Session Flow · 5-minute pitch to 45-minute keynote

Monroe's Motivated Sequence

A five-step structure for persuasive speeches developed by Purdue professor Alan H. Monroe. It moves an audience from paying attention, through recognising a need and seeing a solution, to picturing the result and acting on it.

When to use Monroe's Motivated Sequence

Persuasive talks, pitches, fundraising or change proposals where you want the audience to do something at the end.

How Monroe's Motivated Sequence works

Use the five steps as the blocks of a persuasive talk, pitch or proposal presentation, with the most time on Need and Satisfaction. For a talk with Q&A, add the Q&A block before Action so the talk ends on the ask.

Phases of Monroe's Motivated Sequence

  1. Attention: Open with a story, question, statistic or image that makes the audience want to listen.
  2. Need: Show a problem that matters to this audience and why they should care about it now.
  3. Satisfaction: Present your solution or plan and how it meets the need.
  4. Visualization: Help the audience picture life with the solution in place, or the cost of doing nothing.
  5. Action: Close with a specific, doable call to action.

Key principles

  • Earn attention before arguing
  • Make the need felt by this audience
  • Offer one clear solution
  • Let people picture the outcome
  • End with a specific action

Best for

  • Persuasive talks
  • Pitches and proposals
  • Change announcements
  • Fundraising appeals

Considerations

  • Can feel like a sales pitch for informative or reflective talks
  • A vague call to action wastes the whole build-up
  • Visualization is a mental picture, not a slide visual

Attribution & sources

Developed by Alan H. Monroe, Purdue University, 1930s

Primary source

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