Speakers who use statistics are more effective in my mind. In my mind statistics mean credibility. When a speaker gives a statistic it makes me feel like they really know what they are talking about. Speakers should be trying to teach you about a subject and a great way for them to do that is for them to give statistics. This, in my mind, makes an audience trust the speaker, which makes them more open to what the speaker is trying to say. An audience should trust the speaker they are listening to. Otherwise they are closed off to learning about what the speaker is saying.
I still think that facts are an important rhetorical element, but I did not end up using them that much in my analysis paper. I remember actually struggling to put that element into my paper. It is weird looking back and thinking about how committed I was to one topic at the beginning of the assignment, but by the end, I barely remembered that I wanted to use it.