Thursday, June 28, 2007

Rhetoric in Public Speaking

Over 2000 years ago, Aristotle came up with his idea of rhetoric. These were the elements of speech that people used to persuade others. Here are a number of links to different parts of rhetoric that you can use when you are next making a presentation, or doing so public speaking.

There are 3 elements to Rhetoric. These are:
  1. Ethos - defined as personality and stance. The "who are you" and "What are you trying to convince us of?"
  2. Pathos - this is the appeal to the emotions; &
  3. Logos - this is the logic in your argument.

There are many websites that offer hints about rhetoric and public speaking. Some links are below:

  1. Professionally Speaking. This website looks at rhetoric in Public Speaking, mainly American and British.
  2. Bob Jones University
  3. Yahoos Rhetoric and Public Speaking listings;
  4. Aristotle's Rhetoric.

Once understood, the elements of rhetoric can be used to become more persuasive and convincing. They will also help you to negate persuasive arguments that you need to argue against.

Cheers

Darren Fleming

Australia's Public Speaking Coach

Public Speaking courses

http://www.executivespeaking.com.au/

1 comment:

TJ Walker--The Speaking Channel said...

Aristotle nailed it thousands of years ago. The three elements of a speech are the credibility of the speaker, the logic of the argument, and the emotion of the speech. Thousands of books on speaking have been written since Aristotle’s time, but all own a debt to him.