ABSTRACT
This chapter defines the appropriate contexts for public speaking and identifies the genres that are appropriate for distinct occasions. The notion of rhetorical “genre” refers to different arrangements of elements in a composition or discourse that are appropriate to certain occasions. Identifying what kind of genre is appropriate within a situation is perhaps the most important consideration any public speaker can make, for it provides the proper “form” in which claims can be made and ideas structured and expressed. Although the number of speech genres is, literally, countless, they generally can be divided into speeches of introduction, enrichment, advocacy, commemoration, encouragement, deliberation, solicitation, administration, and invective. The goal of this chapter is to provide a general method of organization and invention that enables a public speaker to achieve a level of decorum.
