![]() ![]() It’s a great time to work on your speaking, something that you will take with you far beyond the time you will spend debating in high school or college. For those of you who are still debating, your National Tournament is either finishing up or just around the corner. This post will focus on both impromptu skills and general ways to improve your eloquence and rhetoric. In reading countless articles about improving extemporaneous speech, asking many how to improve clarity and fluency, and watching great communicators, I’ve developed a list of 5 ways you can improve your speaking. ![]() I’m still not a great speaker, but I’m working at it, and I know how and what it takes to improve. In preparing for my final tournament in high school-NSDA Nationals 2017, I’m deciding to put time and effort into improving my speaking and fluency. Don’t make the same mistake I did-push through the work, though it may be difficult, and in the end, you will gain a skill useful throughout your whole life. Improving delivery is ultimately a long, arduous, but worthwhile goal. I lost a great educational opportunity because it was not “fun” to do impromptu speeches where I messed up and blanked out. With new topics every other month, (Editors note: for those unfamiliar, NSDA switches LD topics every two months) although I had success at some tournaments, I was inconsistent, due largely in part to my speaking lagging behind my opponents. No longer was I able to hide my speaking behind my partner, reading copious amounts of evidence, or out-preparing my opponents. In my junior year, I switched over to Lincoln-Douglas Debate. Sometimes I watch the 1AR that I gave in the finals of the state tournament and cringe…) As the season went on, I did improve, through increased familiarity with the topic, improved cases, and loads of preparation. I hid my low-quality speaking behind my partner, reading evidence cards, and out-preparing my opponents. I broke and placed at several tournaments my first two years in policy debate, but my rhetoric was never polished on the contrary, I was below average when it came to clarity in extemporaneous speaking. This post is lengthy, but if you read through and put into practice what I’m illustrating, you will improve. Unfortunately, I never committed to improving my extemporaneous delivery until my senior year. Although I’ve had success in debate, I’ve never been a fluent nor eloquent speaker. ![]()
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