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Impact! Tip – Personal Ethos by: Kristi Eskelund

Ethos is a difficult word to understand and even more difficult to effectively apply to your own efforts as a speaker. It’s a not-so-novice item for certain! Let’s see if we can begin to understand it a bit, and how we can apply it to Speech and Debate... and ultimately beyond!

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Impact Tip! Don’t Forget Philosophy in Lincoln Douglas Debate By: Caleb Sampson

Lasting Impact! is going to run a new series in 2021 called Impact Tips! Today’s tip comes from Caleb Sampson. He’s running an LD Workshop next week to help you bring your A-game to your Lincoln Douglas Debate. The workshop will discuss the relevance of this year’s NCFCA resolution and the proper use of philosophy, legislation, case law, historic examples, logic, and analogies. This is a Workshop LDers don’t want to miss! In fact, if you sign up now, we will throw in the Lasting Impact! LD Guide FREE. Sign up HERE or keep reading to see his Impact Tip!

What is the most essential yet underappreciated application in Lincoln Douglas Debate?

In 1858, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas faced off in a series of 7 debates about the issue of slavery in the United States. While both men were esteemed politicians and policy makers, these Lincoln Douglas debates didn’t focus on the intricate details of legislation or the ins and outs of constitutional law. Fundamentally, these debates focused on the values of Americans and the underlying philosophies that led the American People to those value systems.

The most essential yet underappreciated application in Lincoln-Douglas Debate is philosophy…

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Sign Up for a Lasting Impact! Winter Workshop this weekend- FREE Coaching Session!

Happy New Year! Now is the time to keep moving forward!! That’s right- if you sign up for one of our Winter Warm Up Workshops today or tomorrow- you will receive a FREE Coaching Session with the coach of your choice! Choose from…

More Winter Workshops may be added in the weeks to come- but now is the opportunity to jump on this offer! Simply order a Winter Workshp and you will receive a FREE Coaching Session (coaching session must take place this winter/spring 2021 season). Go to the SHOP under OnLine Classes to sign up, or click HERe, or click the links above. Remember, Workshops are recorded at no additional charge.

Understanding and Adjusting to Online Delivery by: Kristi Eskelund

If you are competing in Speech and Debate this year, the likelihood of you competing online is HIGH. Some people may think, "no big deal," but I strongly advise to walk in (to your bedroom and virtual room) prepared!! Sign up for the Lasting Impact! Online Prep Workshop HERE. We will be covering 20 items that we hope you are considering with your online set up- the difference between virtual and in person, how you debate, how you judge, positioning, and more! The workshop will be recorded and is included in the price! Don't take my word- read Kristi's article, she has taught online, judged online, and her son has attended school online. Listen and read her understanding on how you need to think about your online environment...

We didn’t foresee COVID-19, or the shut-down that ensued in its wake. We CAN however see that the tide has perhaps taken a permanent turn toward more online communication. There are certainly trade-offs, but the paradigm IS shifting. Employees and students ARE seeing that they can be productive in a remote environment, and in many cases, they are enjoying the very flexibility that has always marked the home school community. I think we can safely say that a percentage of college instruction, office meetings, sales negotiations, etc. will continue to stay online for the foreseeable future. While some of that programming may shift back, you are likely going to have to learn to be powerful and compelling as a communicator in the online format. Even the not-so-novice speaker has a learning curve here...

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Lasting Impact! One Stop Resource

Ever caught yourself feeling unprepared for the upcoming season or generally in need of speech and debate resources? You’re in luck! From clubs, coaching, and mentoring to downloadable pdfs, Lasting Impact! has you covered! If you’ve ever wondered what the resources Lasting Impact! offers are, look no further! Lasting Impact! is available for all to enjoy, however membership does have privileges. Why do we offer a membership? Lasting Impact! is a community, think of it as a giant club! We have members all over the world. A few of the membership benefits are- receive discounts on coaching, clubs, and classes, as well as free access to our video gallery and the recorded workshops. Membership is ONLY $35 for the year!! As a Christmas and New Year’s BONUS you can use the code MEMBER5 for $5 off!!! If you don’t want to be a member but want to be up to date on what we offer, be sure you SUBSCRIBE to our website and give us your email on the right hand side of the HOME page.

In addition to the over 400 articles (and counting) posted at the Lasting Impact! site written for Speech and Debaters, in mind, as well as parents, coaches, and club leaders, here is an outline everything available in the lastingimpact.info SHOP (think Christmas gifts)…

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Adding Personal Perspective to Speech and Debate by: Kristi Eskelund

If we are going to talk about YOU as a speaker (and we are!) then you need to begin to know what your perspective is on the things you are going to talk about. Perspective in your point of view.

Let me break that down:
Your – influenced by your own experiences and encounters and background, etc.
Point – the direction of your thoughts
of View – the way you are looking at things

See, your perspective is yours. As you move beyond the ranks of a novice speaker, you will stop writing and saying the things you think other people want you to write and say, and you will begin articulating your very own thoughts, gleaned from your very own experiences, based on the things you encounter with your very own senses. You will share perspective with other people, but unless you can identify something as your own perspective, you will not be a genuine and authentic speaker...

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Do Apologetics!! By: Emalyn Sharp

As is usually the case with me, it wasn’t my idea to compete in Apologetics. It was one of those things that I was cool observing from a distance but didn’t want to participate in myself. My mother had other ideas though and decided that it would ‘be good for me.’ Oh, how I hated those words. It was only my second year in Speech and Debate and I was absolutely terrified. Apologetics sounded complicated and scary. Apologetics was going to be miserable, and I was going to make a fool of myself…

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Sign Up Now! Online Tournament Prep Workshop

You may not want to hear it, but online communication is here to stay. It’s not going anywhere! While it seems as if it came abruptly in March of 2020, because of COVID, Lasting Impact! has been connecting with thousands of people across the country, even the world over the last five years! I have coached National Speech and Debate Champions, an Olympian, Fortune 500 Business owners, as well as students who want to be better communicators overall or simply want to enjoy the art of communication. And guess what? I have done this mostly online!! I have even directed a virtual play, as well four national online speech and debate tournaments, all within the that six months.

While all of us prefer to communicate in person and can’t wait to be together again, there is much to learn in the online environment. I believe communication, connection, and engagement can happen virtually. Until the day when we can be together, I will embrace, learn, grow, and adapt. There is much to learn!

This is why after our recent practice tournament, we decided we wanted to share with you the tips and tricks you can use to help you be a better virtual communicator. The Lasting Impact! Team will be offering an online workshop on how to prep for virtual tournaments. There are so many more elements to think through than just doing your speech or debating (in your bedroom) online. By now, you have been in an online meeting, where the presenter is back lit, or just the opposite and the sun is glaring in their eyes. We will address multiple items to get you thinking about how you want your online presentation to be, whether it be for speech or debate. I look forward to sharing what we have learned to help you prepare for the online world ahead. I hope you will join us Dec. 28 at 6:30pm CT

Learn about…

  • Online Tournament Tips
  • How to create an online environment
  • Lighting
  • Microphones and sound
  • Connecting online
  • Sitting vs standing
  • Movement and space
  • And more!

Cost – Only $10 per member family/$25 non member families*

*As always, no additional cost for the recording.

Click HERE to register and for more information.

Lasting Impact! exists to train and educate students to build their communication skills so they can be effective ambassadors for Christ in all areas of life. We are often told that practice makes perfect. In the case of online communication and this “don’t miss” Workshop, we believe practice will equal prepared! We hope to see you soon!

Essential Tournament Prep: Judging Debate by: Brenda Storz

Our friends, at New England Debate, posed a great question… it’s geared toward judges…

Are you ready? We’ve all spent months helping equip our debaters for competition. We’ve asked: Do they have fitting tournament attire, a way to organize their evidence, a timepiece and flowpad? Have they written their case well, developed enough negative research, and practiced enough debate rounds? We’ve focused on making sure they are prepared — or at least as prepared as they can be. As parents, we usually worry about ourselves last, but are we prepared?

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Cyber Monday Sale – Buy 2 Coaching Sessions – Get 1 FREE!!!

This offer is only good today! Purchase 2 coaching sessions – get 1 FREE!! Mix and match coaches. Use the coaching for the ultimate tournament prep, or spread it out during the season. Our coaches are excited to help you better prepare- for whatever lies ahead!

Check out our Lasting Impact! Team and Coaches HERE.

Purchase your sessions HERE. Just purchase two, and we will add the third for FREE!!

*Sessions must be used for the 2020-21 Season. Sorry, not valid for Club Coaching.

The TPers Horror Story Turned Utopia by Sarah Fox

It was the moment every policy debater fears. My partner and I had just asked our opponents what case they were running, and to our horror they gave us the name of one of the only cases we didn’t prep for at that national mixer. Not to mention it was the last prelim round – a breaking round. I less than confidently pulled out our one piece of evidence on the bill printed late the night before while my partner ran through the rain to retrieve a few pages of evidence from a fellow team. Needless to say, it was chaotic… Till we remembered there were such things as sourcebooks.

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