Mastering Public Speaking: Rhetoric and Speech Techniques

**Objectives of Oratory**

• Docere (to teach/logos)
• Delectare (to win over/ethos)
• Movere (to move/pathos)

**Invention**

Think about the context of the speech, research, and find examples.

**Disposition** (to order)

• Exordium (introduction): Captatio benevolentiae (ethos): capture interest
• Narratio (exposition of facts): basic information
• Partitio (exposition of points of agreement and disagreement): outline of the speech
• Confirmatio (exposition of arguments): body of the speech (logos)
• Reprehensio (refutation of other arguments)
• Conclusio: powerful ending

**Elocution**

Clear, simple, elegant. Three types of register:

• Simple (class)
• Medium (judgment)
• Elevated (meeting)

**Memory**

Memorize, use quotes, do not read.

**Action**

Voice, hand, body, clothing.

**Figures of Speech**

Figures of Words

• Anaphora: repetition of words at the beginning of a phrase (e.g., "Quantum" / "I have a dream")
• Alliteration: repetition of the same sound (e.g., "qu", "co" / "s")
• Asyndeton: no conjunctions (e.g., "We shall")
• Polysyndeton: use of conjunctions (e.g., "and")
• Chiasmus: two elements of a phrase inverted (e.g., Kennedy's "Ask not what your country can do for you...")
• Hyperbaton: change in the logical order of a phrase (e.g., "Tabulas, publicas", "Though arms we need, though")

Figures of Thought

• Tricolon: enumerate three elements (e.g., "yes, yes, or yes" / "From the streets... to the quiet")
• Rhetorical Question: (?)
• Paralipsis: (e.g., Trump and CNN)
• Antithesis: two opposing ideas (e.g., success, misfortune)
• Oxymoron: within the same expression (e.g., "deafening silence")

**Objectives of Oratory**

• Docere (to teach/logos)
• Delectare (to win over/ethos)
• Movere (to move/pathos)

**Invention**

Think about the context of the speech, research, and find examples.

**Disposition** (to order)

• Exordium (introduction): Captatio benevolentiae (ethos): capture interest
• Narratio (exposition of facts): basic information
• Partitio (exposition of points of agreement and disagreement): outline of the speech
• Confirmatio (exposition of arguments): body of the speech (logos)
• Reprehensio (refutation of other arguments)
• Conclusio: powerful ending

**Elocution**

Clear, simple, elegant. Three types of register:

• Simple (class)
• Medium (judgment)
• Elevated (meeting)

**Memory**

Memorize, use quotes, do not read.

**Action**

Voice, hand, body, clothing.

**Figures of Speech**

Figures of Words

• Anaphora: repetition of words at the beginning of a phrase (e.g., "Quantum" / "I have a dream")
• Alliteration: repetition of the same sound (e.g., "qu", "co" / "s")
• Asyndeton: no conjunctions (e.g., "We shall")
• Polysyndeton: use of conjunctions (e.g., "and")
• Chiasmus: two elements of a phrase inverted (e.g., Kennedy's "Ask not what your country can do for you...")
• Hyperbaton: change in the logical order of a phrase (e.g., "Tabulas, publicas", "Though arms we need, though")

Figures of Thought

• Tricolon: enumerate three elements (e.g., "yes, yes, or yes" / "From the streets... to the quiet")
• Rhetorical Question: (?)
• Paralipsis: (e.g., Trump and CNN)
• Antithesis: two opposing ideas (e.g., success, misfortune)
• Oxymoron: within the same expression (e.g., "deafening silence")