Level 2 · Week 2 of 6

Persuasion & Logic

Why This Matters

The evaluator scores your speech on persuasive power as its own category, separate from storytelling. A speech can have a great story and still score poorly here if it never builds an actual case — evidence, reasoning, and a clear ask, laid out in order.

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Suggested pace: about a week. This lesson works best across a few short sessions, not one sitting — write today, come back and revise in a day or two, then rehearse once more before you submit. Real progress comes from returning to the same skill more than once, rested, not from cramming it all in at once.

This Week's Exercise

Day 1–2 Start Here — Reflect

Before building your argument chain, ask: if someone disagreed with me right now, what would they say first? Knowing your opposition before you build your case makes the case itself stronger.

Day 3 Draft & Rehearse

Write out your argument as a simple chain: here is the problem, here is why it matters, here is what should be done about it. One sentence per link.
For each link in that chain, add one piece of real evidence — a fact, a statistic, a documented example. Not a feeling. A fact.
Identify the strongest objection someone could raise against your argument, and address it directly in one sentence, before they can raise it themselves.
End with a specific, concrete call to action — not "think about this," but a real, doable next step.

Day 4–5 Go Deeper & Rehearse Once More

For your strongest piece of evidence, ask: would this actually convince someone who currently disagrees with me, or does it only work on people who already agree? Real persuasion has to survive contact with real skepticism — this is the harder, more honest version of the exercise.

Day 6 Before You Move On

Does every link in my argument chain have real evidence attached, not just assertion?
Did I address the strongest objection directly, before the audience can raise it themselves?
Is my call to action a specific, doable next step, not a vague suggestion?

Day 7 Coach's Note — Aristotle: Ethos, pathos, logos — credibility, emotion, logic. Most speakers lean hard on one and neglect the other two. Your argument needs all three working together, not just the one that comes naturally to you.

Bring this into your Level 2 gate speech →