3 Ingredients for Maximum Speech Impact – Public Speaking & Presentation Tips (Part 1)

What constitutes a successful & impactful speech? Influencing audiences, eliciting ideas, and motivating people to take action are the most universal goals when it comes to public speaking/ delivering a speech. The ability of the speaker to engage the audience on several levels frequently determines how effective a speech or presentation will be.

The Greek philosopher, Aristotle, distinguished between three types of persuasion/ influence: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos, which is essentially Latin for emotional-logical-credibility (respectively) modular aspects of how humans interact and perceive their communications. Many of us have encountered this model somewhere in our studies of leadership, team-building, business negotiation, workplace management etc.; this evinces the versatility of the Logos-Pathos-Ethos model, which means:

Any public speaker who wants to enthrall, educate, and inspire their audience must use these 3 powerful rhetorical devices. In this 3-part series, we will go over each of these persuasive strategies in detail and provide examples to show how effective they are.

Part 1: Understanding Logos – The Appeal to Logic

The use of reasoning and proof to persuade an audience is known as logos, or logical appeal. Data, facts, figures, and logical arguments are used in this persuasive technique to bolster the speaker’s position. A speaker can strengthen the persuasiveness and credibility of their message by using logos to assist the audience grasp the reasoning behind their claims.

Consider a presentation focusing on climate change/ green energy transition. A speaker using logos might show figures on carbon emissions, graphs depicting the rise in global temperatures, and data from scientific studies. They could state:

“Since the late 19th century, the average surface temperature of the world has increased by roughly 1.18 degrees Celsius, according to NASA. In addition, since the Industrial Revolution, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased by 48%. These statistics show that the climate of our planet is being profoundly impacted by human activity.”

The above example can be inserted into the introduction of the speech to strategically capture the audience’s attention and it is almost a sure-fire way to get your audience to agree with you because of cold hard facts/ statistics (barring an audience that does not subscribe to logic and corroborative data haha).

Another example is how logic can sway your audience, making them go “Hm…that makes sense to do, beneficial/ win-win? Let’s do it!”.

“If you are still on the fence, what if I tell you that investing in green energy actually strengthens the economy? One of the job markets with the fastest growth is renewable energy. 11.5 million people were engaged globally in the renewable energy sector in 2019, according to a research published by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Additionally, spending money on green energy might boost the economy. According to a University of California, Berkeley research, the US economy may gain significantly if it switched to 100% renewable energy by 2030, adding nearly 4 million additional jobs.”

It is logically compelling for the audience to imbibe/ accept the speaker’s arguments since urgency of tackling climate change is corroborated with verifiable data.

Stay tuned for Part 2 in which we share how Pathos can be used to improve your public speaking and presentation impact and effectiveness!