An inventive speaker may take a number of creative avenues to construct an impactful speech that possesses lasting audience effect. A resourceful film student tapped into his cinematic toolkit to apply a fundamental principle of effective public speech to heighten listener involvement. Using his film training to engage the audience, he employed the technique of the second-person camera. The second-person camera views a scene from an audience rather than character vantage point. This technique replaces detached observation with the sensation of the viewer “being there.”


The speaker applied this cinematic method to his chosen scene, a stone garden in the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. Designing his text from an audience perspective, here follow extracts from the speech:


You scan the serene landscape as you pass through the gates of the Japanese Tea Garden. Ahead, you see the line of tourists waiting for tea and bland fortune cookies under the thatched-roof tea house. You watch their awkward ascents and descents over the steeply arched footbridge. Stop laughing at that side-saddled climber balancing his video camera…Toss a water lily onto the lap of the coppery Buddha. Slow your step as you walk the shaded path to the quiet corner of the garden. ‘It’s empty,’ you cheer silently. But don’t you usually sit there alone, reflecting on the simple patch with little more than a bed of moss and three jade-green stones? With eyes closed you visualize running your fingers down the slopes of the smooth stones. Your shoulders fall and relax. Your face feels as cool as the moss.


This audience-centered approach produced a consistent reaction. Peer critiques uniformly praised the speech for its transporting sense. Intending this reaction, the speaker asked classmates to express what they had visualized. He found that his listeners had imagined complementary detail, the dress and girth of the bridge climber, the contemplative expression of the Buddha, the size and shape of the garden stones. Adapting the cinematic perspective of the second-person camera creatively generated audience involvement, a prerequisite for effective public speech!


About The Author:


The Magic Museum, The Isaacson Series in Youth Literature - An enchanting children's book that tells the story of a 12-year old skateboarder (Jack) and a ballerina (Jacqueline) who whispers to him from an Edgar Degas painting in a fine arts museum. A wonderful way for parents to introduce fine art and engage children (ages 8 to 12 years old) in the art of visual storytelling and imagination.


For More Information on The Magic Museum Book, visit - http://www.isaacsonseries.com