Present Like A Pro: Impactful Content Development (I)

Present Like A Pro:
Impactful Content Development (I) 

2,300 years ago, Aristotle determined the components needed for persuasive speaking. They are referred to as the three pillars of persuasion - ethos, pathos and logos. 

Here, you’ll learn what ethos, pathos, and logos are (the secret!), and what every speaker needs to understand about these three pillars of public speaking.

What Are Ethos, Pathos and Logos? 

Ethos, pathos and logos are modes of persuasion used to convince and appeal to an audience. You need these qualities for your audience to accept your messages. 

Ethos: Your Credibility and Character 

Pathos: Emotional Bond with Your Listeners 

Logos: Logical and Rational Argument

Ethos - The Ethical Appeal 

Ethos is Greek for "character" and "ethic" is derived from ethos. Ethos consists of convincing your audience that you have good character and you are credible therefore your words can be trusted.

Ethos must be established from the start of your talk or the audience will not accept what you say. In fact, ethos is often established before your presentation.

There are many aspects to building your credibility: 

Does the audience respect you? 

Does the audience believe you are of good character? 

Does the audience believe you are generally trustworthy? 

Does the audience believe you are an authority on this speech topic?

Pathos - The Emotional Appeal 

Pathos is Greek for suffering and experience. Empathy, sympathy and pathetic are derived from pathos. Pathos is to persuade by appealing to the audience's emotions.

As a speaker, you want the audience to feel the same emotions you feel about something, you want to emotionally connect with them and influence them. If you have low pathos the audience is likely to try to find flaws in your arguments.

Pathos is the quality of a persuasive presentation which appeals to the emotions of the audience. 

Do your words evoke feelings of … love? … sympathy? … fear? 

Do your visuals evoke feelings of compassion? … envy? 

Does your characterization of the competition evoke feelings of hate? contempt? 

Emotional connection can be created in many ways by a speaker, perhaps most notably by stories.

The goal of a story, anecdote, analogy, simile, and metaphor is often to link an aspect of our primary message with a triggered emotional response from the audience.

Logos - The Logical Appeal 

The word “logic” is derived from logos. Logos is to appeal to logic by relying on the audience's intelligence and offering evidence in support of your argument.

Logos also develops ethos because the information makes you look knowledgeable. 

Logos is synonymous with a logical argument. 

Does your message make sense? 

Is your message based on facts, statistics, and evidence? 

Will your call-to-action lead to the desired outcome that you promise?

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