five years, 50 million children died of malaria (past fact), as we speak now, an average of 15 children die every minute (present fact), if this trend continues, in the next five years, more than half of the country’s population would have been lost to malaria (future fact), can we afford to sit and do nothing?

•Persuasion through the use of statistical credibility: the use of statistics provides concrete information, which helps to substantiate your points. This does not mean that you flood your presentation with graphs and diagrams and data to impress your listeners. Whatever you include in your speech must be relevant and carefully interpreted so that your listeners can understand what you mean. Let’s assume your topic is on population control and you need statistics on the number of births and deaths in the country, you must take three things into consideration: a) the source of the data (did you get your information from the original or authorized source?) b) the reputation of the source (can we trust your source?) c) the recency of the data (are you using a data set that is old and outdated or a current one?).

•Persuasion through the speaker’s credibility: have you ever wondered why there is a lot of publicity when a “big” speaker is coming to town? Have you ever wondered why a lot of time is “wasted” on introducing a speaker to the audience? It is because you must believe in the speaker before you give him/her you time. When you don’t trust a speaker, you don’t listen to what he/she has to say; and if you don’t have a choice but to listen, you will definitely be disinterested. As a persuasive speaker, your greatest asset is not your “sweet mouth” but your credibility. Be someone your audience can trust.

•Persuasion through appeals to basic human needs, wants, and desires: if you have been following this subject from the beginning, you will recall that we said persuasion is more emotional than objective. In this case, your persuasive energy must be directed towards focusing on what your listeners need, what they want and what they desire. If you are an investment broker and you are about to address a group of middle-age people, you may want to use the sense of security to sell them the idea of investing. At their age, they may not have the luxury of changing jobs; they have families and are seriously thinking of the future. By associating with their current phase in life, you may get them to invest.

Understanding the methods of persuasion is very crucial to the delivery of a successful persuasive speech. But all of this talk about persuasion is too good to be true! Are we saying persuasion is foolproof and without challenges? Well, you’ll have to wait till next week for that.