Thoughts from the comically small college dorm desk of one of the Lasting Impact coaches:
You can’t just rely on charm in speech and debate.
Trust me, I’ve tried.
There is no secret trick to winning tournaments, there is no special sauce in connecting with a judge, there is no proprietary speech structure that magically makes your topic comprehensible. As boring and cliched as it sounds, the only way to ensure steady growth and consistency in the competition room is practice. Practice makes perfect.
Slow, boring, monotonous practice.
Practice makes perfect.
My piano teacher always reminded me that “you can never truly play a piece until you have it memorized.” The same goes with speeches. Crafting and memorizing the speech is just the beginning, the real work comes with the fine tuning of your inflection, gestures, pacing, and eye contact. That is what will draw your audience in and make the speech worth listening to. That takes time. That takes repetition. Throughout my five years in speech and debate, I’ve seen that the reliably successful competitors are not always the ones with the most confidence or charisma, but the ones who are willing to buckle down and hone their speeches. Practice makes perfect.
I know it’s not the advice you were hoping to hear. It’s certainly not what I want to be true, but there is a comfort knowing that success in speech and debate is not reserved for just the people who are naturally confident in front of crowds. With enough practice, anyone can craft their message into a tournament winning speech.
Well there you go. Practice is the secret to success. You can have that one for free. Who says you can’t get value out of Lasting Impact’s free resources?
This article serves a few purposes.
First, to encourage students who may be nervous about starting a new competition season especially when there are so many accomplished competitors out there. They should find confidence in knowing that practice is all it takes to grow your speaking skills and deepen those neural pathways in your brain.
Second, to motivate students to practice. Look, I know how that sounds. Isaac, could you find anything else to say other than cliches? It’s true though. Don’t end your tournament season knowing that you didn’t leave it all on the table. Don’t let a lack of practice be the difference between breaking or not breaking or the difference between 8th place and 1st place. While I don’t have regrets from my time in speech and debate, I know that I didn’t work as hard as I could have and I can very clearly see where that held me back in the competition room. Don’t make that mistake. As a wise LinkedIn post once put it. “Work so hard that failure is unreasonable.”
Finally, this article serves as a sort of apologetic for the online clubs that Lasting Impact facilitates. Yes, you knew this was coming: the smooth transition into the thing we’re trying to sell you. The good news is that you can do most of what we are offering you for free. It doesn’t cost money to work a script at or give an impromptu speech at home. The question is, will there be enough intrinsic motivation to actually get that done?
That is where Lasting Impact’s clubs come in. They provide accountability with a space for consistent weekly practice paired with guidance and teaching from experienced coaches. That is something that, even if you are in a speech club, can still be helpful. Lasting Impact provides a place where you can go from initial idea to polished presentation in a few short weeks. Where you will get individual, tailored feedback to your specific presentation style. And also, where you can do it in a welcoming community who will keep you on track.
Two clubs that are coming up very soon are Master Impromptu Speaking and The Platform Speech Intensive. These are two spaces for exactly what I have been talking about: a place to practice in a cohort with others where you will grow your skills every week. I would especially recommend the Impromptu Speaking cohort because it even more hits at the idea of practice makes perfect. It’s not only a category that requires polished speaking and engaging presentation, but quick thinking, strong organization, and effective recall. Because there is no script for impromptu, practice seems more distant and thus impromptu becomes less… well, practiced. Check out both of these clubs and the rest of the catalogue at Lasting Impact! Both Master Impromptu Speaking and The Platform Speech Intensive begin with a FREE WEBINAR so at least check that out. Also – check out all the opportunities to practice in the CLUBS HERE in the SHOP. Reminder, our Apol Club starts TONIGHT! Join any of kick off meetings of our online clubs for FREE. Just contact anne.lastingimpact@gmail.com
I know that the principle of practice isn’t anything new, but I hope this article was able to help you see it in a different light. If it didn’t do that, then well, I’m sorry. You won’t get those 5 minutes back.
If you have any questions, comments, things you disagree with, or if you noticed an egregious grammatical error in this piece, feel free to reach out to me at isaacjonathandoi@gmail.com.