Speaking to persuade: Motivating audiences with solid arguments and moving language

Go to Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/persuade-speech

Introduction

### Course Review: Speaking to Persuade: Motivating Audiences with Solid Arguments and Moving Language In today's dynamic professional landscape, effective communication is a crucial skill. Whether you're making a case for a new initiative, pitching a business idea, or advocating for a change within your organization, the ability to persuade your audience is invaluable. The Coursera course “Speaking to Persuade: Motivating Audiences with Solid Arguments and Moving Language” is designed to equip participants with essential tools for crafting and delivering compelling arguments that resonate with their audience. Here’s my detailed review and recommendation of this course. #### Overview The course effectively addresses the delicate balance between arguing and being argumentative. It aims to elevate your persuasive communication by teaching you how to create clear, persuasive messages that motivate your audience to take action. The curriculum emphasizes understanding your audience, structuring your speech logically, and employing strategic, motivational language. #### Course Structure The course is divided into five modules, each focusing on critical aspects of persuasive communication: 1. **Welcome. Let’s Develop a Persuasive Argument.** - This module outlines key strategies for designing persuasive speeches. It introduces foundational concepts such as the status quo and stock issues, guiding you on what to argue and how to focus your arguments. By the end of the week, you'll have the opportunity to upload an introductory speech for peer review, setting the stage for interactive learning. 2. **Designing Your Persuasive Speech** - Here, the focus shifts to mindset and audience understanding. You’ll learn how to build a speech logically and develop a motivational call to action. Techniques for fostering audience agreement rather than discord will be emphasized. The option for speech analysis through peer feedback enriches the learning experience. 3. **Strategic and Motivational Language** - This module addresses the crafting of persuasive language and the importance of avoiding logical fallacies. It guides you in creating a well-rounded argument by highlighting stylistic elements that make a speech memorable. The opportunity to submit a persuasive speech outline further enhances your skills. 4. **Compelling Delivery** - The spotlight here is on the art of delivery, tackling practical issues such as filler words and enhancing overall confidence while speaking. You’ll learn effective delivery practices and explore models of imitation to improve your speaking presence, culminating in a practice speech that can be submitted for peer review. 5. **Review and Assessment** - The final module provides an opportunity to reflect on your learnings and submit a final assignment, either a video or written speech, demonstrating the skills you’ve cultivated throughout the course. #### Strengths - **Interactive Learning:** The course emphasizes peer feedback, allowing you to apply what you learn actively and gain insights from fellow students. - **Practical Assignments:** With assignments that encourage you to practice and improve your speaking skills, you'll leave with tangible experience. - **Comprehensive Coverage:** From structuring arguments to delivery techniques, the course covers all essential aspects of persuasive speaking, making it applicable for various contexts, whether professional or personal. #### Areas for Improvement While the course is thorough, it may benefit from more real-world examples of persuasive communication in action, such as analyzing famous speeches or case studies. This could enhance learners' ability to relate the theoretical aspects to practical applications. #### Recommendation I highly recommend "Speaking to Persuade: Motivating Audiences with Solid Arguments and Moving Language" to anyone looking to sharpen their persuasive communication skills. Whether you are a manager, a nonprofit leader, or a business professional, the insights and tools you gain from this course will empower you to articulate your ideas more convincingly and inspire your audience to take action. Overall, this course is a well-rounded opportunity that blends theory with practice, ensuring participants leave with both the confidence and competence to persuade effectively. Enroll today and take a significant step toward becoming a persuasive speaker!

Syllabus

Welcome. Let's develop a persuasive argument.

In this module, we’ll focus on the key strategies for designing persuasive speeches. In examining persuasive speaking, we tackle both solid argument and eloquent writing. After sorting through the broad concerns about persuasion, we start with some of the most powerful argumentative tools you can have: status quo and stock issues. By the end of the week, these two ideas will have helped us figure out what we need to argue (and what we don’t) and how to go about it. If you want some feedback, you’ll be able to upload an introductory speech for peer review.

Having mapped out a basic strategy, we now need to think more about the audience and how to respond to their concerns. Additionally, we need to build the speech logically. We will examine how to design congruent speeches that build to clear and motivational calls to action. By the end of the week, you will have a number of techniques for making your case in a way that invites agreement rather than disagreement. If you want strengthen these skills, you’ll be able to engage in some speech analysis.

In this module, we'll move from persuasive ideas to a completed argument and speech draft. I think everyone should take the time to become familiar with the fallacies discussed in this module. Globally, the quality of argumentation and reasoning would be better if everyone had a stronger grasp of these concepts. As you well know, persuasion isn't just argument - it's also the crafting of strategic and stylistic language. When people think about the most famous speeches in history, they tend to think of stylistically rich speeches. By the end of the week, you will have a list of strategies for avoiding fallacies and framing your case strategically and stylistically. If you want some feedback, you’ll be able to upload a persuasive speech outline for peer review and engage in some speech writing.

In this module, we’ll finish our work on persuasive speaking. We'll talk about the dreaded "UM", a bane of speakers and an issue that merits study. We'll also go over some tips for reducing these sorts of disfluencies. We'll spend a bit of time thinking about some good delivery practices. Finally, we'll explore some models of imitation. By the end of the week, you will have a couple of speaking techniques to make every speech you give sound more confident and moving. If you want some feedback, you’ll be able to upload a practice persuasive speech for peer review.

Thank you for time in this course. I hope the material has proven helpful in some way. We concluded our discussion of the persuasive speech last week. I would like to spend a bit of time reflecting on the course. We will end this week with your final speech.

Choice 1: For the final assignment, you can either submit a video or written speech (below). | Choice 2: For the final assignment, you can either submit a video (above) or written speech.