Performance Concept

The experience I want to recreate for this final performance is my high school graduation. This event is significant to me because it represents an important milestone in my life, as well as on my path to college and becoming an adult.     

The senses I want to engage are auditory, visual, and tactile. To engage the auditory senses, I was thinking I could read a graduation speech that was a cut n' mix of another well-known graduation speech- Steve Jobs' 2005 speech at Stanford, or David Foster Wallace's 2005 speech at Kenyon College, for example- or a cut n' mix of some inspirational quotes. I could play "Pomp and Circumstance" quietly in the background, too. I was also thinking I could play a slideshow of pictures from my own graduation, in order to engage the visual senses. Finally, to engage the tactile senses, I want to recreate a mock graduation ceremony, where I would have the class line up and come to the podium. I could hand each of them a flower or a fake diploma, which, when everyone had gone through the line, they could all throw up in the air like graduation caps to symbolize their own "graduation." The aspect of the performance I want to focus on the most, as well as what I most want the audience to get out of this, is the significance of the graduation ceremony as an important milestone in every young person's life. I also want to make the performance fun, as a sort of celebration, so to balance the two out, I thought that if I made the speech and ceremony serious, I could pass out cake- which would also incorporate the sense of taste- for everyone to eat at the end.

In terms of the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of each, I think one downside to me giving a "graduation speech" is that it might get a little boring for the audience. In order to keep the audience engaged and alert, I should try to keep it short, sweet, and to-the-point, so probably around 2 1/2 minutes or under, since I also need time for the graduation "ceremony." For the slideshow of pictures from my own graduation in the background, I think it'd be a kind of cool visual for looking back on where I was then compared to where I am now, and it might inspire the audience to do some reflecting on their own graduation. A downside to this, though, would be that the added visual element would detract from the message I'm trying to get across in my speech. I think what would really help my audience to get the most out of this performance and what would help truly recreate the experience would be the mock graduation ceremony. I think it could be kind of fun in a nostalgic way for everybody, plus it would help liven up the performance so it's not just me standing up there and talking. The only drawback would be that it might put me over the time limit for my performance, but if I keep the speech short, or maybe cut it out entirely and just do the ceremony, it should work. Finally, I really like the cake at the end, just as another way to make my performance feel more like an actual graduation and a celebration, but again, time might be an issue, and I wouldn't want people to be so distracted by eating the cake that they would forget the real point and message behind my performance, or not pay attention to the next one!