How to write a persuasive speech

Pick one clear claim

Persuasion starts with a single, arguable claim. Not a topic (school lunches) but a position (our school should make lunch free for every student). A topic wanders. A claim gives you something to prove and gives the audience something to agree or disagree with. If a reasonable person could take the other side, you have a real claim.

We will build this one as we go: our school should make lunch free for every student.

Give reasons, and back each one up

A claim on its own convinces nobody. You need two or three reasons, and each reason needs something behind it: a fact, an example, or a story. A reason without evidence is just an opinion said louder.

• Reason: hungry students cannot learn. Evidence: teachers can name the students who go quiet by fourth period because they skipped lunch.
• Reason: the current system embarrasses the students who need help most. Evidence: a separate line for free-lunch cards tells the whole room who they are.

Balance the head and the heart

People decide with both logic and feeling, so a good persuasive speech uses both. Use a number to show the size of a problem, then a story to make one person real. Two hundred students skip lunch every day is a statistic. The kid two seats over who says he is just not hungry is a story. Together they are far harder to shrug off than either one alone.

Answer the strongest objection

Somewhere in the room, someone is thinking of the reason you are wrong. Say it before they do, then answer it. For our example: yes, free lunch costs money. But schools already spend on things that matter less than whether a student can concentrate, and other districts have made it work within their budgets. Naming the objection and meeting it head on makes you look honest and in control.

End with a clear call to action

Do not fade out on a summary. Tell the audience exactly what you want them to think or do. Sign the petition outside. Ask your class rep to raise it. Or simply: the next time someone says free lunch is a handout, remember it is really just lunch. A persuasive speech that does not ask for anything leaves its own point on the table.

Then deliver it like you mean it

A persuasive argument still needs persuasive delivery: eye contact, conviction, and pauses in the right places. The words get you halfway; how you say them does the rest. That balance of argument and delivery is the core of our Confident Speaker program, where students write real speeches and deliver them to a room every week.

Common questions