Persuasive speech topics about health can focus on healthy living and patient care. Speaking about losing weight, eating healthy, starting an exercise program, cooking healthy meals, going vegan or vegetarian, shopping at farmers' markets and going green can all make solid persuasive topics mainly by offering tips, advice and facts about why each of these things promote a longer life or overall healthy living.
Persuasive speeches can also address controversial health care topics such as physician-assisted suicide, abortion, government-run health care, health care worker shortages, abuse of prescription drugs and malpractice reform. Each of these topics provide a lot of government research to make a speech more convincing. Speakers should refrain from "doctor-speak" and keep language conversational.
Speaking about economic issues can range from consumer spending to America's economic policies. Persuading an audience to change its spending habits, to cut up credit cards, to save money at the grocery store, to shop consignment and to create a family budget can all make great speeches. These types of persuasive topics can help teach an audience while changing behavior at the same time. Persuasive topics can also include speaking about reducing the national debt, cutting the pay of government workers, increasing money for social programs, reducing money for the military and slashing entitlement programs. These controversial topics may involve politics, making arguments often inflammatory and passionate on both sides.
Persuasive environmental topics can address a number of issues including cleaning up the Earth, using "green" technology and utilizing government regulation to protect endangered land. Persuading a group to organize a community clean-up, to recycle and to create a community "clean" dump can all use facts and figures about the benefits of this type of pro-environmental participation.
Persuasive speeches can also address the positives of using solar energy, wind power and fluorescent lighting. Speaking about government regulation to stop offshore oil drilling, to protect endangered species and to clamp down on overfishing all make powerful topics. Those on the other side of the debate can address topics such as allowing offshore drilling, building more oil refineries and using nuclear energy as a safe way to produce power.
Persuasive speech topics about education can focus on issues about curriculum and spending. Convincing parents to begin the practices of teaching subjects at home, encouraging summer reading programs and convincing them to cut video game and television time can all make great topics. Persuasive speeches about increasing spending on education, switching to charter schools and boosting the use of online classrooms can all work.
Educational issues affect students in elementary, middle school and high school all differently, so applying these topics based on demographic information can also add a separate twist. Speakers should also consider persuasive issues in higher education, specifically financing and academic dishonesty.