100 Persuasive Speech Topics That Will Captivate Your Audience Instantly
Looking for persuasive speech topics that will really blow your audience away and leave them wanting more? You’ve come to the right place.
Choosing the right topic for your persuasive speech can be tricky. You don’t want to choose something that’s really overdone or boring, but you do want to choose something that won’t make the researching process difficult. That doesn’t make things much easier for you to narrow something down, does it? Not to worry – with our help, you’ll have everyone on the edge of their seat in no time.
We’re going to help you pick the perfect persuasive speech topic that will get you a winning grade, captivate everyone in your audience, and leave a lasting impression on your professor. No matter what course you’re taking, you can find some information that works for you and helps you finish your assignment in no time.
Keep reading to see our list of 100 excellent persuasive speech topics you can use for your own speech, and get some helpful tips along the way.
Choosing Good Persuasive Speech Topics For College/University
Chances are, you’ve probably been doing speeches since elementary school. However, when you reach high school and college/university, you can’t just get by with persuasive speech topics like “why I love hockey” or “why The Simpsons is the best TV show of all time.” You need to choose a topic that reflects your education level and teaches your audience something new.
At this point in your life, captivating your audience is going to take a lot more than just talking about one of your favourite things for five minutes. When you reach a higher academic level, your professor is going to be looking for a lot more than just your ability to speak in front of people. They’re going to be marking you on a variety of factors, including your written content, your speaking and presentation, and your ability to get your point of view across.
Essentially, the topic you choose should meet the following criteria:
● It’s something you care about or are interested in
● It’s something other people would care about or be interested in
● It’s not overdone or generic
Bring Emotions to the Table
At the end of the day, if it’s something you’re passionate about, chances are it triggers an emotional response in you. And if it does this for you, it can do this for your audience, too. The more you care about your speech topic, the easier it’ll be to write and deliver a speech that really resonates with your audience. If you stand up there and don’t really care about your topic, it’ll be a tough sell to get your audience to keep listening to you.
Don’t be afraid of provocative or controversial topics. The point of your speech is to keep your audience’s attention, and one of the best ways to do that is to appeal to emotions. Think of your speech like a debate, but you get everyone’s attention for the entire duration and no one is going to interrupt you.
Keep Your Audience in Mind
Behind every effective or memorable speech is an effective use of rhetoric. When Martin Luther King, Jr. issued his “I Have a Dream” speech, he leaned on ethics and emotion to appeal to the humanity in everyone and promote peace among the American people. He tugged at America’s heartstrings and made people realize that what they were doing to each other wasn’t right, highlighting the suffering and pain people were going through. To this day, it is still one of the most often quoted and memorable speeches of all time.
Choose a persuasive speech topic that will resonate with the audience you’re speaking to. If you’re talking to a room full of English majors, don’t start throwing out complicated science jargon that they likely either won’t understand or won’t be interested in. Likewise, if you’re presenting your speech to a room of CEOs or business people, you’ll want to use logic and factual information to get your point across. There’s a reason why politicians always present themselves differently depending on which voter demographic they’re trying to appeal to. Keep this in mind for your speech.
Don’t Be Basic
Avoid persuasive speech topics that are overdone, generic, or based on common knowledge. Even if the topic is important, if it’s something everyone has been hearing about frequently, people will begin tuning you out because they’ve already heard this information over and over again. You can’t keep someone’s attention if they already know what you’re going to say.
If you have to choose an overdone topic, maybe because your teacher assigned it to you, try to put your own spin on it. For example, if your persuasive speech is about global warming, talk about an angle you don’t hear very often. Instead of talking about polar bears or plastic straws, you could talk about the onset of hybrid animals that are learning to adapt by mating outside of their own species.
100 Amazing Persuasive Speech Topics That Will Captivate Your Audience
If you’re stuck looking for a good persuasive speech topic, we’ve got your back. Here is a list of 100 powerful, effective topics broken down by category that you can steal or use as inspiration for your own ideas.
Current Issues and Society
1. Alternatives to animal testing that won’t cross ethical boundaries
2. Why we should get rid of daylight savings time
3. Should there be more restrictions on plastic surgery?
4. The complications of using a surrogate to have a baby
5. The benefits of bike sharing programs in big cities
6. Is veganism classist?
7. Will today’s younger generations ever be able to retire like their parents and grandparents?
8. The reality of achieving total peace on Earth
9. Why do people think that the moon landing in 1969 was fake?
10. How people or organizations in 2020 are still getting away with racial profiling
11. The impact of luck on an individual’s success
12. The value of a good first impression
13. Electric cars should be more affordable
14. The correlation between lower income communities and fast food restaurants
15. Why animal breeding should be banned
16. Potential solutions that could help reduce homlessness
17. Single parents should be allowed to adopt children
18. Is there a true middle class in America?
19. Why some people are against same-sex marriage
20. Why marriage is or isn’t an outdated institution in today’s society
21. Why it’s so important to donate blood
22. The pros and cons of the foster care system
23. Artificial intelligence and its impact on the job force and economy in the future
History, English, and the Humanities
24. Teaching evolution vs. creationism in elementary schools
25. Was Galileo a heretic?
26. Jane Austen and early Victorian feminist literature
27. Is it possible to be extremely wealthy and not become consumed by power?
28. Who was the first real feminist?
29. What was the real cause of the American Civil War?
30. The role of women in ancient cultures
31. How smart were the Ancient Egyptians?
32. Is food addiction a real issue?
33. The conspiracy theories about Shakespeare’s work
34. Is creativity something you are born with, or is it a skill people learn?
35. The curse of Macbeth
36. How children can benefit from reading the Harry Potter series
College/University and Education Studies
37. The value of online classes in college/university
38. The use of modern technology and the Internet in elementary classrooms
39. Should every student be required to learn how to play an instrument in school?
40. The benefits of volunteer work for college/university students
41. There should be more life skill classes taught in high schools
42. How can elementary and high schools improve the way they handle bullying?
43. Should sororities and fraternities still be permitted at college/university?
44. Helpful ways for students to save money
45. Is it wrong to tell students to pursue academic disciplines that they enjoy instead of those that have more promising career options?
46. Physical education in school should teach more practical sports such as swimming
47. Every child should learn how to cook from a young age
48. Does homeschooling work?
Law, Ethics, and Politics
49. Should the DUI laws in your state or province be stricter?
50. How the authorities should be policing cyberbullying
51. The ethics of advertising to children
52. How early should children know that Santa isn’t real?
53. Is it ethical to enforce mandatory voting?
54. Is regulation on exotic pet ownership strong enough?
55. Is cloning ethical?
56. Should it be mandatory for immigrants to learn English?
57. Does the government have the right to intervene in family planning?
58. Does the United States need a Space Force?
59. Does banning smoking or vaping restrict an individual’s right to live their life how they choose?
60. Should the government regulate how many children people are allowed to have if it helps to control overpopulation and household waste?
61. Could democratic socialism work?
62. The use of drones in the United States Air Force
63. Does the separation of church and state actually exist in America?
64. Should minors be charged as adults in extreme criminal situations?
65. The ethics of unpaid internships in the workplace
66. The ethical issues with military conscription
67. Attack ads in political campaigns should not be allowed
68. Self-driving cars and the impacts on the insurance industry, safety, and society
69. The benefits of legalizing recreational marijuana
70. Should the government be tougher on ticket scalpers?
71. Every citizen should have to complete mandatory community service before they turn 18
72. Mandatory drug testing in schools and workplaces
73. Do cameras in public spaces threaten peoples’ privacy or help keep everyone safe?
Sports, Health, and Science
74. The truth about GMOs (they’re not as scary as you think)
75. Why homeopathic medicine should be more heavily regulated
76. Is eating meat bad for the environment?
77. The dangers of refined sugar
78. The harmful effects of palm oil harvesting
79. How fast fashion negatively impacts the environment
80. Zoos are not contributing to wildlife conservation
81. The pay disparity between men and women in professional sports
82. The advantages and disadvantages of factory farming
Media, Business, and Advertising
83. Why it’s important to support local businesses
84. Female stereotypes in Disney movies
85. Male stereotypes in comic books and superhero movies
86. The pros and cons of social media
87. Have beauty standards in the media changed at all within the last decade?
88. Is there too much censorship in television?
89. Bloggers should be held to the same ethical standards as professionally trained journalists
90. The ethics of watching or supporting films that were made by or feature people who have been convicted of misconduct
91. The role that music plays in collective action and group activism
92. Ownership and policing on the Internet
93. How social media has changed today’s relationships
94. Music should be utilized more often in mental health therapies
95. The importance of teaching digital literacy to children and young teens
96. Is network television still relevant in the streaming era?
97. The Internet should be free for everyone
98. How Disney’s acquisition of the Star Wars franchise changed the films
99. How comic books can teach children literacy skills
100. How young is too young to let children watch television?
Quick Tips For Persuasive Writing
Once you’ve chosen a persuasive speech topic that you’re ready to use, it’s time to sit down and write your speech. The written part of your speech is important because it needs to be done in a way that translates from writing to speaking. Many academic essays don’t really do this effectively because we don’t think about how our words sound out loud when we’re writing an essay.
Here is a quick list of tips to help you with your persuasive writing. Whether it’s a speech, a presentation, or an argumentative academic essay, you’ll want to be sure to remember this advice when it comes time to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard).
Use rhetoric to get your point of view across in a way that resonates with your audience.
Choose a subject you’re passionate about and make emotional connections.
Express your point of view thoroughly but make sure you’ve considered the opposing arguments.
Create an outline before you start writing to help you stay organized.
When researching, make sure to stick to credible sources you can trust.
Use examples. This helps your audience make stronger connections and absorb the information you’re telling them.
Make sure you have a good thesis statement to guide your speech.
Choose your topic from a category that makes sense for your specific class.
Do more than just complain or inform your audience about your topic.
Lost the Motivation to Write Your Persuasive Speech? We Can Help.
Still aren’t seeing any good persuasive speech topics you want to use? Maybe you’ve lost your motivation to write your speech entirely. Regardless of the reason, if you’ve hit the “not interested” wall, we’re here to help. We’ll take the load off your shoulders and help take some of that stress away from your busy student life.
Homework Help Global employs a team of expert academic writers who specialize in many different industries and fields, from English to biochemistry. We have written hundreds of persuasive speeches throughout our academic careers and can get the job done for you. Together, our team has helped hundreds of stressed out students across North America and the world turn in persuasive speeches and other assignments that lead them to success.
Get a free quote now to learn more about how we can help you with your persuasive speech.
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