The Rhetorical Elements of Effective Speeches

The following table summarises 10 key rhetorical elements often to be found in effective speeches. In practice, these elements can appear indistinguishable. Identifying what part of a speech corresponds to which rhetorical element is, however, an academic concern. What is important, is that a speech features these elements – not all, necessarily, but one or two minimum, as a rule-of-thumb. If they are present – but not forced! – then the effectiveness of that speech is likely to be high.