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.