"Kairos" is an important, but sometimes illusive, rhetorical term. The word itself means "time," and time is central to the concept, which means the "right time" or the "ideal moment" for communicating. Kairos is basically about the context of the moment: what's relevant to the audience at any particular time?

Timing, as they sometimes say, is everything, and "kairos" is the rhetorical situation. Rhetoric is about finding the best "available means" of persuasion "at any given moment" or "in any given case."

Some rhetoricians describe kairos as a fourth "appeal" because rhetors frequently appeal to the urgency of a particular time or moment to engage an audience.

Past, present, and future ("forensic," "epideictic," and "demonstrative" as our video on rhetoric labels them) are definitely part of the picture here, as well.

"Decorum" is closely linked to kairos.