Speaking to persuade: Motivating audiences with solid arguments and moving language
In the professional realm, we need to be able to argue without being argumentative. Whether you are fundraising for a nonprofit, pitching a business proposal, or suggesting a change to company policy, you are making arguments. In making the case for your topic, you often want to raise awareness, identify a pressing problem, discuss appropriate solutions, and outline specific steps for the audience.
To be persuasive, you must be clear (the audience may have little to no existing knowledge), you must be convincing (you are trying to sway the audience that your argument is valid), and you must be compelling (you are trying to motivate the audience enough so that they want to take specific actions). Persuasive speaking thus requires clarity, strategy, topic mastery, plus a sense of style and presence.
By the end of this course, you should be able to design persuasive speeches that address problems and solutions and that motivate audience members. You should be able to use rhetorical style strategically and deliver passionate and compelling speeches. Learners will record speeches, providing and receiving peer feedback.
Status: Persuasive Communication
Persuasive Communication
Status: Motivational Skills
Motivational Skills
Beginner·Course·17 hours
Featured reviews
5.0
·Reviewed May 31, 2020
Loved it! Doing the whole 4 courses specialization. And the entire series is extremely interesting, quite fun to go through, and last but not least, very useful!
4.0
·Reviewed Dec 11, 2021
Well-structured course with ample examples to follow the intrinsic components of speaking and presentation skills. Great Job done by Dr. Matt!
5.0
·Reviewed Dec 1, 2020
It was an amazing experience to learn the art of speaking to persuade. The materials were really helpful.
5.0
·Reviewed Jun 2, 2020
Great course! I highly recommend this if you're looking into improving your communication skills, especially communicating ideas.
5.0
·Reviewed Feb 15, 2021
Perfect course for public speaking and persuading technic learning.Thank you very much
5.0
·Reviewed Jul 20, 2017
very interesting and helpful course, taught by a great professor in a lovely, easy and sometimes even funny way.
5.0
·Reviewed Nov 19, 2020
One of my best learning experiences. Matt has worked extremely hard to create comprehensive content. Huge thanks to him for that. Happy learning!!
5.0
·Reviewed Dec 3, 2020
Dr. Matt McGarrity, is an excellent lecturer and this course is a must have regardless of your field of study/expertise.
5.0
·Reviewed May 3, 2021
This is an engaging course that sharpens skills on good and sound speeches that make sense and communicate ones key points with an argumentative but motivating speech.
5.0
·Reviewed Jun 20, 2017
i love the professor. He is great! I took all of his classes on coursera. I hope to meet him in person one day.
5.0
·Reviewed Oct 2, 2018
Another great course by Matt. Really breaks down what you learned in the first course to use with persuasive speeches. Really enjoyed.
4.0
·Reviewed Dec 28, 2020
The course helped me to understand various pursuance technique how to arrange and style the speech. This will help me a lot in my
All reviews
Showing: 20 of 108
All Learners
All Stars
Most Helpful
P
Prerna
5.0
·Reviewed May 10, 2020
I liked it and I can say for sure it clears the doubts of a speaker and gives a clear understanding of how one can write effective speeches.
Regards
K
KAVYA
5.0
·Reviewed Sep 22, 2020
Best course so far! Prof. Matt is so engaging and it's so fun to attend the lectures! :) Week 3 and Week 4 are very rewarding if you are the speaker looking for some good delivery and speech styles. I would highly recommend this course to anyone who really wants a persuasive speech! The course outline is done perfectly! You will surely enjoy it! :)
M
Michele
5.0
·Reviewed Jul 4, 2017
Excellent course! Covers best practices for organizing a persuasive speech, as well as effective phrasing. Also addresses the use of "um" as fillers. Prof. McGarrity is an excellent teacher and keeps things fun and interesting.
L
LATHRO
5.0
·Reviewed Nov 11, 2018
Many useful tips to be a good speaker.
T
Trần
5.0
·Reviewed Dec 10, 2020
Very nice. I got to see some speeches, as always, and also practice for speeches. The environment element thing is very good. I often have problem speaking on class, but now I think about it, some changes in the desks' placement and sometimes to get more familiar to the class will help me get a spot where I can put my eyes at while everyone still think I'm looking at them.
Y
Yogesh
5.0
·Reviewed Dec 16, 2020
It was a great course in which I got to learn how to speak to persuade others. How to arrange the contents of our speeches and how to introduce stylistic devices in our speeches. The instructor was extra ordinary as regards his course delivery and effectiveness.
A
Akhilnath
5.0
·Reviewed Dec 6, 2020
It was a well structured course which gave precise idea about preparation and delivery of a speech for persuasion.Simple methods and examples used in each of the topics helped to easily understand the principle.OVerall the flow of the
G
Guillaume
5.0
·Reviewed Jun 1, 2020
Loved it! Doing the whole 4 courses specialization. And the entire series is extremely interesting, quite fun to go through, and last but not least, very useful!
G
Goralowski
5.0
·Reviewed Jul 4, 2017
Well done Matt. The course is full of practice tools how to prepare ourselves to convince others to our initiatives, thought etc.
F
felicia
5.0
·Reviewed Jul 21, 2017
very interesting and helpful course, taught by a great professor in a lovely, easy and sometimes even funny way.
S
Shyam
5.0
·Reviewed Jun 21, 2017
i love the professor. He is great! I took all of his classes on coursera. I hope to meet him in person one day.
S
Sharath
5.0
·Reviewed Sep 6, 2017
Fantastic beginning course on Rhetoric.
A
Aniceto
5.0
·Reviewed Jul 20, 2017
Great McGarrity, as always
J
Juan
5.0
·Reviewed Jun 6, 2017
Great course!
M
Muhammad
5.0
·Reviewed Sep 21, 2019
This course so so helpful and very easy to follow. Especially our teacher is very professional and He knows what He is doing and I am really impressed by his communications skills. I am very happy that I finally completed it. Thanks a lot for everything.
S
Santosh
5.0
·Reviewed Oct 16, 2017
I think this is one of the best on persuasive speaking. THis is I feel also best of this specialization.
I was working on my persuasive speech for Toastmasters (CC#9 - project 9 of competent communicator manual) and this helped me lot!
V
Vimal
5.0
·Reviewed Nov 29, 2020
Excellent course and really enjoyed the content. I am so fascinated with fact that there is so much in speaking and how we can persuade. I am glad to have done this course and will surely try to apply in my life.
V
vince
5.0
·Reviewed Nov 15, 2017
A really exceptional course. I have done eulogies and ceremonial speeches before, but I always felt that I wasn't quite connecting with the theme. This course helped to complete the jigsaw. Thank you.
C
Caroline
5.0
·Reviewed May 4, 2021
This is an engaging course that sharpens skills on good and sound speeches that make sense and communicate ones key points with an argumentative but motivating speech.
C
Consuelo
5.0
·Reviewed Apr 6, 2018
Muy buen curso, es excelente que al fin de cada video aparezca el recuento de lo tratado, esto facilita una revisión de lo aprendido.