Week 3 Question 1: An Effective Communicator

The first person that pops into my mind when I think of a great speaker is my best friend/boyfriend Corneilious. I have known him for three years now and have always been intrigued by his ability to articulate his opinions, ideas, and stories. Friends of ours would always call him "Grandpa Neil" because he tells great stories that leave the audience captivated and amused. I am only beginning to learn his ways of communication. By the way, he is a communication major which makes him a stronger speaker than before. When I tell stories, I always leave my audience feeling confused and lost but with Corneilious, he strategically prepares his stories and punch lines carefully so that his audience can easily pay attention. I believe he is a natural at public speaking because it does not take long for him to formulate a plan on how to deliver the punch line when he is abruptly telling a story.

I believe that his power of persuasion encompasses all three of the rhetoric classification schemes. Corneilious as a person is a reliable source. Knowing his character, he would not exaggerate details or relay false information. Our friends fully trust his words and accept him as a credible source. Through his personal characteristics of natural leadership and charisma, he can easily fascinate his listeners. He can manipulate the ambiance around him through his ability to calm or raise his voice at the right moment in the story. With the ability of affecting the emotions and feelings of his listeners, he definitely falls under the pathos classification as well. Corneilious has I an uncanny ability to make a sad story funny, or a funny story serious. I can only embarrass myself while trying to relay a comical story to others but somehow, my humorous situation turns becomes confusion and silly when I verbally describe it. I know that he uses his pathos ability against me when we get into a heated argument or a serious debate. He some how woos me and softens my madness with his words. When we argue or when, he takes advantage of his ability to use logos by manipulating his wording and logic of the message. When making a statement or explaining a situation, Corneilious uses words that exactly describes his meaning. Sometimes there are stories that are logically sound in my head but when speaking it out loud, it can be hard for others to understand, but Corneilious has no problems making others understand his meaning.

My own personal qualities are not persuasive like Corneilious or other public speakers. I believe that there are some people can become leaders through education and training, but some are born leaders. I am a person who is learning to become a leader and how to better articulate my thoughts. I can be persuasive at time through the use of pathos when telling stories that needs requires sympathy for understanding. I definitely need to work on achieving the ethos and logos quality and I hope that this class will help me achieve it. Thinking outside of the Aristotle’s classification theme, I usually am a better persuasive speaker when I listen to my audience’s concerns first. I sometimes use my audiences’ words against them or to use it in favor of reaching a clear communication. Because I know what my audiences’ like to hear, I can use that to my advantage when trying to hold their attention.

Aristotle’s classification scheme only describes the main ways of communication but there many other methods that different people use to get effectively communication. Although, everyone is different and may be unique in their method communication, the speaker must learn how to use ethos, pathos, and logos as well.