Page 319 - Essentials of Human Communication

298 ChaPter 14 The Persuasive Speech

PubliC sPeakinG samPle assistant

special occasion speeches Largely Persuasive

Sometimes a special occasion presents an opportunity for a speaker to give a speech with a persuasive message.
Here are three types of special occasion speeches, with ideas to help you make them effective. For specific ex-
amples of these and other types of special occasion speeches, search YouTube or any search engine’s videos.
Chapter-length coverage of the “special occasion speech” may be found at MyCommunicationlab

The Speech to Secure goodwill
The goodwill speech is part information and part persuasion. On the surface, the speech informs the audience
about a product, company, profession, institution, or person. Beneath this surface, however, lies a more persua-
sive purpose: to heighten the image of a person, product, or company—to create a more positive attitude to-
ward this person or thing. Many speeches of goodwill have a further persuasive purpose: to get the audience
ultimately to change their behavior toward the person, product, or company.
A special type of goodwill speech is the speech of self-justification, in which the speaker seeks to justify his
or her actions to the audience. In securing goodwill, whether for another person or for yourself, consider the
following suggestions:
● Demonstrate the contributions that deserve goodwill.
● Establish credibility.
● Don’t be obvious. The effective goodwill speech looks, on the surface, very much like an objective informa-
tive speech. It will not appear to ask for goodwill, except on close analysis.

The Commencement Speech

The commencement speech is designed to congratulate and inspire recent graduates and is often intended to
mark the transition from school to the next stage in life. When giving a commencement speech, consider the
following:
● Organize the speech in a temporal pattern, beginning with the past, commenting on the present, and
projecting into the future.
● Do your research. Learn something about the school, the student body, the goals and ambitions of the
graduates, and integrate these into your speech.
● Be brief. Recognize that your audience has other things on their minds.
● Congratulate the graduates, parents, and instructors.
● Offer the graduates some kind of motivational message, some guidance.
● Offer your own good wishes to the graduates.

The Speech of inspiration

A great many special occasion speeches are designed to inspire, to raise the spirits of an audience. Many religious
speeches are of this type. Similarly, speeches that corporate leaders give to stockholders when introducing a
new product or a new CEO, for example, would be designed to inspire investors. In speaking to inspire, follow
these guidelines:
● Demonstrate your oneness with the audience. Try to show in some way that you and your listeners have sig-
nificant similarities.
● Demonstrate your own intense involvement, the kind of intensity you want your audience to show.
● Stress emotional appeals. Inspiring an audience has to do more with emotions than with logic.
● Stress the positive—especially at the end of your speech, which should conclude on a positive note.
Inspirational speeches are always positive.