362 16.4 Understanding PrinciPles of PersUasive sPeaking
your own cultural background. An effective audience-centered communicator
is especially sensitive to cultural differences between himself or herself and the
audience, while at the same time being cautious not to make stereotypical as-
sumptions about an audience based only on cultural factors.
rEMEMBEr your EthicaL rEsPonsiBiLitiEs as a PErsuaDEr As you
think about your audience and how to adapt your message to them, we remind
you of your ethical responsibilities when persuading others. Fabricating evi-
dence or trying to frighten your listeners with bogus information is unethical.
Creating dissonance in the minds of your listeners based on information that
you know to be untrue is also unethical. You also have an ethical obligation to
tell readers the source of your information. Adapting to your listeners does not
mean that you tell people only what they want to hear. It means developing an
ethical message to which your audience will listen thoughtfully.Select and Narrow Your Persuasive Topic
Deciding on a persuasive speech topic sometimes stumps beginning speakers.
The How To box offers some advice.Pick a Persuasive Speech Topic
For a persuasive presentation, you can adapt our general advice for picking a speech topic:
• Consider yourself. What are you passionate about? What issues stir your heart and mind?
You’ll present a better speech if you have selected a topic about which you can speak with
sincere conviction.
• Consider your audience. The ideal topic speaks to a need, concern, or issue of the audience
as well as to your interests and zeal. The Internet, Facebook, and YouTube can help you iden-
tify topics that your audience may feel passionately about.
• Consider the occasion. Some speech occasions, such as political rallies, may have built-in
topics. For others, interpret the term occasion broadly to refer to the events currently happen-
ing around you. Here’s how to use current events to find a topic:
• Look for controversies. Controversial issues make excellent sources for persuasive top-
ics. A controversial issue is a question about which people disagree: Should the university
increase tuition so that faculty members can have a salary increase? Should public schools
distribute condoms to students? Should the government provide health insurance to all
citizens? Social media, such as Facebook, can often bring controversial topics to your
attention.
• Look for an important issue. The best persuasive speech topics focus on important rather
than frivolous issues.
• Look at the media. Read an online newspaper or magazine, follow news sources on
Twitter, or subscribe to a newspaper to keep in touch with issues and topics of interest.
Another interesting source of controversial issues is talk radio programs, both national and
local.How To