The American economist and writer Mark Andrew Skousen said, and I wholeheartedly agree, “The triumph of persuasion over force is the sign of a civilized society.” We often look at persuasiveness negatively, but that’s not the right way to go about it. Being persuasive and communicative is a skill set everyone should try to have. By the end of this blog, you’ll know exactly why persuasive speech ideas are the way to go. You’ll also have just the tips you need to choose persuasive speech topics and the structure for the same.

What does persuasive even mean?

Simply put, persuasive is anything convincing or influential. Persuasion is a powerful tool that can help you gain other people’s trust in a way that they start listening to you. Being persuasive is about making someone follow your footsteps or motivate others to do something. Most importantly, persuasion often helps people take actions that might be difficult but beneficial in the long run. Hence, persuasive speech ideas help clear mental blocks or facilitate decision making. 

What is a persuasive speech?

A persuasive speech is a speech that influences you to change your mind about something or convince you to do something. It always has a specific purpose, just like the speech you gave to your parents as a six-year-old to buy you that toy! Another simple example of persuasive speech topics would be “Why you should drink at least six glasses of water every day.” 

I am sure that you’ve heard at least one sales pitch in your life? Guess what? A sales pitch is one of the most common examples of persuasive speech. 

There are different types of persuasive speeches, but they almost always argue a point of view. Using persuasive speech topics, you can speak about : 

• What is
• What can be
• Why it should be
• How it should be

What is the difference between a persuasive speech and an informative speech?

There are different types of speeches; some are informative, some are descriptive, and some are persuasive. People tend to mix up persuasive and informative speeches. You need to understand that they’re very different from each other. 

An informative speech presents information to the audience; the goal here is to simply inform or give facts with data, stories, statistics, and more. Whereas  Persuasive speech topics are the ones where the goal is to convince the audience to agree to the speaker’s views or motivate the audience to do what the speaker says. It’s pretty distinct because, in a way, you’re trying to sell something. It could be anything; 

• a product, 
• an ideology, or 
• a strategy.

You need to remember that all good persuasive speech ideas are also informative. What we mean is that you need to include facts and information to support your point of view and convince your audience. The major difference is that in a persuasive speech, you use data to support your arguments. So, the two will often overlap.

Communication coach Alex Lyon explains the difference in even further detail in this video, so go ahead and check it out.

What makes a speech persuasive?

Think of it from an audience’s perspective; what will make you want to listen to the speaker and follow up on the discussion topic? What will make you interested in listening to someone and motivate you to do what the speaker says?

• Relevance to the audience
• How it aligns with your beliefs
• The ethical side of presenting the argument

What is the importance and goal of persuasive speech topics?

As I mentioned earlier, a persuasive speech is one that can help your audience make decisions. It helps you as a leader to change other people’s mindsets or make them take some action. It’s a great tool that every leader should use to avoid force and blatant authority. 

A persuasive speech idea’s primary goal is to make the audience or your listeners embrace your point of view or follow your path. But if I have to break it up into points, there are three major goals :

1. Actuation: Actuation simply means being incited, impelled, or moved to action. By this point, I mean that a speech is persuasive if it makes the audience take some action. A speech to actuate is structured so that by the end of it, the audience does something. Presidential campaign speeches designed to make people vote for the candidate are great examples of persuasive speeches of this kind.

2. Convincing: Persuasive speech ideas meant specifically for compelling or persuading the audience to believe in the speaker’s truth or their point of view fall in this category. These speeches are often delivered to change the existing notion that the listeners have to that of the speaker. An example could be a speaker convincing an audience opposed to adoption to consider it with his/her persuasive arguments.

3. Stimulation: This one is a little tricky to understand and structure as the audience already agrees with the speakers. It’s the kind of persuasive speech where the speaker wishes to enhance and not change the audience’s belief or notion about something. Religious discourses often fall under this category.

Who needs to give persuasive speeches?

Persuasive speeches are more common than you might think. Have you ever looked at a TV advertisement for a product and got persuaded to buy it or at least try it out? That’s nothing but a small persuasive speech to convince you to purchase that product! 

Remember when you tried to convince your parents to let you go out and party with your friends? Well, it was your persuasive speech or the lack of it, that convinced them or didn’t respectively to let you go out. And this is just one example from your everyday life where persuasive speech ideas can be useful. 

If you’ve ever been in a leadership position in your life, you know how important it is to convince your team members to work towards a common goal, and a persuasive speech is the best way to do it. From great business leaders such as Jack Ma and Elon Musk to great politicians and freedom fighters such as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., all these great leaders gave persuasive speeches that affected millions of lives. So, never underestimate the importance of persuasive speech topics; they might just change the world!

What needs to be considered to choose persuasive speech topics?

I understand that it’s hard to find persuasive speech ideas, but it’s not impossible. So, what can you do to make sure your speech stays with the audience? Let us help you with that and make it easier for you.

The first thing that you need to do is to know your audience. One of the biggest mistakes that speakers tend to make is not considering their audience while choosing a topic. The speaker gives a speech, but it’s the audience, the listeners, who have to listen to it. So, choose a topic that your audience can engage with. 

The next thing to keep in mind to make sure you have a persuasive speech topic is asking yourself, “Does my speech topic answer a relevant question? Does it have a Call to action?” If the answer is a no or maybe, then it probably isn’t persuasive enough. People like to listen to speeches that answer some questions they have. So, try to think of it as helping your audience solve some problems or controversies with your words.

What to Consider: 

One of the most important aspects of persuasive speech topics is that they have clarity. You need to make sure that you are convinced of what you’re speaking before giving your speech. Persuasive speech topics are the ones that firstly convince the audience that you know what you’re talking about and then convince them to agree with you. 

Another essential part of persuasive speech ideas is familiarity and connection. This is to say that you should choose topics that you’re familiar with and preferable, so is the audience. Topics that can help you connect with your audience and make them relate to you or your speech will almost always be more impactful and persuasive. For example, if you’re a mother addressing an audience about ways to tackle motherhood struggles, it’ll be more convincing.

What is the structure of a persuasive speech?

Once you’ve chosen the right persuasive speech topic and before you start preparing and giving persuasive speeches, you need to structure them to have the maximum impact on your audience. Proper organization is the key to an impactful address. By the end of this speech, your goal is to persuade them about your argument that lies at the center of your speech. The most tried and tested method for structuring persuasive speech topics includes three major sections:

1. Introduction

2. Body

3. Conclusion

Introduction

Your introduction will have four main parts. You have to start with a “Hook,” which could be a startling statistic, a relatable anecdote, or even a joke that hooks the audience in. Next, you talk about why the topic is relevant to the audience. The next step is stating your main argument of the persuasive speech and giving them a preview of what you will be covering next.

Body

The body consists of three main parts: Problem, Solution, and Benefits. In the first part, you have to state the degree, nature, and severity of the problem central to your persuasive speech. You may back it up with statistics, facts, and quotes from reputable sources to support your points. This is the most crucial aspect of your speech so that you can focus 40% of your speech on this.

Next, you introduce the solution to the problem stated earlier. You talk about how that solution effectively addresses the issue and persuade the audience about the necessity and importance of such a solution. Then you segway into the benefits of your solution, which could be of various types. The end goal here is to ultimately convince every member of the audience and make them understand the multiple benefits that make this solution their go-to way to solve the problem.

Conclusion

Finally, you end your persuasive speech with a conclusion that has four main parts. Firstly, you segway an ending to your speech by using the appropriate words. Next, you highlight your persuasive speech’s key takeaway by summarising it into a few words that the audience can take home to think about. Thirdly, you give the audience an actionable instruction that they can immediately implement to get started with the solution you persuaded them to use. And finally, you leave them with a clincher statement that leaves a lasting impression in their minds and reinforces the main argument of the persuasive speech indirectly in their minds.

Persuasive Speech Example

Let’s take a simple example of the persuasive speech topic “Exercising daily keeps prevents you from future severe illnesses” to understand how you can construct a Body for your speech.

You first start with the problems that people who don’t exercise face. Talk about personal family members who have faced such issues and mention statistics about how widespread and severe the consequences of not exercising are and which age groups are most at risk.

Next, you talk about the solution: How regular exercise can reduce the chances of future illness. Finally, you end b.y elaborating about the benefits of exercising daily and how it can make your daily lifestyle healthier and lead to a long and healthy life!

Now that you know the basic structure of a persuasive speech, you can use it for the persuasive speech ideas I will discuss next and deliver a spot-on speech!

Persuasive speech topics to get you started

You’re pretty determined to deliver a persuasive speech if you’ve reached till here, so keep going. To get you started, there are some words that you can include in your title that’ll surely pique your audience’s interest and make them pay attention (with examples). 

If you still can’t decide your persuasive speech topics, find our list of interesting persuasive speech topics for college, funny persuasive speech topics, health-related persuasive speech topics, and more persuasive speech ideas below:

What can you do once you have everything in place?

Practice, practice, and practice! Preparation is the key to success, and it can do wonders for you. Now, if you’re wondering about ways to practice, you’re at the right place. I’ve got some excellent, useful, and affordable tips for you to do just that. Head over to our video or blog on practicing your speech right away because I’ve got it all, from practicing in front of a mirror to fun tongue-twisters. 

You can also check out our video about the ideal speech rate to make your speech even more persuasive.

Now that you have everything you need to deliver a persuasive speech and choose a persuasive speech topic, all the best! Don’t forget to tell us how it went in the comments or drop your questions.