Persuade

6Time and Place

“After hard work, the biggest determinant is being in the right place at the right time.”

– Michael Bloomberg, businessperson, politician, and philanthropist

In addition to Ethos, Pathos, and Logos, Aristotle discussed one more element overlapping the principles of rhetorical persuasion: Kairos, or the opportune moment. Kairos is the time and place when conditions are right to persuade. The context in which you deliver your argument. The when and the where.

The When and the Where

The concept of kairos underlies each step of the influence process. From the order of the process, to the communication medium, to evoking the right emotions at the right time, to the right time to make the ask, the principles of kairos have been evident throughout.

According to famed rhetorical theorist Dr. James Kinneavy, kairos is “the appropriateness of the discourse to the particular circumstances of the time, place, speaker, and audience involved.”⁴⁸

Consider Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Did you know he gave nearly identical speeches at least twice before? Prior to delivering his “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington D.C. in August of 1963, Dr. King delivered dream speeches, with large portions nearly identical, at Booker T. Washington High School in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, in November 1962 and at the Great Walk to Freedom march in Detroit in June 1963.

So, why was Dr. King's D.C. speech so powerful? Well, Dr. King had practiced delivering ...