If Speech and Debate has taught me anything it's that you can never please everyone. I mean think about it. If you go back to look at the scores in the final round at Nationals, the champion is likely to have fives and sixes just like any other competitor. No matter what event you’re in it’s true that not everyone who watches you will love what you’re doing as much as you do. I like keeping it real, and knowing this fact allowed me to craft my performances in a way that appea

We’ve all seen it. If you’re a woman in this activity, it’s likely that you’ve either received (or will receive) some offhand note about your appearance on a ballot. Judges will comment on the way you wear your hair, the color/cut of your suit, your heels, or even your makeup. Gross. I know. But strangely enough, it seems that in every major out-round, in most national finals, all the participating women in speech have a meticulous style. I’m here to break that down for you

Movies and TV shows can be great resources for HI scripts. Finding one in script form with an ISBN is a treasure trove of snappy dialogue and made-for-the-screen jokes. But judges are looking for a little something extra when you pick a movie or TV show, and simply re-creating the characters from everyone’s favorite comedy isn’t a surefire way to get laughs, especially if the audience has heard the jokes before. So how can you, the performer, go about freshening up this scrip

“Do personal stories in Oratory have to be true?” This question kinda blew my mind when a coach from another school asked me after judging a few Oratory rounds for the first time. How many times have we sat in Oratory rounds and listened to personal anecdotes that just make you want raise your eyebrow and think “ Huh...I’m pretty sure that never happened”. For example, I once had saw a kid giving a speech about consumerism and one of his anecdotes was about how his 15 year ol