What is important is that you speak to an issue that affects the public as a collective and is debated publicly.

Identify their target audience and the areas where the target audience might be persuaded.
Develop strategies designed to increase an oppositional audience’s support for your position.
Make language choices that appeal to an oppositional audience.
Description:
The persuasive speech asks you to persuade members of your audience who disagree with you on a topic of genuine public controversy. These controversies can range from the local, to the regional, to the national and international. What is important is that you speak to an issue that affects the public as a collective and is debated publicly. The purpose of this speech is to persuade, not simply to argue. You might be able to develop a perfectly logical argument that is wholly unpersuasive to an audience. Persuading audience members that disagree with you requires that you think about why they disagree with you, identify areas where these audience members can be moved, and speak to those areas in a way that highlights your shared interests.
Remember that your credibility plays an important role in persuading audiences; as such, you must deal with oppositional arguments in a fair and convincing way. Good persuaders do not ignore the opposition, nor do they simply attack the opposition, they engage opposition’s arguments in an even-handed way.
Basic Requirements:
In addition to persuading your audience, the persuasive speech must satisfy the following requirements:
In selecting a public forum topic, you must select an issue that has reasonable pro and con arguments. You should not speak to a topic that everyone agrees on; rather, you need to select issues that demand genuine persuasion.
Persuasiveness: You are attempting to weaken your audience members’ support for the opposing case. You need to develop arguments that are designed to sway audience members who may initially disagree with your position.
You must orally cite a minimum of three sources. Two of your sources must be available in print (in other words, you can only cite one web source). Your evidence should clearly support your arguments and you should explain the inference. You should include a variety of evidence (statistics, examples, testimony, etc.).
Visual Aid:
You MUST use a visual aid for this speech (e.g., picture, PowerPoint, object, etc.).
Use logos, pathos, and ethos: Students tend to get lost in their research and regurgitate every factoid they found. This is not helpful. We are persuaded by facts and statistics, but we are also persuaded by examples that show the human impact of your argument. Of course, you have to deploy such examples carefully and honestly. If an audience feels that you are milking an example, they will probably discount the example and much else of what you say. Also, use ethos. Make sure we know that you know what you’re talking about. Also, explain how what you are arguing for is in our best interests as an audience.
Make savvy language choices: Please avoid the words, “my opposition.” This is a convenience in the lecture to explain the assignment and talk about the process, but it just sounds odd in your speech. You are trying to get the audience to understand your position and its benefits; you want to emphasize that you are on the same side. Use language that grants their position legitimacy, encourages agreement and negation. This is why persuading is harder than arguing. Arguing simply requires you to spout off; persuading requires you to constantly think about how you will be heard and understood.