The Problem – You Don’t Have to Defend Transhumanism This Year
It has come to my attention that this year’s Lincoln Douglas resolution is breeding uneasiness among rank-and-file debaters and parents in the NCFCA. Of course, almost everyone is uneasy about new resolutions, because, well, they’re new. But the present distress goes beyond standard concerns about definitional vagueness or bias: some have questioned whether it is even morally permissible to defend the Affirmative position…
The season for contemplating speech topics is upon us, and as camps, clubs, and the start of a new year of Speech and Debate competition approaches, one dreaded question will swirl amongst them all.
What are you giving a speech on?
Continue reading “Don’t Be Afraid To Think Outside of the Box by Emalyn Sharp”
The NCFCA Regional Tournaments are ending, and Stoa Tournaments wrapped up in April. That still leaves a good four to six weeks between people’s last tournament option and A National Championship. How are you going to prepare for the next level of competition? We, at Lasting Impact! and Ziggy Debate have a FANTASTIC idea! But also be sure to check out the tips from our awesome coaches…
Sure, you have your own clubs to practice with, but as we know, the incentive to practice can be a bit lower if you’re not attending Nationals yourself. And given how important Nationals is to so many, it would be a shame for students to miss out on the opportunity to keep honing their debate skills in the 4/6-week gap.
That’s why the Ziggy + Lasting Impact! National Championship is such a great option: it provides a spaced out period of prelim and outround debates with prizes and national competition for students to keep their skills sharp and earn prizes, and it’s open to everyone, regardless of whether you’ve qualified for Nationals or not.
Ready to sign up? Head over to https://ziggyonlinedebate.us/sign-up/tournaments.html
What do coaches have to say… here is their insight for prepping for a National Championship…
Continue reading “Top Tips on How to Prep Debate Before a National Championship”
Our friends at IvyPanda reached out to us to tell us about an article they wrote. They specifically thought our audience would benefit from reading what they had to say about “filler words.” We couldn’t agree more…. Do you have an article you want to see? Have you written something you think our audience will benefit from? Contact us! We’d love to hear from you!
Continue reading “Guest Blog – Filler Words in Speech (part 1)”
It’s on every ballot. Whether you compete online or in person, it's one of the subtle speaking skills that an untrained listener will intuitively understand without necessarily knowing what to call it. Some speakers are just more pleasant to listen to as they speak, and you can learn to be one of them!
When you hear the term ‘vocal variety’ what do you think it involves?
What kind of variety could you get out of your palette of primary colored paints? Lots, right? How do you get that variety? By mixing in various amounts, obviously! While it may not be quite as intuitive, the same principle applies to your voice and its qualities. You can mix and match these to give a variety of results that make you more auditorily pleasing to your audience. A novice speaker is going to be concerned with writing a speech and memorizing it and getting it delivered. A not-so-novice speaker can begin to deliver it well using more vocal variety.
I like the Dictionary.com definition of timing:
“the choice, judgment, or control of when something should be done.”
I like this definition because of these words: choice, judgement, and control. These words emphasize that much of what we call timing as it pertains to public speaking depends strictly upon the speaker. The speaker chooses how to control the tempo to direct the responses and reactions of the audience.
There are actually several angles to consider when discussing pauses and timing as they apply to becoming a good public speaker.
Do I love thee? Let me count the ways... It seems only appropriate to have a cheesy Valentines post heading into the weekend. The question is simple- Do you LOVE your speech? If the answer is ""no" it usually shows and you should definitely read on...
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!
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)…
Continue reading “Lasting Impact! One Stop Resource”
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...