Toastmasters Speech 9: Persuade with Power

In our daily lives, we are in one way another involved in the act of persuasion or being persuaded by someone else. For instance, the way in which we try and convince our parents to give us pocket money or when our mothers get things done from us.

Persuasion is a process that aims to change an individual’s attitude or behavior towards an idea, event, or other person. In the 9th project of Toastmasters, you will learn how to influence the views and opinion of the audience and make them behave in a desired way.

Table of Contents

Objective
Evaluation Criteria
- 1. An impactful opening
- 2. Information used
- 3. Emotions and body language
Tips and Techniques
- 1. Define your goal
- 2. Persuasive approach
- 3. Speak with strong conviction
- 4. Use repetitions
What will your benefit?
Sample Speeches

Objective

The main aim of this project are-

Influence the audience to adopt your viewpoint
Use logical reasoning to support your views
Play skillfully and ethically with the emotions of the audience
Fascinate the audience

Evaluation Criteria

1. An impactful opening

When it comes to persuasion, the way in which you start you speech can have a great impact on the degree of influence you can create over your audience.

2. Information used

Your views and opinion should be guided by logic and facts. They shouldn’t merely be based upon personal opinions and beliefs. You need to give the audience reasons to believe in the same as you do.

3. Emotions and body language

Persuasion is largely about how you play with other’s emotions. But you also need to know where to draw the line between emotions and logics. Use appropriate body language to effectively communicate your emotions.

Tips and Techniques

1. Define your goal

You need to first understand what you want to achieve from your speech. Clearly write down your goal in an unambiguous manner. Figure out how you want your audience to respond after you have finished your speech and design your speech to achieve that purpose.

2. Persuasive approach

Once you know your goal, select the appropriate approach to persuade-

Ethos- Appeal the morals and ethics of the audience
Pathos- Appeal the emotions of the audience
Logos- Appeal the logic of the audience

3. Speak with strong conviction

Do not be passive. You need to convince you audience that you strongly believe in what you are saying. Ignore any contradicting that comes into your mind. Strongly stick to your point. Do not be flexible.

4. Use repetitions

Repeating a strong point can help in the retention of the information. The audience is more likely to remember the things that is mentioned several times.

What will your benefit?

Disregard of the topic, every speech, if not entire, up to some extent a persuasive one. From this project you will learn how to influence and motivate the attitude of the audience.