Situational Analysis 7: The Public Speech

What would you do…

1. to understand the audience better? What would you want to know and how might that
affect the choices you would make for this speech?
2. to establish ethos? How and why?
3. to utilize pathos in supporting your speech? How and why?
4. to structure the argument and support for your speech (Logos)? What logical reasoning
would you use and why?

Understanding the proper tactics used to give a speech is paramount to overall success as a public
speaker. While incorporating rhetorical concepts such as ethos, logos, and pathos to support an argument
is important, understanding and analyzing your audience is just as important. However, many people do
not take the time to thoroughly prepare a speech and be informed on how to give a speech, leading to
many speakers that are unprepared and many painful speeches (“Preparing a Speech”). Utilizing strong
preparation as well as strong speaking skills can help to craft a speech that is enjoyable to the listener.

Strong speakers aim to not alienate any audience members, but focus on the commonalities of the group. I
could quickly learn about the general demographics of the audience so that I could adapt my speech to
this group (“Preparing a Speech”). For instance, the retired age group would likely not be informed on
much of the basics of social media, so making sure to define what a “like” or “share” is when discussing
the benefits and dangers of social media could affect my choices in the speech.

Ethos can simply be described as establishing credibility, but it extends beyond that to include a speaker’s
perception of dynamism, competence, subject knowledge, and trustworthiness (“Persuasive Strategies”). I
could start my speech by describing any relevant experience in the field as a way to show that I am
competent and have knowledge of the subject. In addition, I could quickly establish myself as outgoing by
interacting with the audience early in the speech to establish a sense of dynamism. Lastly, I could present
evidence in a manner that is obviously unbiased to establish a sense of trustworthiness.

Pathos, the emotional appeal of a speech, is another key point to consider. In order to involve the audience
in the speech, I could use language that evokes feelings of insecurity when discussing the potential
disadvantage that comes with large corporations being in charge of your private information or attempt to
evoke feelings of youthfulness when it comes to sharing how the interconnected nature created by social
media can be a benefit.

Lastly, I can set my speech up using an inductive reasoning pattern to utilize logos. A pattern of inductive
reasoning attempts to reach a general conclusion about something based on given scenarios, allowing us
to appeal to logos, the facet of the speech that relates to reasoning and logic (“Persuasive Strategies”). I
could present examples of how fast information gathering can be a benefit of social media, and end with
the reasoning that getting news quickly is a major benefit.
In conclusion, it is crucial to consider both the audience for a speech to tailor anything to that particular
group that they may not understand and the rhetorical devices of ethos, logos, and pathos in order to
create an effective speech.

“Persuasive Strategies” [Author removed at request of original publisher] ​Communication in the Real
World: An Introduction to Communication Studies
open.lib.umn.edu/communication/chapter/11-4-persuasive-strategies/

“Preparing a Speech” [Author removed at request of original publisher] ​Communication in the Real
World: An Introduction to Communication Studies
open.lib.umn.edu/communication/chapter/9-1-selecting-and-narrowing-a-topic/