Once More With Feeling

At the lectern the physician-scientist spoke with passion and enthusiasm, lowering his voice and then raising it, changing its pace and rhythm, using metaphors and analogies, describing vividly a particular treatment and why it should be approved. Into his presentation he wove the story of a particular patient, one for whom several treatments had failed, not only lowering the quality of her life but increasingly endangering that life.

Not for a second did the physician-scientist ignore the data. The evidence with which he supported his message was compelling. He spoke with authority, creating the kind of credibility that engages listeners’ trust.

Yet in his presentation he elevated pathos, an appeal to emotion. He did so by telling a story, by choosing words for their emotional value, by using figurative language, and by varying his delivery – all techniques that can help a speaker evoke and use audience emotion to persuade.

CHOICES
Our physician-scientist could have chosen one of the other two means of persuasion to guide his talk.

… => bit.ly/9WTcLp