How To Write A Persuasive Speech

Summary

In this video, the presenter shares a simple yet effective technique for crafting persuasive speeches, emphasizing the use of real-life examples over mere facts and statistics. The speaker explains that while traditional teaching suggests facts are key to persuasion, human nature often resists such an approach. Instead, starting with a story or example that illustrates the point can significantly increase the persuasiveness of a speech. The presenter illustrates this with a personal story about the importance of wearing seat belts, using statistics to support the narrative rather than lead the argument, which can resonate more with the audience.

Takeaways

• 📝 Persuasive speeches can be challenging due to human nature's tendency to question facts and figures.
• 📚 Traditionally, people are taught that using more facts makes a speech more persuasive, but this can backfire as it triggers skepticism.
• 📖 The speaker suggests using real-life examples or stories as a more effective method to persuade an audience, a technique that dates back to ancient times.
• 📖 Parables from the Bible and stories from historical figures like Aesop demonstrate the power of storytelling in teaching moral lessons.
• 🚗 The script provides a personal example of the importance of wearing a seatbelt, illustrating the point with a vivid narrative of a car accident.
• 🔢 The Department of Transportation statistics are used to back up the narrative, showing that combining stories with facts can be more convincing.
• 👥 The technique of starting with a story and ending with an action or benefit statement is recommended to persuade the audience effectively.
• 🤔 The video acknowledges that people may still question statistics, but a personal story can make the message more relatable and harder to refute.
• 💡 Professional speakers often use stories to persuade their audiences, indicating that this method is widely recognized as effective in public speaking.
• 👍 The video encourages viewers to subscribe to the channel and engage with the content by leaving comments and questions.
• 🎶 The video ends with a call to action and a piece of music, indicating the conclusion of the presentation.

Q & A

What is the main purpose of the video?

The main purpose of the video is to teach viewers a simple technique for designing a persuasive speech that can effectively win people over to their way of thinking.

What challenges are typically faced when trying to persuade an audience using facts and figures?

When using facts and figures to persuade, human nature often leads to a devil's advocate response where people tend to find exceptions or counterexamples, making it difficult to convince them fully.

Why is it suggested to start a persuasive speech with an example or a story?

Starting with an example or story helps to illustrate the point in a relatable way, which can be more effective in persuading the audience than presenting cold, hard facts alone.

What is the historical precedent for using stories to persuade?

The technique of using stories to persuade dates back thousands of years, with examples such as parables in the Bible and stories used by philosophers like Aesop.

How can statistics be used effectively in a persuasive speech after telling a story?

Statistics can be used to back up the story and reinforce the point being made, providing additional credibility and weight to the argument after the audience has been engaged by the narrative.

What is an example of a real-life story shared in the video to illustrate the importance of wearing a seatbelt?

The speaker shares a personal experience of a car accident where he was wearing a seatbelt and survived with minor injuries, while the other driver, who was not wearing a seatbelt, suffered severe injuries requiring extensive surgeries.

How does the speaker use the seatbelt example to transition into an action benefit statement?

After recounting the accident story, the speaker concludes with the action benefit statement that wearing a seatbelt can prevent traumatic injuries in a crash, effectively persuading the audience of its importance.

What is the role of the Department of Transportation statistics in the persuasive speech about seatbelts?

The Department of Transportation statistics serve as supporting evidence to the personal story, providing statistical proof to back up the narrative and strengthen the persuasive argument.

What is the significance of the 53% statistic mentioned in the script?

The 53% statistic indicates that more than half of the motor vehicle fatalities were among people who were not wearing seatbelts, highlighting the risk associated with not wearing one.

How does the speaker address the potential counterargument to the seatbelt statistics?

The speaker acknowledges the potential for counterarguments by pointing out that human nature leads people to find exceptions, which is why they recommend starting with a story to create a more persuasive argument.

What advice does the speaker give for structuring a persuasive speech effectively?

The speaker advises starting with a relatable example or story, followed by an action benefit statement that succinctly summarizes the persuasive point, making the argument more compelling.

Outlines

00:00

📢 Persuasive Speech Techniques

This paragraph introduces the topic of the video, which is a simple method to design a persuasive speech. The speaker emphasizes the common challenge of persuading others using facts and statistics, which often triggers skepticism due to human nature. The paragraph also introduces the concept of using real-life examples or stories, like parables in the Bible, to effectively convey a message and persuade an audience. The example of promoting seatbelt use with supporting statistics is given to illustrate this technique.

05:02

🚨 Seatbelts: A Personal Story

The speaker shares a personal experience to drive home the importance of wearing seatbelts. While driving on a desolate road, the speaker was involved in a head-on collision caused by another driver crossing the center line. The speaker, who was wearing a seatbelt, survived the accident with minor injuries, while the other driver, who was not wearing a seatbelt, suffered severe injuries requiring extensive medical intervention. The paragraph concludes with the speaker's recommendation to wear a seatbelt to avoid traumatic injuries in the event of a car crash, effectively using a personal narrative to persuade the audience.

Keywords

💡Persuasive Speech

A persuasive speech is a form of communication intended to convince an audience to accept a particular point of view or to take a specific action. In the video, the speaker discusses the importance of using persuasive speech in various situations, such as staff meetings or when responding to interruptions during a presentation. The main theme revolves around the technique of using stories instead of just facts to make a speech more convincing.

💡Fearless Presentations

Fearless Presentations refers to a method or approach that aims to help individuals overcome the fear of public speaking. The video mentions this term as a way to eliminate public speaking fear, suggesting that the techniques discussed can be part of a broader strategy for confident and effective communication.

💡Human Nature

Human nature in this context refers to the innate tendencies or characteristics of people that can influence their behavior and reactions. The script talks about how human nature often works against persuasive efforts, as people tend to play devil's advocate when faced with facts and statistics, questioning their validity or universality.

💡Facts and Figures

Facts and figures are pieces of information that are presented as evidence or proof to support an argument. The video script challenges the traditional belief that using a large number of facts and statistics is the most effective way to persuade, suggesting that they can sometimes trigger skepticism rather than agreement.

💡Parables

Parables are simple stories with a moral or instructive lesson, often used in religious texts to convey complex ideas in an accessible way. The video script mentions parables from the Bible as an ancient example of using storytelling for persuasion, indicating a long-standing tradition of this technique.

💡Professional Speaker

A professional speaker is someone who earns a living by delivering speeches or presentations, often to large audiences. The script notes that good professional speakers typically use stories to persuade their audience, highlighting the effectiveness of this method in modern public speaking.

💡Seatbelt Statistics

Seatbelt statistics are numerical data related to the use of seatbelts and their impact on safety. The video provides specific statistics from the Department of Transportation to illustrate the importance of wearing seatbelts, but also uses them to demonstrate the limitations of relying solely on statistics for persuasion.

💡Action Benefit Statement

An action benefit statement is a persuasive technique where the speaker suggests a course of action followed by the benefits of taking that action. In the script, the speaker uses this technique by first telling a personal story about a car accident and then stating the benefits of wearing a seatbelt, making the argument more compelling.

💡Personal Story

A personal story is a narrative based on an individual's own experiences. The video emphasizes the power of personal stories in persuasion, as they can create a vivid picture in the audience's mind and make abstract concepts more tangible and relatable, as exemplified by the speaker's account of a car accident.

💡Traumatic Injuries

Traumatic injuries refer to physical harm caused by an external force or accident. The script uses the term in the context of a car accident story to highlight the severity of the consequences of not wearing a seatbelt, thus reinforcing the persuasive message.

💡Recovery

Recovery in this context means the process of healing or returning to a normal state after an injury or accident. The video script contrasts the recovery experiences of the speaker, who was wearing a seatbelt, with that of the other driver who was not, emphasizing the persuasive point about the protective role of seatbelts.

Highlights

The video introduces a simple way to design a persuasive speech.

Persuasive speeches can be useful in various situations, including staff meetings and formal presentations.

Traditionally, people believe that using facts and figures makes a speech persuasive.

Human nature often resists persuasion by facts alone, leading to skepticism.

A more effective persuasion technique is starting with a real-life example or story.

The use of parables in the Bible and stories by philosophers illustrates the power of storytelling in teaching.

Professional speakers often use stories to persuade their audience.

The speaker provides a personal example of the importance of wearing seatbelts.

Statistics from the Department of Transportation are cited to support the argument for seatbelt use.

The limitations of relying solely on statistics for persuasion are discussed.

A personal story about a car accident illustrates the impact of wearing a seatbelt.

The contrast between the speaker's and another driver's outcomes emphasizes the importance of seatbelts.

The technique of using a story followed by an action benefit statement is recommended for persuasion.

The video encourages viewers to subscribe to the channel and engage with the content.

The speaker promises to read and respond to all comments, fostering community engagement.

The video concludes with a teaser for the next installment of the Fearless Presentations series.

Transcripts

hey so in this video I'm gonna show you

a really simple way to design a

persuasive speech so if you're in a

situation where you're trying to win

people to your way of thinking but using

just your words then this technique can

be very very helpful and Doug's standard

with fearless presentations the fastest

easiest way to eliminate public speaking

fear and on this video we're gonna show

you some really simple things that you

can do if you're trying to persuade your

audience so this technique can be very

useful in staff meetings or if somebody

interrupts you with a question while

you're actually delivering your formal

presentation in those kind of situations

a lot of times we feel like we have to

be persuasive we have to win people to

our way of thinking and sometimes it can

be a little challenging the reason why

these types of speeches are fairly hard

to kind of pull off is that in most

cases human nature is kind of working

against us what we've been taught from

the time that we're in elementary school

junior high school high school is that

if we want to persuade somebody you want

to do it with facts and figures and

statistics the more facts that you have

the more persuasive you're gonna be the

problem with that though is that when

we're using facts statistics things like

that to try to persuade our audience

human nature kind of kicks in and we

want to play devil's advocate so by the

way this is true even if the person who

you're speaking to actually agrees with

the concept that you're trying to get

across to them the moment that you say

this is a hard and fast rule this is a

fact this is always true human nature

kind of kicks in we go oh wait a minute

I can think of at least one situation

where this thing would not be true and

when that when that happens it becomes

very difficult to win people to your way

of thinking so a better way to kind of

persuade people is instead of just using

facts and figures and statistics is to

start with an example a real-life

example that you can use to prove that

the concept that you're trying to get

across to your audience is true by the

way we didn't invent this this has been

around for thousands of years if you've

ever read the Bible the Gospels in the

Bible are full of parables which are

stories that are being used as a way to

kind of teach people a greater greater

piece of wisdom isse often back even you

know 300 years before Christ

was using stories as a way to tell

people the moral of this story so this

has been around for centuries and for

some reason we've just kind of stopped

using it in the business world but if

you ever watch a really really good

professional speaker a person who makes

a living speaking in front of groups

then he or she is most likely gonna use

stories as the way to persuade the

audience and you can do that as well so

I'll give you a good example of this so

let's say for instance that I want to

I'll just pick a random topic let's just

say that I want to convince you that you

should wear a seatbelt so what I did was

I went to the Internet and I kind of

looked up some statistics about

seatbelts these are actual statistics

from the Department of Transportation so

three statistics about why you should

wear a seatbelt the first one is that

53% of all motor vehicle fatalities from

last year were people who weren't

wearing seatbelts second statistic is

that people not wearing seatbelts are

thirty times more likely to be ejected

from the vehicle and then finally in a

single year crash deaths and injuries

cost us over seventy billion dollars so

if I kind of take those three statistics

and I use those as a way if that's

basically all I do is I just give you

those three statistics statistics and I

say okay you should wear your seatbelt

now there's a good chance that you're

gonna human nature's gonna kick in and

you're gonna want to poke holes at that

because that's what I want to do by the

way I'm sitting there reading these

statistics and the first one that was

mentioned was 53% of people who were

killed or injured in a motor vehicle

were not wearing their seatbelt I'm

thinking 53% it's kind of close to half

right so that means that 47% of the

people that were injured or killed we're

wearing the seatbelt so for me that's

not a real plausible fact that that kind

of proves the point

thus oh and by the way that's gonna

happen every time that you give a

statistic you're gonna have at least

some of the people in the audience that

will hear that statistic and say yeah I

can think of at least one situation

where that's not true so the technique

that we encourage people to use to be

more persuasive or to design a

persuasive speech is to start with an

example or a story that proves that

point is true so if I want to prove to

you that it's important to wear seat

belts all I have to do is think about

one specific time from my own life that

either I was wearing a seat belt and it

kept me from getting injured or I wasn't

wearing wearing a seat belt and I did

get injured or maybe it's some of that I

know that wasn't wearing a seat belt and

as a result they had to do all kinds of

surgeries and everything and I just tell

you that story and then use this

statistic as a way to back up the story

and all of a sudden it it works a whole

lot better that way so let me give you

an example like for instance from my own

life back when I was in my 20s I was

driving from West Texas to the Dallas

Fort Worth area and it's a desolate road

I mean there's just not a whole lot out

there and so I was listening to the

radios listen to to some CDs that I had

in my in my truck which you know that

was back before mp3s and iPhones and

stuff like that so it's kind of

challenging to kind of slip those CDs in

one at a time and find the correct track

and so but it didn't really matter

because there's nobody else on the road

I mean I'm the only car within miles and

miles and miles and and all of a sudden

I'm changing my CD and I look up and

when I look up there's headlights coming

right at me and there was a car that

actually ended up crossing over the

center line and hittin me head-on and

when I when that occurred I just totally

blacked out it was I lost consciousness

when I came to I was I'm kind of

checking I can see that something

traumatic has happened that I've been in

an accident because the car is kind of

the pickup truck has kind of crushed

around me but I've got my seatbelt on

and so I take it off and I'm trying to

open the door I can't get the door open

because it's crushed in but the the

windshield is shattered so I ended up

climbing out of my truck onto the hood

and kind of dropping down to the

pavement and when I looked at the the

guy who was in the other car I kind of

noticed that he had been crushed he

wasn't wearing a seat belt and his face

had smashed into the the steering wheel

and he it was it was he was a mess he

was a mess the other thing that it

occurred was after his face hit the

steering wheel his body continued to go

upward and his leg got trapped

underneath the steering wheel and kind

of he had a number of different

fractures in his leg so he ended up

being fine but the

difference was is that because I was

wearing my seatbelt I was back in the

game it took me three or four or five

weeks or so to to kind of recover from

the accident it took him years he had

surgery after surgery after surgery for

facial reconstruction and to put pins in

his legs and stuff like that and the

thing about it was that we were both

driving very similar vehicles we were

both hit at about the same spot on each

one of our of our cars the only

difference was that I was wearing a seat

belt and he wasn't so the action I

wouldn't suggest that you take is to

wear your seat belt if you do you're

going to be able to avoid some of those

traumatic injuries if you're in a very

difficult crash so do you see what I did

there was I spent two minutes three

minutes or so really giving you a

picture painting a picture in your mind

of what actually happened when I was in

that accident and I use the last couple

of seconds to slip the the action

statement or the the opinion that I have

about this and slip it in there so and

that's a great great great way to kind

of persuade your audience start with an

example a story then in with a with what

we call an action benefit statement and

if you do that you're gonna win people

to your way of thinking hey so if you

haven't yet subscribed to the channel

make sure and do that and leave me a

comment basically I read every single

one of these comments so if you have a

question or concern or an idea that I

have it covered make sure and leave that

in a comment and I'll respond to you as

fast as I can

we'll see you on the next fearless

presentations video

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