The first minutes of conference presentations: An analysis of the opening of 16 research papers

The rhetorical aptitude of engineers appears to be meager in relation to the advice of rhetorical scholars. How different is it from the behavior of the scholars themselves? How do communication researchers present their papers? Do they follow the classical advice? This paper reports on an extensive case-study of professional communication researchers presenting their research papers. During an (inter)national conference the presentations of 16 speakers were filmed and their speech text was transcribed verbatim. The introductions of the speeches were analyzed on the basis of an exordium model grounded in classic and modern rhetoric. The research shows that the speaking behavior of the presenters is in line with the given advice, but that the choice for opening techniques is rather conventional. The observations also show that the persons chairing the sessions have a considerable impact on how the presenters begin. More educational concern is needed to prepare presenters for the frequent everyday problems.