Memory: The Most Important Canon of Rhetoric

The 5 canons of rhetoric are essential when trying to get your message across to an audience. However, I would argue that memory is the most important canon for any good speech. Invention, style, arrangement, and delivery all have solid cases, but these are all things that can change or adapt at any time. Memory is something you either know your material or you don’t. I have sat through numerous presentations and the worst ones that stand out usually are the ones where people read straight from their material. A personal pet peeve of mine is seeing someone read straight off their slides and add nothing else to it. It is a dead give away that the presenter had not really put any effort into practicing their speech. As a student in the College of Communications, one of the things my professors always stress to us is to memorize and practice your presentations. It was even suggested to me once that it was better to have less info on your to read off of. That way you won’t have to rely on reading off a note card or your powerpoint.

This is why, for me, memory holds a priority over the other canons. Each canon can intermingle with one another, but memory could have some damaging effects on other parts of cannon. For instance, my example from earlier with people who read off their slideshow shows that it can hinder people’s delivery. The last thing you want to do is lose an audience members attention and being unprepared will do that. Now take a presentation where you are not reading off your slides or notes the whole time. Your delivery will be changed again because you are able to speak without having to look away from your audience. Therefore, the more you know the better you will be off for it.