What Makes a Successful Persuasive Speech?

Convincing your audience, the proper incentive, and stimulation are three components for a successful persuasive speech. An external factor is the willingness of your listeners to accept what you are presenting. Your body language as a speaker and the environment in which the speech is delivered will impact how successful your persuasive speech will be. While the primary goal of a persuasive speech is to get the audience to accept your viewpoint, smaller goals must be achieved if the primary goal is to be reached. If your speech is convincing, you will motivate your audience to believe and internalize your viewpoint. Therefore, the goal is not just to explain why you believe something to the audience, it is to get them to feel the same thing as you about the topic. Incentive moves the audience to do something and this is easier to do if your audience shares at least some of your viewpoints. Returning to the realm of politics, you will often see a politician encourage their supporters to get out and vote. Their supporters believe in them, but the politician needs to motivate the listener to action if there is going to be any benefit. Stimulation is designed to motivate an audience that already shares your viewpoint to a certain level to take that belief up to another level. These tactics are often seen at religious events. A preacher speaking to their congregation is not trying to convert people to the faith. The preacher understands that the congregation already believes. In this case, the goal is to enhance the degree of belief.