Speaking of Empowerment

We are more interested than ever before in celebrities. The first decade of the twenty-first century passed quickly in a haze of paparazzi and glossy mags. Celebrity has done nothing but grow since the turn of the century. As if their presence in every magazine and newspaper as well as their dominance of the TV wasn’t enough, celebrities are increasingly making personal appearances.

You just can’t escape celebrities. And I don’t just mean the leftovers from obscure 1990s boybands. People with a real claim to fame are doing it too. That’s right, you can hire almost anyone, and for any occasion if you find the right agency.

I confess I didn’t see this trend coming. I had naively assumed that celebrities were too busy to attend parties and supermarket opening with us mere mortals. Not so! Perhaps it’s the effects of the credit crunch on their Prada purse strings; the celebrity at your party comes at a price after all. Or maybe a desire to be seen in the most clubs is a source of rivalry for celebrities.

But it wouldn’t be fair to make generalisations. Other celebrities have something to offer. I’m talking about people famous for being good at acting, or cooking, or intelligent. Celebrities like this can make personal appearances interesting. There are examples of celebrities using their personal appearances to do something positive: some have taught children to cook healthily, used their status to encourage charity donations and recycling. Others simply claim to enjoy getting to meet the people who support them.

People often assume that a personal appearance means a pretty woman posing in a nightclub. That type of appearances are useful for promoting businesses. However, there is so much more than simple promotion that can be achieved through personal appearances. Many celebrities are deeper than we give the credit for and have constructive input to offer on a wide range of subjects such as the environment and charity. Maybe you’re looking for a simple personal appearance to fill your club next Saturday; good for you, I’m sure it’ll help. However, if you are looking for something a bit deeper, don’t write off celebrity appearance altogether. If you dig a little deeper you might see that a celebrity could really boost your event and your cause.

Attending a university graduation ceremony is a proud moment for the grandaunts and their parents who have supported their child for the past three, four or five years as they completed their chosen degree. Working towards a degree will bring you the chance to have a successful career, brighter job prospects and a life changing time away from home. The ceremony should celebrate the achievements of the attendees, and well chosen keynote speakers are one of the best ways that this can be done.

Whilst I fully support those people who decide not to go to university, choosing a keynote speaker who has not experienced a university life is sheer foolishness on the part of graduation organisers. Going straight into a job after leaving school is a life completely different than if you choose to go to university for three or four years, and keynote speakers will not be able to relate with their audience if they have not gone through the same experiences.

University life makes you more independent. You are faced with situation where you might be forced to live with people you do not get along with, you have to make new sets of friends and you have to be financially organised to be able to budget your loan or get a part time job to help with living costs. All of these things can only be learnt whilst at university.

When you decide to go into a proper job straight after leaving school, most people still live with their parents for a few months, even years and they have their washing done for them and meals cooked, you have a stable wage which university students do not have and if you do move out you choose the people you are living with. And contrary to most people’s beliefs, those who do go to university mostly pay for the experience themselves by getting a part time job. Working through the holidays and paying of their loan once they have left.

So when it comes to the time when graduation organisers are planning the day, the keynote speakers should be checked to see if they have been to university. If they have not been they will not be able to give a speech that targets their audience.