One of the best ways to organize a persuasive speech is with a method called Monroe Motivated Sequence. It is used in many TV commercials and is probably the most effective way to get people to act. Well, it’s probably not as effective as forcing someone to do something at gunpoint, but the motivated sequence is much more ethical and shouldn’t get you arrested.

If you need to give a persuasive speech for school using the Monroe Motivated Sequence, you should first consider a couple of things when choosing your topic to be as persuasive as possible. First, pick a topic that your audience members might do in the near future. For example, “wear your seatbelt on the way home from class today” or “donate blood at the blood drive this Friday.” The sooner your audience can do what you ask them to do, the more likely they are to actually do it.

The second thing to consider when choosing a topic is to make it as relevant as possible to the lives of the audience. There is no point in persuading your audience to quit smoking if only some of your members actually smoke.

The Monroe Motivated Sequence has 5 steps that must be presented in this order:

1. The Attention Step: This is the equivalent of the introductory section of a five-paragraph informative speech or essay. Start with a question (preferably rhetorical), a quote from someone famous or respected, a story (preferably true), or a startling statistic. He would then give his audience a reason to listen and then a preview of his speech.
2. The need step: You need to clearly show that the problem exists in the lives of your audience members. Therefore, you need to know your audience as well as possible. The problem must also be expressed in negative terms and credible evidence must be used to show that it is a real problem. Students often skimp on this step because they mistakenly believe that audience members already see the problem as they do. Don’t make this mistake. Your audience is probably much less aware of the problem than you are.
3. The Satisfaction Step: Now that you have established that there is a problem, the next thing you need to do is provide a workable and reasonable plan that will allow your audience to solve the problem. Remember, the easier the solution, the more likely your audience will do it. The point of your speech is to get your audience to take action, so if your solution is too difficult or time-consuming, there’s less chance they’ll do it. In this step, you should also address any objections your audience has to doing what you’re proposing. Anticipate these objections and address them now. For example, if you’re trying to persuade your audience to wear their seat belts, one objection they might have is that they don’t feel like they need to buckle up if they’re not going very far. Bring it up and provide statistics on traffic fatalities that occur close to home.
4. The Visualization Step – In this step, you need to create a visual image of your audience performing. There are two ways to do this: show your audience members how wonderful the world would be if they did what you ask, or show them how terrible the world would be if they didn’t, or both. You have appealed to the logical side of your audience using statistics and numbers in the previous steps, now you can appeal to their emotions and desires.
5. The Action Step: This would be similar to the closing part of an informative speech. He signals the end of his speech, recaps the need, satisfaction, and visualization steps, and then asks them to take action. It may seem strange, but tell them exactly what you want them to do next.

Remember, to be persuasive, make sure you complete these five steps in order. Also, make sure your topic is as relevant to your audience as possible, and use solid research to show the need for your audience to do what you ask. Good luck with your speech!