Communication and Rhetoric
When Your Life Is A Catchphrase
“Everybody here? Great. Anna, would you pray for us before we get started?” “Oh. Me? Oh. Yeah, sure! Um. Okay.” You know that moment when you’re handed something completely unexpected? When you’re strolling along a sunny lane and then a giant iguana shows up out of...
Patterns, Not Problems
No matter how you’re involved in the speech/debate scene, at some point you’ll probably be asked to give feedback to help other people improve. This post aims to make that feedback better. “Fix patterns, not problems.” - Tracy Wilk, former Google executive, quoting...
Speed Tip Series: Use Fewer Words
Have you ever played Mousetrap? You know, the game with the epic contraption: you turn the crank, which pulls back a sign, that slams into a bucket, that sets loose a marble, that slides down a pipe, that jostles a pole, that drops a marble, that flips a diver, that...
The Power of (Not-So) Useless Facts
Speakers who surprise, educate, and impress their audiences (by definition) keep their audience’s attention. If you’ve ever listened to a cool story or listened to a speech about a favorite subject, it is harder than normal to distract you. Bad speeches tend to cause...
Going on Offense: Spikes, Part 1
If you’ve ever played volleyball, you know the terror of a spike. A player slams the ball over the net so hard you have no hope of returning it. In debate, a spike is a little different, but still a powerful offensive tactic. Referring broadly to preemption, a spike...
7 Tips for Persuading Novice Judges
“I don’t understand. I had superior arguments, evidence, and refutation, but the judge voted for the other team.” I imagine every debater has felt this way at some point. Yet, even when we think we should win “on paper,” the judge is always right. Inevitably, you will...
BAM – Miscommunication!
This post talks about communication in the real world. As you read, though, think about how these principles apply to debate and speech. As you practice these concepts in competition, you’re actually strengthening your conversations with family, friends, and...
Debate. Is. Everywhere.
As a competitive high school debater, one of my pet peeves was when people would say to me, “Oh, I’d be great at debate. I love arguing with people!” It frustrated me that they would reduce debate to mere argumentation, because there is so much more to it....
Seven Tactics For Tackling Extemp
Extemporaneous is an intimidating speech category, but it is also one of the most rewarding. Competing in Extemp builds your critical thinking skills, makes you a more informed citizen, and is an incredible opportunity to share your opinion on important issues with...
Writing In Real Life
On Wednesday, I told you that we're on the hunt for some new Ethos team members. Since then, I've gotten resumes, writing samples--and questions. Questions about Ethos, about the blog, about writing. And as I look over them, I keep coming back to one core idea: what...
Persuasive Inoculation
This post is from longtime debater and speaker Catherine Alles. Catherine competed in TP with NCFCA for 5 years, and qualified to Nationals all 4 years of high school. Look for more posts from her over the next few months! When a doctor injects a patient with a...
How to Make Your Audience Laugh
Almost all of us have been there. Sitting, listening to a speaker or a debater, laughing blissfully. At that moment, the speaker has the audience practically in his or her palm. Later, we will try those same tactics we heard, only to be greeted with awkward moments....
Advanced Verbal Techniques – Get Inside your Audience’s Mind.
How do you take your speeches to the next level? How do you separate yourself from the rest of the room, and even the other speakers in the debate round? Focus on the key distinguishing factors that make all the difference. Most of the time you can just get good or...
How Much Passion is Too Much?
Passion can be a cornerstone for an effective or persuasive speech. Many speeches on certain subjects don't need it, but many do. It's a hard delineation to find. If you've ever seen a speaker with too much passion, you know how easy it is to become quickly annoyed. A...
Speaking to an Audience: The Techniques
Specific/Advanced Techniques and Devices After the last post on more general techniques, this post will focus more on the concrete speech devices you can implement. However, as mentioned before, you don’t want to go overboard with these devices or use them without any...