RSAnimate.

In class this week we talked about the several aspects of visual aides in rhetorical situations. After going over what makes effective PowerPoint presentations, posters, and the like, I immediately thought of the folks at RSAnimate. RSA, the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, is a multidisciplinary institution based in London dedicated to enriching British society. Founded in 1794, the RSA aims to be a "cradle of enlightenment thinking and a force for social progress," and past members have included Benjamin Franklin and Charles Dickens. RSA has an enormous breadth of projects in field ranging from the environment to education to business development, but one of their cooler ones (in my opinion) is RSAnimate. Amazing speakers come to the RSA and give inspiring presentations on almost anything. Then, some gifted animators take the audio recording of that presentation and illustrate it, writing out almost every single word amidst cartoons and graphics. In the videos RSAnimate releases on YouTube, you can listen to the speech as an animator playfully and creatively draws or writes each word at hyperspeed. The speeches themselves are worth listening to in their own right, but what makes them special is the way in which RSAnimate makes them come even more alive with simple doodles and notes. Check out this one, appropriately about language and communication (if you have the time, or ever get bored, I highly recommend watching as many RSAnimations as you can on all sorts of topics):

Our textbook says that whiteboards are not usually the best choice for effectively enhancing your visual presentation. While this may be true in real life, the quick hand in these videos moves around a humongous white board, carrying us with the words and zooming out to the entire illustration at the end to literally give the audience the big picture. RSAnimate videos are a great example of how well-thought, simple, yet creative visual aides engage the audience in an entirely new way.

The Seminar.

Another great show I'm going to analyze the rhetoric of is The Office. A few weeks ago, the show aired an episode called, "The Seminar," in which salesman Andy held a small business seminar in an attempt to bring in some extra income. However, most of his scheduled "keynote speakers," refused to speak, and Andy had to scrape together whoever else was willing to make a few short presentations to salvage his seminar. I thought it was a great example of the approaches most people take to public speaking and how some can or cannot be successful. This episode was a little dramatic of each style addressed for the sake of humor, and it worked because it was hilarious. Click here to watch the speech section of the episode on Hulu. The actual speeches start at about 7 minutes and 50 seconds into it. I loved how wittily each public speaking style was dramatized by some of my favorite characters on television:

• Kevin goes with the hardcore, inspirational, intense style by playing music more commonly heard at a basketball game and running around the small conference room giving high fives to pump up his audience. Unfortunately, Kevin is not the most athletic of individuals and his speech is cut short, as was his breath, by some vomiting because the physical exhaustion made him a little nauseous.
• Kelly starts out strong with a confident demeanor and smooth tone, but she fails a little on the ethos by calling an apparently successful businessman who only remembers her from a romantic rendezvous. I love how she says, "It is important to brand yourself, so I have a couple things in the works: the business bitch, the diet bitch, the shopping bitch, the etiquette bitch..." These personas have actually worked for several women in the past, at least as far as achieving fame and fortune, but Kelly isn't well-versed enough in business or relationship skills to make any of these work.
• Creed is probably the weirdest guy in the office and maybe even character on TV, and he stays true to this reputation by starting out with an odd anecdote that makes absolutely no sense. All in all it's just creepy.

These three examples of approaches to pubic speaking might be great entertainment when we watch The Office, but they're also great lessons about what to avoid and be aware of when we approach our own rhetorical situations and how we want to present ourself.

iH2O

I StumbledUpon this funny image a few weeks ago, and since we've been analyzing advertisements recently I thought it was appropriate to share it. You can click here to see the image up close and read the text.

The clever people at scoopertino.com have added a new product to Apple stores, and they're marketing it in traditional Apple style. It's.... get ready.... water!! Something we all need. Scoopertino has made it embody everything Apple is, "Clean. Simple." and also what water is, "Wet." The clean and simple design of their ads is one of Apple's trademarks, and Scoopertino has created one so perfectly that I actually wondered if Apple was seriously selling water. Although this image is entirely satirical, it highlights some commonly-used strategies in their advertising. It looks just like the ads on the real Apple's website! A simple photograph of the backlit product they're promoting, with pointers to break down all the great details. My favorite is, "Molecular perfection. Literally twice as many hydrogen atoms as there are oxygen atoms." The word choice is straightforward and a little informal, but informal in the way a respected boss would casually say something to you. Although this ad says that, "Apple Water says everything they need to know about you," it's really saying everyone most people would say about Apple, that it's "beautifully packaged [...] and perfectly overpriced." Everything in this image seems silly, but in the real ads for iPhones and iPads, we fall for the same design and word choice. At least I do (simultaneous blogging on a MacBook and texting on my iPhone...)