ABSTRACT
The mastery of a genre such as conference presentations is a key to success in many academic contexts. Multimodality intersects with discourse by focusing on the variety of available semiotic modes from which users of genres can select to better suit their needs in particular communicative situations. This chapter provides a brief literature review of different approaches to academic discourse and genres that highlights the suitability of a multimodal approach to the study of an oral persuasive genre such as conference presentations. It examines the conference presentation itself, focusing on its multimodal nature and its persuasive character. The chapter presents a case study of an analysis of a conference presentation, which aims to highlight the contribution of the multimodal approach towards understanding how a persuasive message is designed in this genre. Persuasion in conference presentations is highly dependent on the communicative event. This implies proving that the presentation fits into the broader conference and coheres with other presentations.
