Students in studio classes, a student-centered approach to teaching physics, may exhibit resistance to the reformed strategies used in this class format. Instructors of these classes may try to decrease resistance by increasing student agreement with the class format. What should instructors talk about, and how should they hold the conversation to effectively gain student agreement? Based on student interview responses, we report on the student perspective for effective means of gaining agreement. We describe the discussion topics and modes of discussion (e.g. lecture, class discussion) which students consider effective practices for gaining their agreement. First, we find that student agreement with reformed pedagogies at the start of the semester was primarily influenced by their experiences and opinions developed from prior classes and their agreement throughout the semester was primarily influenced by their experiences in their current physics class. When asked what would potentially be an effective strategy to gain student agreement, student and instructor responses suggested an evidence-based class discussion. However, instructors indicated they might not have evidence-based material to reference in this type of conversation.