by Anna Johansen | Feb 27, 2017 | Technique, Top Drills
I never thought Goethe and Bruce Lee would have too much in common. But apparently I was wrong. Despite their diverse origins—one hailing from 18th century Frankfurt; the other from 20th-century pop culture—somehow, they managed to agree on one key point: “Knowing is...
by Isaiah McPeak | Sep 1, 2016 | Best Resources, Coaching, Top Drills
The worst kind of self-challenge is to get “all” of anything right. Improvement tends to happen incrementally, by focusing on one aspect of a skill at a time. For example, instead of aiming to improve your speaker points from 22 to 24, on average, it would be better...
by Cameron Bertron | Feb 4, 2016 | Technique, Thinking Strategically, Top Drills
From the moment you walk into a debate round you are communicating with everyone in the room. Everything you do matters, your dress, your posture, your expression, and especially your body language. Because even before the first line of your first speech the judge has...
by Emily Rose | Sep 17, 2015 | Coaching, Technique, Top Drills
Not to be ornery, but when a dentist pokes a drill into my mouth and assures “this will only hurt a bit”, I cringe. And then I grip the chair, inhale deeply, and try to find that inner happy place of dental bliss. I know his use of the drill is going to improve my...
by Clare Downing | Aug 4, 2015 | Parliamentary, Technique, Top Drills
Word conservation shows maturity in argumentation. If you’re willing to stop talking, it shows that you trust your words and logic to accomplish their intended purpose. If you’re looking to master word conservation, then this is the drill for you. Step 1: Find your...
by Isaiah McPeak | Mar 21, 2015 | Strategy, Top Drills, Tournaments
As Chip and Dan Heath (also authors of our favorite communications book, Made to Stick) note in their book “Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard,” improvement is often about capitalizing on the “bright spots.” A similar point is made by Charles Duhigg in...
