Let's talk about persuasion this week. Why do we have to rethink our outline structures for persuasion? What choices did you make for your speech topic in persuasion that you did not make for your informative speeches? Are there audience factors that have shaped your choices in any way?
Several of you mentioned wanting to use the blog to gather opinions and responses from the rest of the class for your persuasive topics, so please feel free to use that as your discussion post for the week.
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I think the most important part of persuasive speeches is the fact that there are two sides and you have to argue for one of those sides. In informative speeches, you are telling your audience about something and giving them information. The only audience analysis needed for that is basic information about them and the environments your audiences work and live in. For a persuasive speech, you have to try and know where your audience stands on the topic, and you have to try and change their opinion or thoughts about it. The outline for a persuasive speech will provide viewpoints for and against the argument.
ReplyDeleteVery good points, Rem...I think you bring up a lot of pragmatic issues!
ReplyDeleteContinuing from Rem's thoughts, the change in outline from informative speaking to persuasive speaking really hits at the heart of why outlines are used in the first place. The function of any outline is to provide a concise version of the presented information. This is useful whether it is for distilling the true focus of the speech or for reference while the speech is given. That being said, everyone has different ways that they process information, and each speech has different goals, so the particulars of any outline are determined by the intersection of these two variables.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking for myself, I like to put abstract thoughts in my outline so I can keep track of the train of thought I had planned out, and verbatim quotes so I do justice to the original speaker. An informative speech, therefore, would have abstracts of my main and sub-points, and any quotes that I needed.
The purpose of the speech serves as the other variable, and it determines what criteria the outline needs to have. An informative speech wants only to convey information, so its outline is focused on what is being explained, and how those facts are brought across. Each main point is an idea, and each sub-point helps explain that idea. A persuasive speech tries to change the audience, and the outline shifts accordingly. It focuses less on facts and is instead centered on what the audience needs to be able to change their mind. Monroe's Motivated Sequence is trained on the hurdles that the audience needs to overcome to change their beliefs, but it wouldn't translate well to a purely informative speech.
In summary, the purpose of your speech determines the structure of your outline, and how you process information determines how you fill it out.
I think my outline for my persuasion speech is going to change a little bit but not a whole lot. I am not going to focus so much on my main points being balanced as much as i did in my informative speech I would like to start off with some background information and general non biased information then move into the persuasion part and close strong. Yes, i have learned that my audience is not as informed as i thought hey would be about brett favre and his career which is why i added some time in the beginning for background information and to inform the class about who he was and what he did.
ReplyDeleteI agree, you need to look at every angle of the topic. And there could be more than just two sides to it. My outline will have to give examples and information on not just the good but also the bad. I will try my hardest to move the audience to what I believe but everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I respect that.
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ReplyDeleteThere is a difference between simply presenting information and presenting it in a convincing manner. There is a difference between how you present the information, which information you use, and how you use it to support your argument. The choices I made when selecting a topic were how much information I thought I could find. I did not consider any audience factors.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Rem in the fact that instead of having main points that may be a different feature or aspect of one issue for an informative outline, you need to have two different sides or perspectives. It's been said before that we need to discuss both sides of the fence so that your audience can see why you are trying to persuade them to one side over the other.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to what was already said about us needing to structure our outlines to account for all of the opposing viewpoints, there are other common recommendations for elements which should go in a persuasive speech outline but which do not belong in an informative speech outline. These may include a clear statement, complete with a projection of the results, of a suggested solution to an issue described in the thesis statement, and perhaps an exhortation to take action accordingly. Monroe's Motivated Sequence, at least, advocates these things, and these elements are certainly present in at least many persuasive speeches. The majority of such exhortatory material may be found in the conclusion of a speech (as well as in the introduction); in contrast, an informative speech's conclusion typically is used simply to wrap up the speech memorably after recounting the main points.
ReplyDeleteAnother difference - a more subtle one - between informative and persuasive speech outlines may be that more attention or detail should be provided for the credibility and reference sections of the outline, even though these sections may still exist in informative speech outlines. References and establishment of credibility are likely not as critical in an informative speech as in a persuasive speech, since in a persuasive speech there is more of a focus on getting people to believe what you're specifically saying, and people will be more likely to question your statements.
In contrast to what I did for my informative speeches, I selected a topic for the persuasive speech that I knew was controversial. Controversy may be entirely irrelevant to an informative speech; such a speech may only concern a subject that is little-known or esoteric. However, a persuasive speech should always concern something controversial; otherwise there is little point in taking the effort, since you could likely just convince anyone of your position in a simple conversation.
One "audience factor" that may have influenced me somewhat is that I've somewhat gotten to know some people in the class, and therefore am somewhat more concerned about the danger of offending people through an excessively controversial subject choice than I would be if I were planning to speak to total strangers. I chose the subject of video game piracy mostly because it was relevant to my interests and life plans, but also partly because it didn't seem like such an incredibly hot-button issue in the context of my audience that it would cause intense feelings to flare up.
I am looking forward to this persausive speech. I like debating two sides of the same story both with myself and with my peers. The best persausive speeches are the ones that take into account all the details of both sides. This becomes important because essentially you are proving and providing you logic as it is applied to the topic at hand. The audiance factor is that we really dont know who the audiance feels and it is best not to alienate the audiance if the favor our opposing view. Simply put, if we just provide the facts, prove why the speaker feels the way they feel, no feelings are hurt and it becomes more effective because it appears that we have more of an open mind and solid facts to stand on.
ReplyDeleteMy outline has to change slightly but really it is just reflecting more than one main point. There is a point and a counterpoint that is taken into consideration. So, basically my outline will be longer because im discussing more than just one topic as was the case in the informative speeches.
The biggest difference between the informative speeches and the persuasive speeches is that during the informative speech all we did was tell the audience about our topic. For the persuasive speech, we have to tell the audience about our topic but we also have to convince them to do or believe what we are talking about.
ReplyDeleteFor example, my topic for the upcoming persuasive speech is about Ubuntu which is a distribution of Linux. Linux, for those of you who do not know, is a free operating system that you can install on your computer; It's an alternate to Windows or Mac OSX. If I was using this topic for an informative speech, I would simply explain what Ubuntu is and how it works. For a persuasive speech, I will do the same thing but I will also include why it is better than Windows and attempt to convince the audience to start using it. When writing my outline, I will use each main point to describe a benefit of the software and explain why it is better then Windows. I will end by urging the audience to give it a try and showing them where to find it.
I think the outline structure is a little different for persuasion in you have to account for two different sides of the topic instead of just one for the informational topics. In the informational speeches we were just highlighting the positives of the topic and shedding light on what the topic actually is. For the persuasive speeches we are trying to persuade our audience in one direction so there is a need to highlight the pros and cons of the topic and other similar topics that have to do with your main topic.
ReplyDeleteI think in a persuasive speech the audience plays a much bigger role. Your goal is to influence the opinion of the audience as a whole, instead of just informing them on a topic. You can also gauge your performance on the audiences reaction and therefore determine if you are successful in persuading them. Also, more than likely the audience already has their own opinion on the topic so some are going to be harder to convince than others.
The biggest difference in the outline structures was in one you give a little history on the subject, let people know what the key reasons are for listening, and then why they should care. The outline structure of a persuasion speech starts with some setup for the topic, why other ways of thinking are wrong, and lastly why our way of thinking is right.
ReplyDeleteI think that the audience factor within a persuasive speech is key because instead of just presenting a topic to a class of students for a grade with a teacher, we are actually trying convince them of something. It isn't so much geared towards giving the facts to people, but rather presenting them in a way that allows them to see our side of things. It may be harder be harder to convince someone with already preconceived notions towards a topic, but it makes things interesting to hear their views on the presentation during the Q&A.