The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-12-30
ON THE PLATFORM.
HOW TO MAKE CERTAIN THE Sue
CESS OF A LECTURE.

The Audience ROom-A Good Thing Is
Improved by Being Enjoyed in a Good
Plac7-To Work Up an Audience
! Other Items.
/ Out Of some years Of experience ven
ture few suggestions that If followed
viii enable the hearers to get all the light
and enjoyment contained in any public ad-
dress, and that every time.
One thing even the most careless will
see The address that is a signal success
tonight can not be a failure to morrow
night if the conditions, the surroundings
are the same. Halls, churches, audiences,
expectations change; the language of the
lecture does not materially change, and
only as he is chilled by empty seats and
the shivers Of cold stove, or opposed by
the echoes, viii his delivery change If it
be clear, charming, thoroughbred tonight
tomorrow night on a platform as cosy and
before as many people, it VIII not be cold
and half-bred
Having secured speaker, you will be
neve will please the people, Of course you
wish to do all you con to help him please.
The first question then is that of an audi
ence-roOm. frequent mistake at this
point IS the dream that the larger the
room the more people will attend, the
more money be gained, and the greater
the success every way. OF course you
should know enough of the temper of your
people to form an idea of the number you
and the speaker together can draw" for
you can count on the fingers of one hand
the American names that, unaided will
draw fair house, and those you must pay
into the hundreds to get.
CHOICE OF \ ROOM.
Better choose a room little pinched
than much too large. Overflow the regu-
lar seats, fill up the aisles, and you lift
your speaker up TO a point whereon. if he
be mental athlete, he viii lift the people
There is eloquence in a row standing
against the wall No man ever admires
himself or the audience while speaking to
fifty people and 500 chairs. In the average
town of 1000 to 1900 people you do well
when you get 200 to pay their way to a
lecture; and a small room will seat that
number.
Having determined how small q room
viii fit the audience, look for the room
that has the best reputation for ease in
speaking and hearing Where it is hard
speaking it is hard hearing; and you never
thoroughly liked anything you worked
hard to listen to, yet missed parts of it.
Between the hall and the church of
suitable size, ETC., always take the church
1t is generally better lighted, seated,
warmed, and ventilated, and infinitely
cleaner, quieter and more in harmony with
right sentiments, even when set to the
music of humOr The average hall has q
high naked stage, with wings and curtains
that check the sound Of the voice, bare
dirty floor, hard, soiled seats, dingy walls
and windows, tobacco on the stove and
the stairs painted with it. Your minstrel
patrons like TO go there, but they don't go
there for the lecture with a moral pur-
pose and pay their way; and even when
free they only lounge in and out to the an
nOyance of all listeners. Your best, clear
minded thinkers and workers-your men
and women with whom the good thought
is seed sOwn in good grOund-do not like
to enter such holes up stairs; food for
brain and heart does not relish well there
A good thing is improved by being enjoyed
III good place. And the free lecture in
the downtown hall, if it has any delicacy
Of wit and sentiment, is ruined by the con- /
slant tramp over bare floors by boys and
lOungers who can not digest a thought in
public. 1t is a mistake to bid for such .
there; they must first be trained in the
schools and by conversational inter
course.