How to Prepare and Deliver a Persuasive Speech Persuasive presentations are formal or informal presentations designed to influence the audience’s choices. Successful persuasion depends on the evidence and logic of the message, the credibility of the persuader, the psychological needs of the listeners, and the opinions held by key audience members. To be able to effectively prepare and deliver a successful persuasive speech there are several steps to consider. Preparing a persuasive speech begins with analyzing your listeners and their needs, writing your purpose, and planning ways to increase your credibility. Following that, it is crucial that you research your topic heavily and decide what the best method of presenting the evidence would be. It is important to decide how to organize your presentation, plan the verbal and visual supports, and ensure that your presentation is ethical. After all of these steps are complete you must practice your presentation. There are two basic types of persuasive presentations: the presentation to convince and the presentation to actuate. In a presentation to convince, you want your audience to agree with your way of thinking. You are trying to persuade your audience to do nothing more than agree with your way of thinking. In a presentation to actuate, you want your audience to go one step past agreement to take a particular action. First you have to convince the audience of the merits of your ideas, and then you want to move them to action. This moving to action can include persuading someone to stop an action, continue an action, or never do an action. For example, giving a persuasive speech to children about smoking. The goal is to convince the children that smoking is bad and to never do it. The type of persuasive speech you choose will depend on your topic. There are several theories regarding persuasive speeches. The information- integration theory states that the way that people accumulate and organize information
