How to write a persuasive speech

This article is about how to write a persuasive speech. Hi there! If you are reading this article then you are in need of a little help and guidance in your work.

Before we start, there are a couple of points that I need to make clear about a persuasive speech. Firstly, although you are trying to make a point, or several, you are not out to tarnish the opposition’s views or beliefs. By all means give factual evidence for why one is better that the other, but do not under any circumstances make up facts to increase any part of your speech’s impact.

Secondly, never get too aggressive in your speech. Emotion and passion are the key to writing the best material that you can; but consider a boxer or any other martial artist – the moment they lose concentration and begin to show signs of anger and loss of control, they are punished for it. So keep your facts effective and to the point.
Right, now let’s begin to write your speech. For the purpose of this advisory article, I am going to use saving the rainforests as my argument.

Whenever I have to give a persuasive speech, I always start with an introduction, similar to the one below:

“During August 2006 to July 2007, the Brazilian government carried out a survey on the decrease of the Brazilian rainforests. In this time, more than 2.7 million acres disappeared - equalling about four football fields of rainforest per minute. Not only did this harm local villagers and their livelihoods, and the hundreds of millions of animals and insects that lived there, but it also directly affected everyone you and I know by filling the atmosphere with billions of tonnes of CO2.”

In that short paragraph, I have grabbed the audience’s or reader’s attention, made it personal to them and given factual evidence to support my case. You will find that this is a very effective opening to your speech.

After the opening paragraph, you should aim to follow it up with two to three more paragraphs, using factual evidence supporting your case. You should also make it personal to the audience, not individually, but as a whole. Tell them that if they don’t do something to stop this decrease of natural resources, that not them, not their children, but somewhere down the line, someone will have to pay the price of our generation poisoning our own environment.

After you have made your points, you must give an understanding reason why the rainforests are being demolished. Something like the paragraph below is what you should be aiming to say:

“The rainforests of the world are being cut down and demolished for us. For the newspapers that you read, for the paper our children draw pictures on, and even the toilet roll we use. We cannot change what has happened, but we can change the future…”

After the above paragraph you have to give a solution. This does not have to be a solution that involves donating money, or going miles out of their way to help. They can be little changes, that can quite literally change the world. For example, carrying on from the above paragraph:

“…We can help to plant trees and plants in our own gardens, or send seeds to a charity who will do this for us. We can recycle the paper that we use, so fewer trees have to be demolished to satisfy our needs, and we can watch our carbon footprint, and do what we can to decrease it. These changes won’t change your life, but they will change the world we live in for the better.”
The above paragraph is an ideal way to end your speech.

If you use the above help and advice you can add your own passion and desire to it, use real facts that are easily found on the web or in books.

If you follow the above points, you cannot go wrong.

Good luck with your speeches.

By Ryan Marshall