I was the first of my siblings to enter the daunting world of public speaking. For me, it happened as it has happened to many others: my mother informed me that I would be doing Speech and Debate, and no amount of terror and pleading on my part could convince her otherwise. Of course, like so many before me, I soon fell in love with the activity and the deep friendships that were ripe to be formed in this environment.
I joined in mid-December, and in January headed off to the first tournament armed with a Lincoln-Douglas case and an After-Dinner Speech. As a beginner speaker thrown into the deep end, I was forced to learn quickly how to stop my knees from shaking, and how to think on the fly. Nowhere was this more evident than in the category of impromptu. Over a year, I learned how to go from fifth-and-below in impromptu to winning a tournament.
The secret? Stories.
Continue reading “Storytelling: The Beginning Speaker’s Greatest Weapon by: Anna Fox”
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