10.4 Persuasive Presentations

In speeches to persuade, the speaker takes a position on a topic and attempts to convince the audience of some degree of change related to the topic which could be attitudinal or behavioral. In some way, the speaker is convincing the audience to act. Persuasion is an act or process of presenting arguments to move, motivate, or change the mind of your audience. Persuasion can be implicit or explicit and can have both positive and negative effects. Motivation is different from persuasion in that it involves the force, stimulus, or influence to bring about change. Persuasion is the process, and motivation is the compelling stimulus that encourages your audience to change their beliefs or behavior, to adopt your position, or to consider your arguments.

The classical approach to persuasion, established by Aristotle (384–322 BCE) in the Art of Rhetoric, involves three appeals to readers and listeners: logos, pathos, and ethos (Robert, n.d.). A combination of the three appeals is used in creating persuasive presentations. Ethos refers to source credibility, logos include nature of arguments and structure of the message, and pathos relates to the use of emotional appeals (Frymier, 2021). First, we will review ethos, followed by logos, and then pathos.