In the speech “How to use a paper towel” performed for TED in 2012, Joe Smith delivered an interesting and intriguing speech on how to better use paper towels, to a room of executives and the video would soon be shared with millions. He used a style of speech that although lacking complexity and info at times most definitely kept people watching and listening. Small jokes and simplicity made the speech digestible, comprehensible, and potent.
The mode of logic used by Joe Smith is Logos, his use of logos was represented by his use of statistics in the beginning and end of his speech. “If we could reduce the usage of paper towels, one towel per person per day, 571,230,000 pounds of paper not used” ( Smith 1). His use of this number makes his argument sound far more convincing. He uses these numbers to make a point and then demonstrates a simple solution and proves that it can work. Then he reinforces the idea by bringing the statistics back toward the end of the speech.
His tone throughout the speech is light hearted. He does this thought the speech with many things. Such as when he says, “The fold is important because it allows interstitial suspension. You don't have to remember that part,
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If the listener looks to his last paragraph they will see a good example of this. He starts off with a complex sentence and then leads into two very short simple sentences, The next few sentences are some length of a simple sentence. Now whether or not Smith intended for the structure of these sentences to have a specific effect, they had one. The simplicity of most of these sentences, allows for a greater amount of people to grasp and appreciate the message, nevertheless some people might have preferred a more technical message. Notwithstanding those who love an overly complex message, the message was more than effective. An additional example of Smith’s use of simplistic speech could be found in his