Chapter 3: Persuading Your Audience

• Appreciate the role of persuasion in technical communication
• Persuasion- trying to influence someone's actions, options, or decisions
• Try to get the desired response
• Success depends on your request and whom you are persuading
• Persuasion goals can be implicit or explicit
• Identify a specific persuasive goal for your document
• What is your goal?
• influence people's opinions?
• enlist people's support?
• submit a proposal?
• change people's behavior?
• Anticipate how audiences may react to your argument
• Different reactions can depend on the reader's
• temperament
• interests
• fears
• biases
• ambitions
• assumptions
• Your audience will likely react with defensive questions
• Expect audience resistance
• Three levels of response to persuasion
• Compliance
• Identification
• Internalization
• Connect with the audience with common ground
• Be flexible and listen to opposing views
• Clarify what you want from your audience
• Never ask for too much
• Respect any limitations such as company rules or legal constraints
• Organizational constraints are based on company rules
• Carefully decide what to say and to whom
• Legal constraints are based on laws
• Understand legal liabilities and consider public relations
• Ethical constraints are based on honesty and fairness
• Just because something is legal doesn't mean it is ethical
• Time constraints are simply based on the right timing
• Decide if you should wait for an opening or release the information immediately
• Social and psychological constraints are based on your audience
• Consider the relationship with your audience, their personality, the audience's sense of identity, and the perceived size/ urgency of the issue.
• Support your argument using evidence and reason
• Evidence should have quality
• Sources are credible
• Evidence is considered reasonable
• Facts, statistics, expert testimony
• Appeal to common goals and values
• Understand that cultural differences may influence audience reactions
• Consider the cultural context
• Don't offend or embarrass
• Don't ignore customs
• Never trivialize their values
• Prepare a convincing argument
• Be clear about what you want
• Don't be extreme
• Find points to agree on
• Don't distort the opposing position
• Concede something to your opponent
• Don't simply criticize
• Use claims you can support
• Stick to your best points- not all are equal
• Seek a second opinion before releasing the document
• Time it right
• Use proper format/ medium
• Send a copy to everyone involved
• Invite responses
• Don't get defensive
• Understand boundaries- know when to back off
• Use the audience and use profile
• State your claim
• Offer a reason and follow up with examples/ evidence
• Repeat
• Find common ground
• Appeal to the reader's goal
• Close with best reason