Ron Finley gives a speech about being a guerilla gardener in South Central LA. He uses gardening as a way to beautify his community and change the landscape of vacant lots and liquor stores. In his introduction, he humorously points out how the city changed the name from South Central to South LA, but that did nothing to address the real issues. He keeps his speech lighthearted while still conveying the importance of what he is doing by transforming empty spaces into gardens and encouraging others to do the same.

1. Ron Finley – A Guerilla
Gardener in South Central LA

2. “See, I'm an artist. Gardening is my graffiti. I grow my art. Just
like a graffiti artist, where they beautify walls, me, I beautiful
lawns, parkways. I use the garden, the soil, like it's a piece of
cloth, and the plants and the trees, that's my embellishment
for that cloth. You'd be surprised what the soil could do if you
let it be your canvas.”

3. Speaker : Ron Finley
Thesis of his speech: Changing
South Central LA though building
gardens. Changing his city through
the canvis of the ground.

4. In Mr. Finley introduction he uses humor
not only to catch his audience but with in
his intro he makes a point about how he
city is doing anything to change the state
of where he lives. Here is what he start
his speech with….

5. “I live in South Central. This is South Central:
liquor stores, fast food, vacant lots.
So the city planners, they get together and
they figure they're going to change the name
South Central to make it represent something
else, so they change it to South Los Angeles,
like this is going to fix what's really going
wrong in the city. This is South Los Angeles.
(Laughter) Liquor stores, fast food, vacant
lots.”

6. Mr. Finley keeps it light and fun while
still giving is message out to the
audience. He allows the listener into his
world and the world of his community
and lets you see the importance of what
he is doing.

7. Dynamism
I would give him a 5 when it comes to
dynamism. The reason I would give him the
highest level because not only does he keep you
in egaged at the end he makes the listener want
to pick up a shovle and make a difference in your
eating and in your community.

8. Tips that He used from Garr
Reynolds
• Start Strong – He started with setting the tone
for what he was going to be talking about. He set
the tone with getting the audience to laugh and
by grabibing their attention.
• Move away from the podium – He didn’t use
one. He worked around that stage making eye
contact with the audience. He used that to gage
the audience and give him ques to move through
his speech.

9. What did I learn
The presenter used humor to engage and
keep the audience while still making the
point loud in clear. I have never seen a
presentation that they do this. At the end
of the presentation I decided to build a
farm in my neighborhood to make a
difference. I learned that having a little
humor can really work.

10. Difference between Ken Robinson speech
“schools kill creativity” to Ron Finley “A guerilla
Gardener in South Central LA”
• While Ron Finley made jokes to make sure that the audience is
engaged-A warrant for planting food on a piece of land that you
could care less about?" (Laughter) And I was like, "Cool. Bring it.".
Ken Robinson more used humor to make you think. “You don't
think of Shakespeare having a father, do you? Do you? Because you
don't think of Shakespeare being a child, do you? Shakespeare
being seven? “. He used this to make a point about creativity and
we all start as children.

11. Speech by Ron Finley