406 17.5 Using PersUasive strategies
idea that in a matter of only a few days he would lose everything—his
family, his friends, and even his childhood. He returned to find that a
rebel army had killed his entire family and decimated his town.- need. Having gotten the attention of your audience, you need to establish
why your topic, problem, or issue should concern your listeners. Arouse dis-
sonance. Tell your audience why the current program, politician, or what-
ever you’re attempting to change is not working. Convince them that there
is a need for a change. You must also convince your listeners that this need
for change affects them directly. During the need step, you should develop
logical arguments backed by ample evidence to support your position.
To document the significance of the problem of children being used as
soldiers and the need to do something to address the problem, Heather pro-
vided specific evidence:
... at any one time, 300,000 children under the age of 18 are forced to
fight in military conflicts. As Peter Warren Singer, director of the
21st Century Defense Initiative at the Brookings Institute, states,
child warfare is not only a human rights travesty but also a great
threat to global and national security.
She personalized the problem for her audience this way: “Clearly, this
crisis is having an enormous impact on the children themselves, on their na-
tion states, and finally on our own country.”- satisfaction. After you present the problem or need for concern, you next
identify how your plan will satisfy the need. What is your solution to the
problem? At this point in the speech, you need not go into great detail. Pre-
sent enough information that your listeners have a general understanding of
how the problem may be solved.
Heather suggested that the solution to the problem of children serving
as soldiers included using the United Nations to take legal action to enforce
existing treaties and to bring this issue to the attention of government lead-
ers throughout the world. At this point in her speech, she kept her solution
(to involve government leaders) general. She waited until the end of her
speech to provide specific action that the audience members could take to
implement her solution. Heather also reinforced the urgency of the need for
the audience to act by stating, “Clearly, the time has come to take a stand
against the atrocities that child soldiers face.” - visualization. Now you need to give your audience a sense of what it would
be like if the solution you just proposed were or were not adopted. You could
take a positive-visualization approach: Paint a picture with words to communi-
cate how wonderful the future will be if your solution is adopted. You could
take a negative-visualization approach: Tell your listeners how awful things will
be if your solution is not adopted. If they think things are bad now, just wait;
things will get worse.