Order in the Court!

We've finished our PowerPoint presentations. On the whole they were fantastic. I hope you are recognizing the improvement you have made during the past 11 weeks. Congratulations.

Now it's time to dive into the persuasion process. My best advice as we start down this road is to imagine to yourselves that you have graduated from law school and are now earning your living in a courtroom. Don't forget what you have learned about structuring your speeches and about looking up, speaking up, and moving up. But, in addition to those fundamental skills, we are now turning our attention to proving our claims. Emphasis is on the word prove.

Your next speech should be like this:

• 5-6 minutes.
• Prove to your listeners that a problem exists and needs our united effort to solve.
• Suggest several potential solutions.
• Make a call to action.

Use as many of the types of support (NETS) as are need to prove your claims. Be very generous in citing sources that prove there's a problem—and sources for the suggested solutions. Remember that a claim without credible support is no claim at all. Be bold—as bold as your support, your evidence, your proof will allow you to be. Use this speech to convince us. Sell your claim. Prove it. This speech should convince a jury, the electorate, or upper management. Go for it.

We'll work more on these and other elements of the assignment and the persuasion process this week.

© Frank Richardson, 2009.

email: swpubs@xmission.com

web: frank-richardson.com