***The 4 Best Means of Persuasion in Public Speaking

In the world of public speaking , there are only 2 reasons for giving a speech or presentation (not counting the ‘after-dinner’ speech which is a topic unto itself). You are addressing an audience to either inform or persuade. That being said, if your subject is informative in nature, your job is to convey knowledge and information. If your topic is persuasive, on the other hand, your goal is to change or strengthen your listener’s beliefs and/or motivate them to action.

The question is – how do you, as the speaker, persuade an audience to accept your views? This is not always readily understood by the novice speaker or the student taking a public speaking course. Below are four methods that can help you in this endeavor:

1. Establish Credibility. You must be able to prove to your audience that you are qualified to speak on a particular topic.

2. Provide Evidence. Being able to give statistics, dates, figures, examples and other data will take you much further in your presentation than not being able to cite anything in your defense. Have the necessary materials and knowledge to back up your opinions.

3. Use Reasoning. Having a vast amount of evidence will do nothing for you if you are unable to reason logically and persuasively. It is your job, therefore, to provide the evidence and then to further draw your conclusion based on the reasoning from that information.

4. Allow for Emotional Appeal. While this aspect of public speaking can certainly be overdone, allowing for emotional appeal in reasoning with your audience can bring many more listeners to your side than if you speak in a detached, non-emotional tone. As long as you stick to ethical tactics, using emotion to bring others into the fold, so to speak, is definitely in your favor.

Some books on public speaking may tell you that you need at least one of these methods to successfully present a persuasive presentation, I beg to differ. You need all 4 of these means to ensure a persuasive presentation.

Having credibility, evidence and reasoning without emotional appeal is boring. Being emotional but providing no evidence is fruitless; and, without reasoning, the other 3 factors are worthless.

In preparing and practicing your persuasive material, do your homework, research your topic, cite examples, give statistics, use anecdotes and provide proof of what you say. Draw conclusions based on solid reasoning and, by all means, speak from your heart, allowing for your emotion. Your audience will be much more likely to understand and accept your beliefs if you remember that a successful presentation is built on all four factors and not just one.