Using the Modes of Appeal to Establish an Impactful Introduction
Kyle Kirzinger
Introductions are like first impressions; you only get one. One chance to grab your audience’s attention. Otherwise, you will be fighting to gain their attention for the remainder of the presentation. When setting the stage, we need to not only grab the audience’s attention, but show them we intend to hold it, either logically (Logos), emotionally (Pathos), or professionally (Ethos) (Kennedy, 1991). We are going to breakdown how different appeals resonate more effectively with different audiences and strategies on how to create these introductions.
The Modes of Appeal – A Brief Review
Aristotle, a Greek philosopher, wrote about three ways to persuade an audience. These “modes of appeal” are:
- Logos – Appeal to Logic
- Pathos – Appeal to Emotions
- Ethos – Appeal to Values/Trust
The Power of a Great Introduction
Please, take a moment to watch the following video, narrated by Caroline Mohr, titled The power of a great introduction.
Mohr does an eloquent job of not only telling us how to write a proper introduction, but also gives us the perfect example of a spoken introduction as well. In her video, Mohr used a blend of logos and ethos appeals by showing classic examples, establishing expertise. Notice Mohr did not start her speech with, “Hello, my name is…”. Instead, she provided the audience with enough information to intrigued and excite them about the upcoming content.
Mohr also recognizes that the content of an introduction must be relevant through the entirety of the speech; all important points were forecasted and nothing absent was teased. It is important to be efficient in our communication – tell me what you are going to say, say it, tell me what you said.
Logos – A Detective’s Best Friend
Much like a detective’s work, the logos appeal is based on logic, rational, and evidence. For a logos-centric introduction to make sense, the audience must be able to rationally form a conclusion on your subject that makes them buy into what you are trying to communicate.
Rational thinking can form in many ways depending on the individual. Max Weber identified that rational thinking methods could be categorized as practical, theoretical, formal, and substantive (Kalberg, 1980). The underlying theme beneath these is that the information provided allows the audience member to find reason behind your argument, common sense if you will.
Aristotle provides us with a very simple example of a logos appeal in action when he said, “All men are mortal. Socrates is a man. Therefore, Socrates is mortal.”. If we were to expand this notion into a speech, we have to introduce enough information for the audience to draw our intended conclusion. You could begin your introduction explaining how men are mortal, then forecast why Socrates is a man, tying it all together by saying this will prove why Socrates is a man. This allows the audience to come to your conclusion before you have spoken it. Now, all reasoning to follow is just reinforcement to your argument. This simple structure of opening with information, tease the context, then stating the conclusion you (and your audience should) have formed. This not only draws the audience in because you will have a common belief, but it forecasts the context that you will use to argue why your conclusion is correct.
Now that we understand how to craft a logos introduction, we must identify when it is most effective. A logos-centric introduction should be utilized whenever you can identify that the audience possesses the ability to understand the logic you are employing and reason their way to the same conclusion. If the audience could come to a conflicting answer, a logos appeal would not be as effective, and you may instead opt for an ethos-centric introduction.
Ethos – The Resume of Introductions
If an audience could build a counter argument to your thought process, the most effective defence is to establish credibility. In this introduction, you will weave experience and expertise into your dialogue to provide the audience with a verbal resume; telling them your opinion should be taken seriously because you are the resident expert.
Expertise can situate itself within you in many forms. Maybe you are an expert by trade and spent years honing your abilities. Or you are an expert by association and have studied the work of others that you reference your knowledge to. If neither of these sound like the case, you could be an expert by experience whereby accident or intent, you have first-hand experience on the topic of interest.
An ethos-centric introductions could take the form of providing a statistic and citing a reputable source, drawing on a story that illustrates your experience in a relevant scenario, or provide context for why you are an educated expert on the topic (education, certification, etc.).
This type of introduction is effective when you are faced with an audience that lacks pre-requisite knowledge to the subject of your speech. Thus, you must be the one to educate and inform your audience on said subject. Many times, if an audience has no prior knowledge of your subject, they lack personal investment and connection. This is the perfect scenario to appeal to the audience’s humanity.
“You the Real MVP” – Kevin Durant
While it is not the best structured speech and lacks a defined pathos introduction, Durant’s MVP Speech in 2014 invoked emotion in more than just basketball fans across the nation. This is the kind of inspiration we look to channel in our audience when employing the pathos approach.
Pathos – An Emotional Connection
Looking back in history, some of the most riveting speeches have built their foundation on emotional connection. Some will call it tugging on the heartstrings, but a pathos-centric introduction can play off of more emotions than sadness.
It is easy to relate with one another through loss. This is because it is something we can assume everyone has experienced, forging a strong connection and sense of investment through relation. However, we do not always want to invoke negative emotions within our audience members. Sometimes we must draw on the moments where time froze and hearts stopped, or the warmth you felt returning to a place of comfort. We can relate to our audience through any experience of heighted emotion to create the desired feeling required for the audience to fuller immerse themselves in your subject.
A pathos-centric introduction requires drawing out emotion. Thus, these introductions usually take the form painting a picture, hypothetical or experienced, in order to draw the intended emotion out in our audience. However, we can also create emotion with passion or vulnerability by showing our audience an unexpected side of ourselves. This allows the audience to step into our shoes and understand the why of our argument.
By sharing the why with our audience, we can find a way to make them buy into our perspective, as the speaker. This is an extremely persuasive force when faced with an audience you lack common ground with because we feel emotion in everything we do. Big or small, your audience members will find some experience to draw upon.
Kairos – Right Time, Right Place
Kairos is a fourth mode of appeal that is less commonly used, in comparison to logos, ethos, and pathos. Kairos is a tool to be employed when the circumstances are perfect. Anticipation, cultural-significance, urgency, have all molded this boiling point for your topic that the audience is primed to not just listen, but care. I Have a Dream, delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is the perfect example of a kairos-based speech, supplemented by a Kairos based introduction.
Bringing it All Together
Once you have identified the mode of appeal you will be working into your speech, it is important to tie this introduction back into the rest of your speech. Now that you have gained your audience’s attention, you must forecast how you will keep it. Thus, before rounding out your introduction, you need to briefly state, in order, the points you will be making in support of your argument. By forecasting your content, your structure will provide the audience a roadmap to keep them on track and able to follow the remainder of your speech
Learning Objectives:
Following your completion of this chapter, you should be able to
- recognize the goal of an effective introduction,
- identify which (combination) of the modes of appeal will be most effective,
- forecast the contents of your speech.
