PRE-TOURNAMENT PREPARATION

While the title of the event suggests that no preparation goes into an impromptu speech other than that done during the one minute after drawing the topic, the reality is that the best impromptu speakers dominate the tournaments because of the amount of work they do before and between tournaments. There are many things a good speaker can do to improve the quality of the speeches given at tournaments.

First, a good impromptu speaker understands the basics of the event. The best way to do this is to PRACTICE! A good impromptu speaker who wishes to qualify to State in March should set a goal of 300 practice speeches between the time s/he is assigned to impromptu speaking and the District Tournament. While this seems like a huge number of speeches, remember that each requires only 5 minutes maximum. And remember that you have a lot of time--if you begin now. If you wait until February, it will be impossible to finish 300 practice speeches, and impossible to develop enough as a speaker to be a real threat in this event.

When doing practice speeches, remember to do the things that will eventually make you a tournament winner in this event. First, use different types of topics. It does little good to practice one type of topic so often that you get strong ratings on that type, but poor ratings on all other types. Instead, practice all types of topics so that you can develop the ability to give strong speeches on all types of topics. In fact, you should concentrate more practice time on your weaknesses than your strengths. If you do, some of these weaknesses may become strengths. Only when you can get strong ratings on all types of topics will you be the speaker who can win tournaments and command the respect of other speakers in your event.

Second, practice different techniques. For example, practice using poetry as your introduction. If you aren't comfortable with poetry, keep practicing until it is easy and until you have the flexibility to use it any time the topic requires it. Practice using jokes, stories, different voices, characters, singing and any other technique you can imagine. You may find that some of these techniques don't fit your style. But you may expand your abilities to include some of these techniques and make your style that much stronger. But at least you will develop and define your style so that you know what you can do well.

You will discover that some topics recur. While the wording of the topic may change from time to time, certain areas will surface as topics over and over. For example, topics dealing with success, effort, self improvement and overcoming obstacles seem to surface at every tournament. A good impromptu speaker will begin to make a list of these areas and will research and develop stock speeches on these topics. Then, if the topic surfaces again, you will have a strong speech all ready to go! CAUTION! Some speakers try to make a stock speech work in situations where it is not appropriate. They stretch and distort the speech or the topic to try to get the speech to fit the topic. Do not do this! If you do, you will likely receive ballots with poor ratings which indicate that you only marginally dealt with your topic.

The second thing a good impromptu speaker will do is to collect content. I'm sure you have heard speeches in which the speaker does not illustrate or provide examples, but just drones on and on analyzing the subject. These speeches tend to be very boring. Support materials (stories, examples, jokes, illustrations, quotations etc.) provide the interest in speeches and help the audience better understand the point you are trying to develop. So go looking for them! Get a 3 by 5 cardfile box and write down anything you read which could be useful as an introduction or as content in your speeches. The act of writing them down will commit many of them to memory. Work on memorizing the others, and practice delivering them so that they are smooth and effective. Memorizing stories, jokes, examples and other types of support material is the single most important step you can take in improving the content of your speeches. Then, read through your file of materials occasionally so that you become comfortable with more and more of the material you have collected.

There are some standard places to look for this kind of material. Look in books which give short illustrations of this kind. For example, biographical dictionaries tend to provide short summaries of important figures and their lives. Look in the newspaper and look for the small boxes which contain human interest stories. Try to locate books which give short stories about people doing exceptional things under exceptional circumstances. Collect good poetry and quotations and add them to your file. When you hear a good story in a speech given by someone else, write it down and add it to your file. For example, at the 1992 Salt Lake Country Democratic Convention, Phil Riessen, formerly a news anchorman for a local TV station, told this story:

Once while walking home, a man found a large cocoon. He decided to take the cocoon home to watch the miracle of change as the worm which had spun the cocoon turned into a beautiful butterfly. He watched each day and, for many days, saw no change. But then, one day the butterfly began to emerge from the cocoon. But the struggle was difficult, and the butterfly began to tire. The man, fearing that the butterfly would not be able to break out of the cocoon, took a small knife and broke open the shell to allow the butterfly to emerge without the struggle. But what emerged was a misshapen, bloated body with tiny little undeveloped wings. The butterfly was doomed. For the struggle to free itself from the cocoon was intended by nature to force liquid into the wings to force them to expand and develop. But without the struggle, the wings would never develop and the creature would soon die. Sometimes the struggles of life can bring out the true power and beauty that lies hidden in each of us.

What a great story! And what an unlikely place to find it. Get the basics of your event down through lots of practice and you will find that appropriate materials are all around you.

Finally, practice for audiences as often as possible. And get feedback from the audiences. If you can learn your weaknesses and strengths in practice situations, you can remediate your weaknesses without the pain of low tournament ratings, and you can learn to capitalize on those things you do well.

Tournament Procedure

So now you are at the tournament and it is your turn to speak. What do you do now?

First, concentrate on the task at hand. Don't panic! Think "What am I going to say?" not "What am I going to do?" If you concentrate on what you want to use as content, you will be less likely to panic and more likely to be able to think of effective and interesting materials to include.

Second, after receiving your topic slip, turn your back to the judge and the audience. This will allow you to concentrate and eliminate many distractions. Some speakers also close their eyes for the same reason. If this improves your ability to concentrate on the task at hand, then do so.

Third, select the topic on impulse. You don't have time to think about each topic and what you could do with it. Your preparation time will expire and you will still be trying to pick your topic. Instead, simply read the topics through once, and pick the topic on impulse. Usually your impulses will suggest the topic in which you are interested or about which you already have a significant body of knowledge or a strong opinion. Any of these reasons will make it possible for you to give an effective speech on that topic. So don't spend valuable time selecting the topic. Simply pick on impulse and devote your limited preparation time to developing something to say about the topic. As a rule of thumb, spend no more than five seconds to select the topic after reading the three choices.

Fourth, try to decide what point you will make. Remember that topics usually suggest areas of discussion, but do not give a specific thesis. It is the speaker's responsibility to decide the point s/he will try to make as the thesis of the speech.

Fifth, think of the introduction/conclusion tool that you will use. Pick the story or joke or illustration that you will use so that it sets up the thesis and provides a smooth and entertaining beginning for the speech.

Sixth, think of the three major subtopics that you will use as the body of your speech. Try to phrase each one with specific language (not just as a hazy idea), and try to phrase them in similar ways so that they will be easier to remember.

Spend the remainder of your preparation time repeating the 5 major items you have developed: the thesis, the introduction and conclusion tool, and the three areas of the body of the speech. It is unlikely that you will be able to develop much beyond these five things in the short time you are allotted to prepare. And, even if you could, it becomes more difficult to remember them. The rest of the content in your speech will be off-the-cuff. Remember that the more work you have done in collecting and memorizing content the more likely it is that some of the things you have collected will come to mind as appropriate content as you are speaking.

When you are ready to begin, turn back to the judge and the audience and begin delivering your speech.

Delivery

In delivering the speech, remember that the initial impression you make with the judge is very important. This begins from the moment the judge sees you, not just from the point at which you begin your speech. So you should always practice courtesy and control. The speaker who laughs and giggles and acts inappropriately may receive low ratings from many judges even though the speeches s/he gives are effective. Remember, too, that your personal appearance is part of your initial impression. So you should always be clean and neat and dressed appropriately.

Next, concentrate on the physical end of delivery. Try to maintain a confident expression, even if you do have butterflies in you stomach. Keep gestures under control. Use you hands when appropriate, but all gestures should be definite and should have a stop to them to show strength and control. Remember that facial and body animation contribute to the speech. Your face should always express the same emotion as your speech. If you are talking about death and starvation, you should not be smiling. If you are talking about joy and happiness, your face should not reflect fear or sadness.

Work on voice control. Try to have strong, forceful delivery. Don't sound weak and uncontrolled. Try to imagine famous people as good impromptu speakers. Imagine Robin Williams as an impromptu speaker. Do you think he would be weak and wimpy? Or would he be fun, strong, entertaining, energetic and confident? Now try to imitate the things about his style you admire and make them part of your own effective style. Remember that vocal inflections are used to show emotions or to provide stress on a significant point. So use your voice to make some points stand out or to show the emotion needed to convey the proper meaning or to persuade the judge to your point of view.

Remember that this is a personality event. A judge will vote for someone s/he likes. So let the judge see your personality. Have fun with the speech and work hard to say something in a smooth and entertaining fashion. Also, give the judge credit for basic intelligence. Don't seem to doubt his/her intelligence.

Next, understand the importance of choice of language. This is a formal speaking event, so formal language is appropriate. That means you should eliminate slang. And it means you should try to select language that is definite, concrete and colorful. Paint pictures with words and your judge will be impressed.

Avoid introducing anything which might divert the minds of your audience from your main point.You have heard speakers who got sidetracked on some unimportant detail and forgot about the main point s/he was trying to make. Stay on course, with definite steps and progress toward the goal of your speech.

Finish one thought at a time. Impress it clearly on the minds of you audience and then move on to your next point. If you get bogged down trying to present several ideas at once, you will lose clarity and direction.

Next, avoid hesitation, delay and uncertainty. You should always be in control. When you hesitate, it makes the judge believe you don't have a plan for the speech.

Finally, try to read your judge. If the judge seems bored with your presentation, you might need to increase your energy level or change the direction of your speech. You might also want to offer examples or illustrations to increase the judge's level of understanding.

In summary, winning speakers in impromptu, as in any other speaking situation, do three basic things. First, they make an interesting point. You can do this by selecting a specific thesis statement and by using varied and plentiful illustrations, examples and other support materials. Second, they are organized. You can do this by using and following a preview to set up the major areas of the body of the speech. Finally, they have effective delivery. Fluency will be easy if you have an effective introduction and organization to point you in a specific direction. Also, you might want to consider speaking just a bit slower than normal, so that your mind can keep up with your mouth. In addition, effective delivery should be confident and energetic.

Impromptu is much easier than you might initially believe! You are trying to accomplish three things: Just say something (a specific thesis statement will insure this) interesting (memorizing content stories and examples will insure this) in an organized (three-point previews will provide this), energetic (show some pizazz and style and have fun!) and fluent manner (slow down a little so that your brain can stay ahead of your mouth), and you will be a champion!

Date: 2014-12-29; view: 923