The Rhetorical Nature of Public Speaking

In a speech about the benefits of playing video games, Illianna walks through three questions to determine her ethos.

1. Does my content demonstrate an understanding of the audience’s needs?
   • In general, Illianna’s presentation is about her hobby. Her research shows that video games offer benefits such as developing problem-solving and critical thinking skills, maintaining an active mind, and providing escapism. To establish her credibility, she must balance her enthusiasm for her hobby with the research she’s conducted. She can do this through her tone, body language, and use of detail. She realizes that one way she can establish her credibility is by discussing her experience with an injury that kept her bedridden for three months. Video games helped her through this tough time and kept her mind active. This tactic will help her create a personal connection with her audience and demonstrate why she believes it is an essential topic for them to be aware of.
2. Am I meeting the presentation’s conventions?
   • The primary purpose of the presentation is to persuade the audience to try a new hobby. Illianna will have to do more than convince them that video games are beneficial, as there is much societal push against them. Illianna also wants to ensure she is going deep enough with her argument. She will conclude her speech by discussing how her audience can strengthen their brains through various types of video games, provided she can offer a list of actions to take, such as accessible and available games on their phones that do not have a cost barrier. This will be much more persuasive.
3. Is the information presented fair and complete?
   • After thinking about her topic for some time, Illianna realizes she could easily miss the other side of the argument when persuading her audience, which would mislead them. She could do this by focusing only on the benefits of video games and ignoring issues of video game addiction, toxic online communities, and the encouragement of gambling behaviors in predatory companies. Sharing both sides of her argument, touching on the cons of video games and offering practical solutions to avoid those pitfalls, could help prevent her argument from being one-sided. This approach demonstrates that Illianna has considered a broad range of perspectives on her topic. Then, she can demonstrate specific games that align with the benefits of brain health.

Illianna walks through the three questions to determine her pathos. It should be easy since she has already determined her audience’s needs by considering her rhetorical audience with Bitzer and how she will establish her credibility with ethos. Regardless, she still goes through the questions just to be sure.

1. Does the quality of my research meet the audience’s expectations?
   • Illianna is already planning to use her firsthand experience with overcoming depression following an injury through video gameplay as her hook to capture her audience’s attention. However, she doesn’t want to focus solely on personal experience. She knows her audience will want to hear data about how video games benefit the brain from researchers in the field. Since she already has information from several articles from mass communication, psychological, and medical journals, Illianna feels confident she will meet her audience’s expectations.
2. Is the presentation designed to make it easy for the reader to understand?
   • After reviewing some of her resources, Illianna feels a little overwhelmed. Several of her sources, especially those from medical journals, provide detailed information about how video games impact the body, using complicated terms she does not fully understand. She could elaborate on her speech, but then she realizes she doesn’t have much time. Her speech is only 5 minutes long, after all. Also, if she doesn’t understand that level of detail, how can she explain it to her non-expert audience? Illianna decides to focus on the most basic information, like the benefits and drawbacks of video games on the brain, how video games impact the body, and how the audience can take advantage of the science connecting video games to a stronger brain.
3. Does credible evidence support claims?
   • All of Illianna’s evidence will come from reputable research and medical organizations, including medical journals, so she’s well-equipped in that regard. However, how will she show this evidence in her speech? Unlike a written report, there won’t be a list of references at the end for her audience. This means she will have to mention the names of her sources in her speech. For example, she might say, “According to Dr. Jane McGonigal, author of Super Better: The Power of Living Gamefully, her research shows that the benefits of video games include…” Mentioning the researchers, organizations, or journals directly will help here. However, Illianna knows she’ll have difficulty keeping all those names straight, so she writes them down on a single note card to avoid forgetting. She makes the font nice and big to reference from a distance. This keeps her hands free to support her verbal message during the speech.

Illianna is almost done. She feels like her speech is coming together. She goes through the final three questions to ensure her logos appeal is strong enough.

1. Is the issue presented in a complete and balanced way?
   • Illianna needs to consider that while there is evidence of the benefits of video game play, there is also evidence that shows the drawbacks. What matters here is that Illianna is not denying the evidence against video game play. Instead, she wants to ensure her audience has enough information to understand the scope of the research without being overwhelmed by the content.
2. Does the presentation logically organize sections?
   • After considering Bitzer’s constraints and using the speech outline provided by her instructor, Illianna feels she has a good structure for her speech. She knows she will open up by briefly sharing her own experience of using a video game to strengthen her mind during a tough time. Then, she will present the need to enhance the brain and explain how to satisfy that need with video games. She’ll then have her audience visualize what their world would look like with a sharper brain. This logical approach will culminate in a call to action that she can make at the end of five minutes.
3. Is the argument positioned to recognize the audience’s concerns?
   • Illianna knows from personal experience that not everyone is a gamer. She wants to leave the door open by addressing concerns about not understanding games, price as a barrier, and struggles with finding an interesting game. She will conclude her speech with a list of games that benefit the brain, rather than promoting a specific game. As she develops the list, she will ensure that each game does not have a price barrier, is available on multiple devices, and will make accessing the game easy with accessible links and QR codes. By including that content, she will empower her audience.