Making Them Listen

 In order to speak publicly, and do it right you have to have certain things so your talk will be successful. First of all your audience has to be paying attention, they have to be ready to receive all the information you are going to “throw”(56) at them.  Your audience also has to “like and trust you”(56) this way you can make an easier connection with your audience. Ethos plays a very important role in this chapter.

A recent study showed that more people fear public speaking than they do death. This means more people prefer to die, that to speak in front of a public.

We live in a such closed society that everything we are is know to our generation, this is why people already know what to expect from each and all of us.

We all know exactly who are the people that are good in math, and we also know who is the class clown. We know certain people want to do something good in our society, and we know exactly who is going to manipulate us is order to get what they want, and what benefits them.  

Ethos contains three sub categories, one that is my personal favorite, “selflessness, or disinterest” (56). You have to make it clear to the audience that what they want is exactly what you are going to give them, and that for now, it’s your only concern.

I never knew that Lincoln was such a brilliant man, he used things he knew would appeal to his audience, instead of criticizing and going against his audience and trying to teach them something they didn’t want to learn, he switched to their side and talked like them “he never would have become president”(60) if he didn’t appeal to ethos.

I understood that decorum isn’t what you wear but what people think of you, and that even if you are a good person, and people know that, that won’t get you the votes.

Also, I never knew that bragging wouldn’t make you seem like if you were above everyone else, on the contrary, it “shows how great you are”(62) and this gives confidence to your speakers.