While many of the Elevator Pitches presented in class interested me and exposed me to a few different ways in which organizations are using rhetorical techniques to persuade audiences, I was particularly intrigued by Matt’s presentation. His pitch focused on the website of Nvidia, a technology company, and how it illustrated their commitment to sustainability. His opening hook immediately connected the classroom audience to his artifact by encouraging us to reflect upon the commonplace of technological innovation in our lives. He then strategically flowed from this commonplace to that of environmental sustainability, and hence presented Nvidia’s messaging campaign as one that sought to merge these two themes into their collective “ethos” as a company. Moreover, he elaborated on this claim by providing direct evidence from their website that demonstrates their intention to promote sustainability. This includes the placement of their products on the the “Green500” list which ranks supercomputer technology solely in terms of energy efficiency. He also included additional information regarding the relative performance of the company’s public share price relative to other firms by mentioning their significant outpacing of the S&P 500 index. And while this does not specifically connect to the company’s messaging around environmental sustainability, it does suggest a connection between sustainable practices and economic growth. Hence, utilization of this connection may broaden the audience Nvidia is trying to reach by including those who may be more strictly business-oriented and less open to exalting sustainability unless it produces tangible benefits. I do think that as Matt develops his artifact analysis going forward, he could focus in more on the rhetorical choices used in the website and less on a broad description of the company. While an in-depth analysis of the company was certainly interesting, it does distract from the central purpose of the rhetorical analysis which is to consider how certain choices within the artifact itself appeal to the audience around certain ideologies and commonplaces.
I agree that Matt’s pitch was well done, especially the organization of his ideas and how they connected to each other. I think you offer good advice at the end by suggesting that he should focus more on thee artifact itself, rather than the company. This will definitely strengthen his argument.
I also noticed that Matt did a good job connecting the ideas in his pitch and it flowed well. I agree that it would be helpful if he just gave a brief description of the company then gave an in-depth analysis of the rhetoric used in the artifact to tell us about the choices made there.
I agree that Matt’s elevator pitch was well formed, as well as pertinent to the world right now as more companies become more sustainable. He was able to effectively deliver his points and successfully connected his artifact to rhetoric analysis.