ELC590: ENGLISH FOR ORAL

PRESENTATIONS

Resource Materials 3:
Monroe’s Motivated Sequence

NOTE: MATERIALS COMPILED ©THE MCGRAW-HILL

COMPANIES, THE ART OF PUBLIC SPEAKING, BY
STEPHEN E. LUCAS

COMPILED BY ELC590 RESOURCE TEAM

UPDATED 20 AUGUST 2020
CONTENT
WHAT IS PERSUASION?
MONROE’S MOTIVATED SEQUENCE
to be used for ELC590 persuasive speech
SAMPLE PERSUASIVE SPEECH USING MONROE’S
MOTIVATED SEQUENCE
Title: “Making a Difference through the Special
Olympics”

2
 Persuasion
The process of
creating,
reinforcing, or
changing people's
beliefs or actions.

The McGraw-Hill Companies ∙ The Art of Public Speaking, 11th Edition © 2012 Stephen E. Lucas. All rights reserved.
 Mental Dialogue

To be effective persuasive
speakers, regard your speeches as
mental dialogues with the
audience:
• put yourself in the place of the audience
and imagine how they will respond.
• anticipate audience objections and answer
them in the speech.

The McGraw-Hill Companies ∙ The Art of Public Speaking, 11th Edition © 2012 Stephen E. Lucas. All rights reserved.
Persuasive Speeches

Types of persuasive
speeches:
• Questions of fact
• Questions of value
• Questions of policy (used for
ELC590)
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 Question of Policy:
Whether a specific course of action should or
should not be taken; normally issues dealing
with policy/law/regulation
2 types of
speeches on
Q of Policy:

Speeches that seek to

gain passive
agreement.
• i.e. aim is to affect the
thinking of listeners

Speeches that seek to

gain immediate action.
• i.e. aim is to get the
audience to do something in
support of the policy

The McGraw-Hill Companies ∙ The Art of Public Speaking, 11th Edition © 2012 Stephen E. Lucas. All rights reserved.
 A. Speech to Gain Passive
Agreement

The speaker’s goal is to convince the audience that a

given policy is desirable without encouraging the
audience to take action in support of the policy.

Specific purposes for speeches to gain

passive agreement:
• “To persuade my audience that capital punishment is unethical.”
• “To persuade my audience that there should be stricter safety
standard on amusement-park rides.”

The McGraw-Hill Companies ∙ The Art of Public Speaking, 11th Edition © 2012 Stephen E. Lucas. All rights reserved.
B. Speech to gain Immediate
Action
The speaker’s goal is
to convince the Specific purposes for
audience to take speeches that seek
action in support of a immediate action:
given policy.

“To persuade my
audience to
donate blood.”

“To persuade my
audience to vote
in the next
election.”

The McGraw-Hill Companies ∙ The Art of Public Speaking, 11th Edition © 2012 Stephen E. Lucas. All rights reserved.
 Organizing Speeches on
Questions of Policy

A. Problem-solution
B. Problem-cause-solution
C. Comparative advantages
D. Monroe’s Motivated
Sequence (used for ELC590)

The McGraw-Hill Companies ∙ The Art of Public Speaking, 11th Edition © 2012 Stephen E. Lucas. All rights reserved.
Monroe’s Motivated Sequence

Developed in the 1930’s by Alan Monroe

during his tenure as professor of speech at
Purdue University, USA.

Tailor made for policy speeches that seek

immediate action.

Sequence has five steps associated with the

psychology of persuasion.

The McGraw-Hill Companies ∙ The Art of Public Speaking, 11th Edition © 2012 Stephen E. Lucas. All rights reserved.
 Monroe’s Motivated
Sequence @ANSVA
Attention : Gain attention
Need : Show need for change
Satisfaction : Provide solution

Visualisation : Enhance solution by

visualising benefits
Action : Urge action for solution

The McGraw-Hill Companies ∙ The Art of Public Speaking, 11th Edition © 2012 Stephen E. Lucas. All rights reserved.
 What are these 5 steps of the
motivated sequence @ ANSVA?
1st, you’ve got to get
the audience’s
ATTENTION.

2nd, you’ve got to

describe to your
audience a problem to
show that there’s a
NEED for a change.

3rd, you’ve got to solve

the problem so that
SATISFACTION fills the
reasoning and emotional
minds of your audience.
The McGraw-Hill Companies ∙ The Art of Public Speaking, 11th Edition © 2012 Stephen E. Lucas. All rights reserved.
What are these 5 steps of the motivated
sequence @ANSVA? (cont’d)

4th, VISUALISATION - the

audience must see and feel
what the future will bring them
by taking or not taking action
on the speaker’s solution to the
need/problem presented.

5th, ACTION now, must be

requested with an air of
immediacy by the speaker

The McGraw-Hill Companies ∙ The Art of Public Speaking, 11th Edition © 2012 Stephen E. Lucas. All rights reserved.
Let’s get inside these 5 steps.
The Attention/Introduction

Step 1: Getting the ATTENTION

• First: Greet the audience. (It’s just good manners.)
• Second: Gain rapport or endear yourself to your
audience @ use attention getter by – (Choose one.)
• making a startling statement
• telling a humorous or dramatic story
• asking a rhetorical question
• using visual aids
• creating suspense or arousing curiosity
• using a topic relevant paraphrase or quotation

The McGraw-Hill Companies ∙ The Art of Public Speaking, 11th Edition © 2012 Stephen E. Lucas. All rights reserved.
 Let’s get inside these 5 steps. The
Attention/Introduction (cont’d)

Step 1: Getting the ATTENTION (cont’d)

Note: the next 3 steps, please refer to Lucas, Chapter 10

(Beginning & Ending your speech)
• Third: Introduce the topic of your speech.
• Fourth: Establish your credibility i.e. the audience’s
perception of your competence & character.
• by mentioning the research/homework done in
preparation for the speech.
• by mentioning your personal experience related to the
speech topic.
• and/or by mentioning your qualifications, related to your
speech topic.
• Fifth, introduce the Central Idea i.e. a ONE sentence
preview of your entire speech.
The McGraw-Hill Companies ∙ The Art of Public Speaking, 11th Edition © 2012 Stephen E. Lucas. All rights reserved.
 Inside the Need step
Use audience centered supporting
material showing that the status quo
needs to be changed, using a concise and
clear description of a serious problem
that effects them by
• Use of credible testimony (quotations, paraphrasing
or authentic relevant stories)
• Use of at least 2 examples illustrating the need or
problem from a personal experience or a reference.
• Use of simplified relevant statistics.

The McGraw-Hill Companies ∙ The Art of Public Speaking, 11th Edition © 2012 Stephen E. Lucas. All rights reserved.
 Inside the Satisfaction Step

Now, you’ve aroused your audience’s

sense of need for a solution to the
problem, satisfy their need!

Present a plan or solution by —

• telling audience, briefly, the change(s) or
action(s) you want adopted
• explaining, logically, how the plan will work to
satisfy the need/problem

The McGraw-Hill Companies ∙ The Art of Public Speaking, 11th Edition © 2012 Stephen E. Lucas. All rights reserved.
Inside the Satisfaction Step (cont’d)

Help the audience see your plan/

solution by –
• Showing specific examples of how your plan has
worked well elsewhere (if so)
• Showing how the plan is practical and workable for
your audience
• Again, appeal to your auditors sense of pride,
fears, health needs, security, and happiness by
using facts and authoritative testimonies. Usually,
diagrams & charts can help you.

The McGraw-Hill Companies ∙ The Art of Public Speaking, 11th Edition © 2012 Stephen E. Lucas. All rights reserved.
 Inside the Visualisation STEP

Now, hopefully, if thus far your audience

seems convinced, you are not done yet. No!

Through vivid imagery, help the audience

see how your plan would benefit them.

Contrasting vividly the negative and

positive visualisations will be very helpful –
negative first, then, positive last.
The McGraw-Hill Companies ∙ The Art of Public Speaking, 11th Edition © 2012 Stephen E. Lucas. All rights reserved.
 Finally, inside the Action STEP

Summarize, briefly, the previous 4

psychological steps.

Challenge or appeal to your audience to take

specific actions that you give them to achieve
your proposal.

Close with a strong relevant quotation or

illustration compelling your auditors to take
immediate action.

The McGraw-Hill Companies ∙ The Art of Public Speaking, 11th Edition © 2012 Stephen E. Lucas. All rights reserved.
 Persuasive Speech :
“Making a Difference through the
Special Olympics”

Speech on Question of Policy seeking immediate action

Specific Purpose: To persuade my audience to volunteer for

the Special Olympics.

Central Idea: Volunteering for the Special Olympics supports a

worthy cause and is rewarding for athletes and volunteers
alike.

Method of Organization: Monroe’s Motivated Sequence

The McGraw-Hill Companies ∙ The Art of Public Speaking, 11th Edition © 2012 Stephen E. Lucas. All rights reserved.
 Persuasive Speech :
“Making a Difference through the Special
Olympics” (5.34 mins)

Speech topic:
Making a
Difference
through the
Special Olympics

Source: The Art of Public Speaking by Stephen Lucas, McGraw-Hill

The McGraw-Hill Companies ∙ The Art of Public Speaking, 11th Edition © 2012 Stephen E. Lucas. All rights reserved.