President Uchtdorf's "Your Potential, Your Privilege"

Pres. Uchtdorf's talk greatly impressed me and thousands others during the Priesthood Session of this conference. The strongest rhetorical device that Pres. Uchtdorf used was the story that he started out with to create pathos, grabbing the attention of the audience. He began his talk with a story of a man who was going on a cruise. The man had saved up all of the money he could in order to go on this cruise. Because of his poverty after finally paying for the cruise, he packed one of his suitcases with canned beans, crackers and powdered lemonade in order to have food for his trip. He didn't want to have to waste money on the ship paying for food or activities so he stayed in his cabin and ate out of his suitcase the whole trip. At the end of the man's voyage he was asked by a crewman which farewell party he would be attending. When he heard this he realized that all of the activities, the mouthwatering food and the farewell party were already included in his ticket price from the beginning of the cruise. This story captures the attention of all who listen to it. Everyone can relate to the way the man must have felt when he heard that news. Not everyone in the world has gone on a cruise, but everyone can appreciate the regret the man must have lived with knowing that he lived far below his privileges. That was exactly the point that Pres. Uchtdorf wanted to illustrate with this talk. He went on to compare the man living below his privileges on the cruise to men of the Priesthood living far below their privileges. Pres. Uchtdorf, throughout the rest of his talk, focused on three ways to not end up living below our Priesthood privilege. His organization of introduction, three main points and conclusion greatly increased logos for the audience because we could follow easily and take notes without getting lost or having to backtrack. All in all his talk was amazing. The Spirit was very strong. Because of his pathos creating story at the beginning of his talk, he automatically had the attention throughout his message. He also made his talk easy to follow through his organizational skills enhancing logos. He grabbed our attention and then laid out a beautiful message that the Spirit could testify of .