The preface to James Winans’ Speech-making—an influential early text on public speaking—is analyzed from the perspective of image repair, with special attention to inoculation theory-based image building strategies

Josh Compton

Conversation Starter: Image Prepare, Preemptive Image Repair, and Inoculation Theory in the Preface to Winans’ (1938) Speech-making

Image prepare is the idea that a rhetor can preemptively use conventional image repair strategies to protect image against future attacks. One place we might find image prepare strategies is in a book’s preface, which usually introduces a book’s arguments and establishes a book’s tone. In this present analysis, the preface to James Winans’ Speech-making—an influential early text on public speaking—is analyzed from the perspective of image repair, with special attention to inoculation theory-based image building strategies used at the start of the book. Implications for introductory strategies, in general, are considered—strategies that might be at play in public speeches and other forms of communication.  

Compton, J. (2021, November). Conversation starter: Image prepare, preemptive image repair, and inoculation strategy in the preface to Winans’ (1938) Speech-making. National Communication Association, Seattle, WA, United States. 

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