“Persuasion is often more effectual than force.”
This quote from Aesop is perfect,to sum up, the positives of persuasion. But persuading someone to see and accept one’s point of view is not an easy task by any means. Everyone has their preconceived notion about every subject, and it takes a lot of skill to convince them to see otherwise.
However, a good persuasive speech can make a huge difference when it comes to convincing people to see your views. With the right persuasive speech topic ideas,you can convince people to see your perspective.
How to compose a persuasive speech?
A persuasive speech is akin to making a sales pitch. You are ultimately trying to pitch your ideas to the other person. That is why, just like in sales, you might fail the first time. However, that doesn’t mean you should give up; because persuasion is a process that occurs over a period.
There are mainly two components to persuasive speech topic ideas. They are:
- Logic:
Logic defends the ideas you present and proves the results to be rational. For instance, during a court case, most of the ideas presented are logical.
- Emotion:
With the emotional approach, you try to make your audience feel a certain way to accept your views. Not always the best approach to persuasive speeches, but they are often successful.
Thus before composing your speech, you must decide on the path you want to take. But irrespective of how you want to prepare your speech, you should choose a topic you care about. That way, you will have the necessary zeal to change your audience’s mind.
Five persuasive speech ideas to help you in your next venture:
Often the most difficult part of preparing a speech is zeroing in on the topic. So here are a few persuasive speech topic ideas for you to consider:
- Should graffiti be included in the category of art?
There are a lot of interesting bases you can cover when it comes to this topic. There is a long-standing debate that graffiti is a crime and vandalism as opposed to it being a form of art. Thus it makes for a good topic for a persuasive speech.
It is one of the most widely discussed topics in the Arts category and thus you have enough material to make a point. It is also a very relevant topic in recent times, with artists seeking validation for their work. So the topic calls for an emotional approach in a persuasive speech.
Also, with real time examples about people convicted for creating graffiti, you can convince people to see the unfairness of the situation.
- Should it become mandatory for schools to teach a foreign language?
Another important persuasive speech topic idea, it is an important issue related to education. While choosing a topic for your speech, you should make sure that it is something people care about. If they don’t care about the matter, your speech will not have any lasting effect whatsoever.
With the topic- “should it become mandatory for schools to teach a foreign language?” you will pique the interest of parents. It is, after all,an important topic for the development of students and deals with their prospects.
There is a logical approach to this topic because learning a foreign language is certainly beneficial for everyone. Thus including it in the school curriculum makes perfect sense.
- Should animal testing become illegal?
The cosmetic industry is notorious for the practice of testing new products on animals. With animal activism becoming ever popular amongst today’s youths, this is one of the more relevant persuasive speech topic ideas.
The topic will strike a moral chord with your audience,and there should hardly be any difference in opinion about denouncing the practice.
However, you should conduct proper research on the subject before preparing your speech. Even though it is one of the easier topics for persuasive speech, it is best not to get overconfident and charge in with a poorly written speech.
- Will incorporating AI aid humans or prove to be a hindrance?
With the usage of artificial intelligence or AI becoming a hot topic of debate, we can also consider it as one of the best persuasive speech topic ideas.
There is a fifty-fifty consensus among people regarding the use of AI in the different walks of our life, so you can choose to support either side of the argument in your speech.
These kinds of speech ideas are the more interesting ones and can test your abilities as a speaker. Since there are both positive and negative sides to this topic, it is best to come prepared with solid back up for your viewpoint.
- Should plastic bags be banned?
The topic is extremely relevant in the wake of several environmental issues. Educating people about the harmful effects of plastic on the environment and persuading them to give it up is not just a good persuasive speech topic idea, but also a social responsibility.
With this topic, you need to take the logical approach to make people realise that using plastic is inarguably having several detrimental effects on our environment. Therefore, it only makes sense to ban their usage.
These are some of the speech ideas that are interesting and extremely relevant in today’s day and age. Therefore, choosing your topic for persuasive speech wisely can aid you to capture your audience’s attention to a great extent!
Few tips to help you compose your persuasive speech:
After giving the persuasive speech topic ideas, it only makes sense to put out some pointers to help you compose your speech:
- Do the necessary research. Unless you have concrete evidence to prove your points, there is a slim chance that you will be able to convince the audience to see your views.
- Think about all the angles to the topic you choose. Persuasive speech topics can rarely be black and white and thus it is necessary to consider all the possible angles of the topic.
- Choose a topic your audience cares about. Try and get to know about your audience before settling on a topic.
With the above pointers, it is safe to say that you are ready to prepare your persuasive speech!
Best of luck!