# Fostering User Engagement: Rhetorical Devices for Applause Generation Learnt from TED Talks

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1704.02362 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1704.02362/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 17 Mar 2017.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Can an AI-Powered Presentation Platform Based On The Game "Just a Minute" Be Used To Improve Students' Public Speaking Skills?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.03379/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

One problem that every presenter faces when delivering a public discourse is how to hold the listeners' attentions or to keep them involved. Therefore, many studies in conversation analysis work on this issue and suggest qualitatively con-structions that can effectively lead to audience's applause. To investigate these proposals quantitatively, in this study we an-alyze the transcripts of 2,135 TED Talks, with a particular fo-cus on the rhetorical devices that are used by the presenters for applause elicitation. Through conducting regression anal-ysis, we identify and interpret 24 rhetorical devices as triggers of audience applauding. We further build models that can rec-ognize applause-evoking sentences and conclude this work with potential implications.