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"Why Should I Know Anything About Rhetoric?"

2016-04-26
  • James Duane
    • 2006-01-10

    • http://www.americanrhetoric.com/

      • Recordings of influential speeches from history and fiction

    • distinction between demagoguery (rallying the troops or shaming the opposition) vs persuasion

    • Build rapport as fast as possible

      • find common ground–something you all haven’t done, something you all have done
      • don’t speak of the audience as “you” (especially avoid finger-pointing)
      • don’t stand behind a podium
      • gentle self-deprecation
        • e.g., “the world will little know […] the words we say here today” in Gettysburg Address
      • be sincere
      • “i’m no rocket scientist BUT” trope
      • don’t bring up your certifications/qualifications – it’s not as relevant as a clear argument/discussion
      • don’t use fancy terminology – it doesn’t actually win you points

    • don’t waste your audience’s time apologizing or even acknowledging that you’re running out of time

      • there’s literally nothing to be gained: it costs time to worry about being low on time
      • indicating you messed up time management comes across as disrespectful

    • be a good listener

      • show yourself as reasonable, gently self-deprecating
      • concede point that is clearly true–you can’t beat those
      • give interlocutors/opponents an ‘out’ for clearly wrong points.
        • some of these are obvious to everybody in the audience
        • some of these need to be torn apart/pointed out as errors, but be charitable
      • also acknowledge good points that you intend to argue

    • for maximum emotional and persuasive impact

      • choose meaningful words
        • avoid “like” in the “said” meanings: it can mean “came to the realization that”, “said”, “grumbled”, …. It fails to give connotation.
      • consider length of words you use
        • short words make a lot of impact: you can control phrasal stress because you’re not tumbling over word stress, and people will connect easily
        • long words and long sentences tend to drone: people tune out, won’t remember anything. the audience may be neutralized but won’t be affected