I’ve been blessed to coach students heading to the national championship and watch students compete since 2016. Year after year, I often find myself saying the same thing- get a fresh perspective! It is not a new concept.
What inspired me today applies particularly to speech students, though I would encourage debate students to think through the same concept – how do we view our case, digital presentation/expos, apologetics? You name it, pick a topic.. how do we approach any of it with a fresh perspective that will not only engage our audience and judges, but engage our own minds as well…
One of the most inspiring moments with Speech and Debate was my first year at nationals, and hearing Mrs. Cromer say, “if this is all there is… then we have failed.” And while in and of itself there is an entire article here, I want to cling to this statement in a wildly different way when I think about what I just experienced in a recent coaching session.
Because I am blessed to have many students in our local club in a small geographic area, I often have opportunity to dig deeply with students from September, all the way through the entire competitive season. Often times, from qualifier to qualifier, or even to national opens, and even often onto regionals, we can deliver the same speech over and over and achieve different results. But for competitors, and quite frankly coaches alike, we get tired of coaching the same exact thing, or saying, the same exact things to students each time. What I loved about this recent coaching session was that the students from the very beginning said we want a fresh perspective. They were willing to take their extremely successful speech from this past competitive season, and we’re willing to lay it on the line to get a perspective from a new coach, and apply some of the crazy zany wacky things that he had suggested!
If you have a speech that you have competed with all season, how do you examine it and give it some thing new and fresh to bring to the national stage? Not everything will be in the showcase, but as a coach for every student reading this article that is headed to nationals you must except the fact that it is a privilege to get to this point!! Just because you received a national invitation this year does not mean that you will get one next year! Or just because you’ve received the national invitation in one category does not mean that you’ll get it again! Therefore, please be grateful for the gift that you have been given to communicate these speeches at least three more times!!!
Remember, your audience is different. Remember, the area of the country that you are performing in is most likely different and automatically there is a whole lot of “new!” But to take a much more practical approach, I would encourage you this: develop those characters deeper than you have all season. Sharpen your blocking or your movement that has a fresh creativity that you’ve never thought of before. I would encourage you that if you’ve been with one coach, all season, consider hiring or asking another coach to take a fresh. Look to give a new idea.
To give your interpretive piece, a real edge at nationals I cannot stress it enough. You must have unique and clear theater of the mind. It is such an important aspect to be able to draw your judges right into the moment where you are and so often overlooked. Your characters must be known by you the actor inside outside backwards and forwards. You must be able to inhabit every unique aspect of them, whether you tell a story that spans a period of time, or you journey with them from start to finish in a short period of time these characters just like true actors will always tell you become a part of you for a little while. They are fun to play. They are fun to explore and they are unique.
Consider re-reading your book that your Interp comes from remembering how your 10 minute version of the story plays into the authors intent. Remember that impact is suggestive, and what impacts one person will not impact another. A Bible verse tacked onto the end of a story, does not make a story more powerful . The author wrote a story, and should be able to impact in and of itself. Consider rewriting your intro for nationals. Does this really say what you want it to say?
Here at Lasting Impact! we are blessed with a whole panel of coaches that many of them are not often used. Why is that? Each Coach brings a unique gift to the table and would love to take a look at a piece! Even if it’s for one unique aspect, one character, facial expression, one developed voice, or a great piece of blocking that perhaps even you just didn’t happen to think of. Schedule a coaching session NOW! Whether it’s for the national stage or perhaps you are ready to think next year already! 😉
Lynda comes to us with a BFA in Directing for the Theatre and completed her degree at the Royal Academy of Dramatic art in London England. She has a passion for helping students find their voice as having lost her own for a while made her see that it doesn’t matter how talented you are, but how passionate you are for the subject you are speaking about. This is her 6th season with NCFCA and loves her role as lead speech coach for SNOW club in the great state of NH where she now resides with her husband and 4 children, the last of which, thankfully, has many years left to compete.