Speechifying - How (and how not) to Get Yourself Elected

For this year's hockey tournament, I conducted an experiment.  On team captain election day, I gave all eligible candidates a chance to speak to the class.  This was an exercise in persuasion - an effort by the speaker to cause classmates to believe that s/he was the best person for the team captain position. 

One of the secrets to this is to talk about how the speaker can benefit the voter.  Voters choose based on who is best for the voter, not the speaker.   Voters aren't really interested in hearing what the speaker wants.   They're interested in hearing which speaker will give the voter what the voter wants.  Speakers who to do the best job of telling voters how they would be good for the voter will usually win.  This year's hockey team election was a good example of this.

Most of the speeches went something like this:  "I'm running for captain because I've always wanted to be team captain, and, yeah...."

Others, seeking to be more convincing, said something like this:  "I'm running for captain, because I really want to be one.  I really, really want to be a captain.  I hope you vote for me."

Are these persuasive speeches?  How were these candidates different from one another?  What are these candidates offering the voters?  How do the voters benefit?

There were two speeches which had a significantly different message.  One speaker told the class, "I'll be a fair and honest captain, I'll listen to what you tell me and I'll work hard to make sure the team is strong."

The other said: "I've watched other captains, so I think I know what a good captain should be like.  I won't yell at you and I'll try to make sure that everybody has fun."

These speeches contained specific messages directed at the voters.  In essence they said, if you vote for me, I'll do this for you.

The voters liked what they heard.  The kids who delivered the latter speeches were the top vote getters in their classes by significant margins.  The other speakers didn't get elected, receiving fewer votes than people who didn't speak at all.