by Noah McKay | Apr 25, 2023 | Communication/Rhetoric, Speaking, Technique
Several students have come to me recently with variations on the same question: What should I do if judges complain that I speak too quickly or aggressively in debate rounds? (What I have to say below applies equally to speech events.) Here is the simple, but...
by Jeremiah Mosbey | Apr 6, 2023 | Speaking, Speech Events
“Tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell it to them, and then tell them what you told them.” Virtually every speaker and debater has received this advice at some point in their career. The above line is specifically talking about the presentation of your ideas...
by Patrick McDonald | Mar 14, 2023 | Speaking, Technique
In every sentence, some words are more important than others. Each word is necessary to make the sentence meaningful, but particular words carry more meaning than others. Consider the sentence: “Some time ago, I went to the zoo and saw a gorilla with a spatula.” Each...
by Nathanael Morgan | Mar 7, 2023 | Concept Analysis, NCFCA, Negative, Speaking, Stoa, Strategy, Team Policy, Technique, Thinking Strategically
When I was just getting a good grip on how to debate well, I struggled with winning the judges over. Oftentimes the ballots blamed this on my aggressiveness, but looking back on it now, I realize that that was only one facet of the problem. Counterintuitively, the...
by Patrick McDonald | Feb 13, 2023 | Limited Prep, Platform, Speaking
Throughout my time in NCFCA, I would fairly consistently receive the same comment: “Slow down!” Whenever I got this comment, I would smirk and think, “Aw c’mon…you can understand what I’m saying!” Throughout my five years in speech and debate, this was my mantra. I...
by Patrick McDonald | Dec 7, 2022 | Speaking, Technique
I have said elsewhere that one of the cardinal rules of forensics is to “never assume that the judge knows everything you do about a topic.” This is an essential rule because being on the same page with your judge is a prerequisite to persuading or informing them. If...
