"You know what they outta invent?" Persuade us to invest in your creation!

Originally posted 3/20/12.



Vince, the pitchman for such amazing products as the SlapChop and ShamWow, is quite the marketing genius. He takes simple products and pitches them in such a way that you feel stupid not buying them. I mean, I actually bought one of these SlapChops (admittedly, from IKEA, not from Vince, but still) because once he puts the idea in your head... it's stuck.

I could have been a millonaire.

When I was little, I used to want to be an inventor. I thought it would be so cool to come up with an idea for a simple product, put them together, and sell them to make a million dollars. I had the opportunity to try it in college with my awesome Nose Muff idea that I told you about in class, but not only was my idea not accepted, but it looks like someone beat me to the punch.

Well, for your Persuasive speech, you'll be doing what I once attempted: inventing a product and selling it to us, your audience. This speech will incorporate a little bit of the Demonstration speech skills you should have acquired, but your focus should be less on how to use the product and more on why we should buy this product. Next class, we'll be doing an auction over the junk that I showed you today in class. If you need a reminder of what I'll be "selling," take a look here:



After picking out your items, you'll put them together, build a mock product, create an advertisement, and write up an outline. The final project will be be pitching your product to the entire school at our assembly on November 2nd, so you've got to come up with the greatest invention idea ever! So be ready for Thursday's auction!