Snowed in: No one will ever see this presentation for FRS

This Friday my panel and I missed the Federation Rhetoric Symposium hosted by  Texas Woman’s University’s English Speech & Foreign Languages. Each year  either Texas A&M Commerce or Texas Woman’s University hosts the event. This year’s speaker was going to be Patricia Bizzell. But, unfortunately, my friends and I live too far to have chanced driving in such a snowy and icy mess, especially when my BFF, colleague, and  fellow presenter, Carie Lambert’s hill was a sheet of ice in McKinney. Denton is further north of McKinney so we decided the roads were not safe. In fact, one of my panelists had a tree fall on her car. In any event, we missed meeting Dr. Bizzell.

I have learned a lot because of Dr. Bizzell. Her book, The Rhetorical Tradition that she co-authored with Bruce Herzberg was used in my first History of Rhetoric class. I was hoping for a signed book because that book helped me understand the origins and practice of rhetoric. So, thank you Dr. Bizzell. I was hoping for a picture of you and I to put with Dr. Thomas Sloan in my office. I’m in the beginning of making a hall of fame wall. So far, I’m failing.

My colleagues and I prepared a roundtable discussion over Rhetoric and Technology. My part was going to be about politics online with an emphasis on the 2008 Presidential Campaign. Here are the points I was going to go over that I discovered in my dissertation.

• •Elections are important because they allow us freedom to actively participate in selecting our leaders. They are the core of democracy. Nowhere in the world are more people more freely engaged in active, responsible participation in the choice of leadership than in the United States (Trent and Friedenberg 3).
• •Ethos: –Candidates’ used exemplum-example
  –Obama found his weakness—his lack of experience—and countered that information by posting endorsements to show voters those credible politicians and organizations support him as president.
• •Pathos:
  –Of the three presidential candidates, Obama best succeeded in creating emotional connections with his audience. Obama created a dialogical interaction. Obama urged readers to make phone calls, attend events, and to donate money.
  –Clinton and McCain failed to create emotional connections with their blog readers. –Used Visuals
• •Logos:
  –Blogs allow for candidates to recap and summarize days events.
  –Posted times for events
  –Blogs allowed candidates to refute claims made during the Presidential debates.

In conclusion:

• •The 2008 Presidential Campaign set the standard for future online campaigns.
• •Obama took advantage of the immediacy that the Internet provides to create a venue for an online audience who relies heavily on receiving information via the Internet.
• •Clinton did not provide enough posts throughout the day. She hid her endorsements and did not highlight her volunteers. She also was not aggressive enough in dispelling Obama’s accusations.
• •McCain’s blog failed to update, emote, and build his credibility.

Of course I was going to be witty and funny while presenting… but as always, the best laid plans are never that well planned.

Tagged as: conference, dissertation, Rhetoric