Do speeches count for "watch live entertainment"?

From what I recall sims will not listen to speeches at all. I tried to make a club like that a while ago, but it didn't work out. The best I have achieved is to have statues (in this case gnomes) placed around the speech podium, so when sims are looking at art it seems like they're listening. The lot is categorized as a museum, so the visitors will also gather around the podium. Please let me know if you find a way to make it work otherwise :)