ACCTG 527 -- Guidelines for Five-Minute Persuasive Speech.
November 2009

Objective:1.To prepare, rehearse, and deliver a speech that will motivate the members of your audience to act in a certain way or inspire them to agree with a certain position you hold.

2.To continue to show improvement in presentation skills in response to feedback received from your coach(es) and your instructor.

Example:Assume you are a senior cost accountant for a manufacturing company and are presenting a capital expenditure request for an expensive piece of machinery on behalf of one of the production divisions to your company’s CFO and controller. You need to convince your listeners that a problem exists, otherwise they will not care about the solution you are proposing. So, an appropriate approach would be to begin by describing the equipment currently used for manufacturing and identifying the problems related to continued use of that equipment (how much time, money, and personnel power it wastes). You could then move on to describe the new machinery, what it can do, how it can cut production costs and help streamline operations. You might include a reference to any competitors you know of who are already using the new machinery and the results they are obtaining. Having done that, you could propose an acquisition and installation plan and timeline.

Note that, in the above example, the most important part of the speech is the identification of the need for the audience to be on your side and agree with your position.

Required:

Select a topic that you think you can speak on for 5 minutes,that has, as its objective, motivating your audience to “buy into” a project or opinion you are proposing or to inspire them to act in a certain way. You are free to select your own topic; however, if you want some suggestions, consider the following scenarios:

1.A presentation on selecting accounting as a career to an audience of college sophomores.

2.A presentation that recommends action to correct a social injustice you care about. (Your audience here would be made up of general citizenry.)

3.A presentation to seek donations for a cause in which you believe.

4.A presentation that “sells” a product or service that you have developed.

5.An inspirational or motivational topic of your own choosing.

I encourage you to attempt to deliver this speech without the aid of notes. You may use any visual aids and props. you think would be helpful, and you are required to use PowerPoint. Please bring your slide file on a flash drive and give me a printed out copy of your slides on the day you present. (6 slides to a page)..

Acctg 527 – 5-minute persuasive speech

Role of your Coach(es)

This will essentially be the same process as I asked you to use in preparing your informative speech. In response to feedback from that speech, identify two goals for improvement. (Note: The videos of that speech should be available for you to review together, which should be helpful in determining improvement goals.) Give me a written copy of your goals on the day you present your speech.

After you have prepared your script, rehearse your speech at least twice with your coach. Adjust it for the feedback you receive. During the presentation to the class, your coach(es) will write a critique for you to review.

Dates for Presentation:

  • Groups A1 and B1[1] present on Monday, November 16. Please submit your topic selection to me for approval by email no later than Monday, November 9.
  • Groups A2 and B2 present on Monday, November 23. Please submit your topic selection to me for approval by email no later than Monday, November 16.

Grading:

  • This assignment is worth 38 points, allocated as follows:
  • Was your speech complete and persuasive? (Beginning, 3 to 4 main points, ending.) – 10 points
  • Did you deliver it with appropriate vocal considerations and body language? – 10 points
  • Did you meet your stated improvement goals? –4 points (2 points each)
  • Was it obvious that you prepared and rehearsed adequately? - 4 points
  • Were your visual aids, especially PowerPoint, well designed and used effectively? (10 points)
  • I will deduct points up to the indicated maximum in each of the following situations:
  • 2 points for going over or under time by more than 30 seconds
  • 3 points for going under time by more than 1 minute

Final (but very important) Note – Persuasive vs. Informative

Of necessity, some of your speech will be informational because you cannot motivate people to believe in something or spur them to action unless you have told them something about the issue at hand. However, avoid providing4 ½ minutes of information followed by a few seconds of “Please do this.” You will need to craft this speech carefully.

Acctg 527 – 5-minute persuasive speech

[1] See Blackboard for groups and coaching buddies list in the “Course Materials – Class Handouts” area.