I Want to Talk About...

Journal of Business and Technical Communication Apr 2008

Dorien Van De Mieroop Artesis Plantijn Hogeschool Antwerpen ; Jaap de Jong Leiden University ; Bas Andeweg Delft University of Technology

Abstract

This article investigates the introductions of 40 professional speeches from a rhetorical perspective to address the problems audiences seem to have with presentations about engineering. The authors use an exordial model that they derived from classical manuals on rhetoric. This model enumerates and groups rhetorical exordial techniques into 3 main functions: attentum, benevolum, and docilem . The study shows that rhetorically complete introductions are rare. Most of the speakers seemed to prefer a content-oriented, direct approach ( docilem) in their introductions and seldom used techniques to garner the audience's attention ( attentum) or sympathy ( benevolum). The article concludes with an evaluation of the exordial model and a discussion of the study's pedagogical implications.

Journal: Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published: 2008-04-01
DOI: 10.1177/1050651907311926
Open Access: Closed
Topics: multimodality

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (1)

Galbraith et al. (2014)

The Impact of Presentation Form, Entrepreneurial Passion, and Perceived Prepare…

Journal of Business and Technical Communication

Cites in this index (2)

Andeweg et al. (1998)

“May I have your attention?”;: Exordial techniques in informative oral presentations

Technical Communication Quarterly
Scheiber et al. (1994)

Oral Communication in Business and Industry: Results of a Survey on Scientific,…

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication

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