Rhetorical Analysis Of Merchant's Got Meeting? Take A Walk

“Things like breast cancer and colon cancer are directly tied to our lack of physical activity. Ten percent in fact, on both of those. Six percent for heart disease, seven percent for type 2 diabetes,” (1:21). Niofer Merchant was uniquely qualified to give this speech because she had experienced the death of her father due to lack of physical activity and saw the effects of walking meetings had on her life. Merchant gave her speech, “Got Meeting? Take a Walk,” in April 2013 at TED Talk. Giving her speech at TED is significant because it shows her credibility. In her speech, Merchant discusses the consequences of a lack of physical activity. She also discusses her personal experience with going on walking meetings. The purpose of Merchant’s

Logos is reasoning using facts and/or statistics. Logos is persuasive because it shows how the speaker has credibility due to them using facts/statistics. Logos persuades the audience because the audience is able to believe what the speaker is saying is factual due to the fact that they are using facts/statistics. One example of logos in Merchant’s speech is “Nowadays people are sitting 9.3 hours a day, which is more than we’re sleeping, at 7.7 hours” (0:54). This is an example of logos because it shows how she has done research on the topic she is speaking about because she has the statistics. This gives credibility because it shows that Merchant is educated on what she is advocating for. Another example of logos Merchant uses is “Things like breast cancer and colon cancer are directly tied to our lack of physical activity. Ten percent in fact, on both of those” (1:21). This is an example of logos because Merchant is using statistics to show her audience that she is a credible speaker. Using statistics gives her credibility because it shows that she has educated herself further on the topic she is presenting. One secondary strategy Merchant uses is diction. Merchant uses diction throughout her speech by repeatedly using more informal words when talking about one’s bottom. Using the words “duff” and “tush” shows that Merchant is an approachable person and

Pathos is reasoning that appeals to emotions. Pathos is persuasive because when touching one’s emotions, it can help the argument the speaker is trying to make. Pathos persuades the audience is able to get into what the speaker is saying more because their emotions have been touched. One example of pathos in Merchant’s speech is “seven percent for type 2 diabetes, which is what my father died of” (1:21). This example shows pathos because Merchant is trying to touch the audience by sharing her personal experiences with illness from lack of physical activity. This can persuade the audience because they are able to understand that she has personally experienced the death of a loved one due to a lack of physical activity. Through sharing her personal experience, the audience is able to get into the speech more because the audience knows that she is a credible speaker in what she is sharing. Another example of pathos in Merchant’s speech is “In that way, sitting has become the smoking of our generation” (0:54). This is an example of pathos because Merchant is comparing a life-threatening action many people do, to something that everyone does every single day. Comparing the two opens the eyes of the audience and touches their emotions through the element of surprise. This persuades the audience because when comparing smoking and sitting, most