Persuasive Presentation

Persuasive presentations have different meanings to different people. We all have our own opinion on what persuasion means. Some people mistake persuasion with coercion or deception which is not true as persuasion means that the audience may choose to listen to the presentation and then they have the right to choose whether they wish to believe in the presentation. The presenters are not forcing the audience to buy their products but rather the presenters may only want the audience to agree with them or for the audience to take action. What this all means is the audiences are given options and they, on their own free will, may choose to initiate whatever they want to take.

Persuading people is never easy especially when we are selling a product or a service to people. It's hard enough to get people to listen to you and it's tougher to get the audience to initiate an act or buy the product or service because people tend to get difficult when it comes to taking out money from their pockets to buy a product or service no matter what the price is but the higher the price the tougher it gets to obtain potential buyers. However, the famous phrase that every problem has a solution is true and it does apply to persuasive presentation. It's just the matter of delivery and evidence of the presentation.

To support that statement, I will use Aristotle's theory (Griffin, 2005) that persuasion is based on three kinds of proof.

1. Logos - this means evidence and logic of the message. Evidence comes a general truth which concludes with a specific notion for example, all humans are equal therefore slavery should be banished. According to this statement, the fact that humans were created by God and created equally which therefore concludes that all humans should serve God and not serve another human. Hence, slavery should be banned from the world. By adding evidence and logic to the presentation, the audience will have a sense of trust in the presenter as there are facts to support the statement.
2. Ethos - this focuses on the credibility of the speaker or presenter. The speaker's credibility is determined by his/her ethics and morals. Basically, if the background of the speaker is great, the audience would be more interested in what the presenter and develops a bigger sense of trust towards the presenter.
3. Pathos - this concentrates more on touching the feelings of the audience and gaining an emotional tie with them. To appeal to the emotions of the speaker, the presenter has to find common ground with the audience such as parenting, financial struggles, social networking and anything the presenter has in common with the audience.

Based on these three factors, presenters can develop a new sense on the right to influence the audience using persuasion. Having facts, credibility and using emotional appeals are the few ways of gaining the trust of the audience. The key to any good presentation is to know the audience before , what you want them to do and understand how to appeal to them using what type of angle, style or method.