7 Non-Traditional Speech and Debate Resources

We all love our Red/Blue book, our coaches, Wikipedia, Fox News, our Black's Law Dictionary, our briefcase. We own twenty different pens each and can't live without our folders, notecards, and highlighters for evidence.
But there's more. A whole new world (I swear I won't start singing) of speech and debate awesome.

 I love using all sort of different weird things to supplement my personal quest of ultimate speechanddebateism. Here are some of my favorites.

1. Pinterest
There are two ways you can use Pinterest for speech and debate.
The first is to create boards of evidence for debate or extemp, or even quotes from movies/books/etc for Mars Hill ideas to then copy down in your notebook. This is for the serious people. 
The second is to pin hilarious s/d related memes that make you laugh. Or make you want sit on the internet just five more hours and pin more  #thestruggleisreal. Shameless advertising: This is a link to my Speech and Debate Pinterest board, which includes mostly funny things but also some good, serious quotes.

2. Youtube
Just type in "Humorous Interp" and prepare to be amazed.

Pros: Seeing amazing speeches from the past and getting ideas, being entertained, becoming awed and inspired. About ninety percent of my youtube history is watching nationally ranked speeches. The rest is Rhett and Link rap battles, Bad Lip Readings, and AVBite musicals.
Another thing I like to do on YouTube for debate is watch recorded debate rounds. I watch the first affirmative constructive, or only AC is it's LD, flowing all the while. Then I pause the video, give myself prep time, and deliver my 'rebuttal' to my phone, which records my voice. Then I play the video and compare the 'real' rebuttal to mine, figuring out what I did and didn't like about both. This is especially helpful for Parli. Recording my voice is so I can listen to it afterwards and rank my own speaks. That way I can say stuff like, "Hey, I didn't realize I sound so robotic when reading my tags. I'll work on that."

Cons: Horrible interps from your newbie years that somebody decided to videotape and now haunt you via the internet. Please, for the love of impact, don't ever look me up on Youtube.

3. Blogs
Yep. Hopefully this one has given you lots of brilliant ideas. I've got more listed in the column to the right listed something like 'Great S/D Resources'. I've also found writing a blog gets my enthusiasm up and the creative juices flowing.

4. Texting
I know, I'm one of those uber annoying stereotypical female teenaged extroverts who things texting is so totally fetch.
Haha, no. All you cynics, listen up, because I'm about to tell you how texting can actually help your debate skills.
You know when you're in semi-finals? No, I don't mean literally breaking to semis, but going to watch semis. Because chances are if you're not in them you're watching them. If not willingly, your coach will probably make you.
Anyway, you have this amazing argument against the neg's third contention that you're mad the aff isn't bringing up (isn't everything so much clearer when you're NOT at the podium?). You have three options. A. You could keep it to yourself and let it die in the recesses of your mind, or maybe maybe maybe but probably not re-read your flow (because you're totally flowing like your coach told you to...) and add it to a brief. B. You could be that really annoying obnoxious person who whispers to the guy next to you during the round. More on the do's and don'ts of whispering in a round in this post.
Or, C. Text back and forth with you're debate partner of BFF who's probably watching, too. It's super fun and non-distracting.

5. Camera Phones
This is gaining popularity like Passenger did after he released "Let Her Go". (#Hipstermoment: I loved them/him--he went solo and kept the name--before that and have every single album).
For non-music-addicts, it's spreading like crazy. The idea is to take a picture of postings so you have your order number or side, room number, floor number, and opponent(s) name(s) at the palm of your hand. If you're like me, you have to stare at postings for five solid minutes and mutter under your breathe all the way there to effectively remember. Even then, sometimes I have to check a third or forth time. Camera phone solves all that.

6. Non-Consumable Travel Coffee Mugs
This can hold:
1. Coffee (duh)
2. Hot tea
3. Soup for on-the-go.
These are amazing to carry around tournie and eat/drink while talking, reciting, judging juniors, or just hanging out listening to that one guy who brought a guitar. There is nothing more boring than sitting by yourself eating soup out of a bowl waiting for breaks.

7. Doubled-Sided Sticky Notes
Never, ever, go to a tournie or a club meeting or anywhere without these. They are self-explanatory.

Whispering In the Round

***The following does not apply to whispering to your partner during a two-man-team debate round in which you are competing. I realize there is a separate set of guidelines for that***

Let me tell you a story.

Once upon a time my friend, Yazmin, who's in my club, broke to Lincoln Douglas quarter-finals.

YAY!!!!

Then she broke to semi-finals.

DOUBLE YAY!!!!

Then, during semis, these annoying guys who weren't in our club started whispering and laughing really loud during the round.
This is sometimes used as a really underhanded dirty way to distract one of the speakers. We don't know if that was their intention or if they were just being rude. Either way, Yazmin was distracted and even stuttered a little bit during her rebuttal. Which was quite unlike her.
She didn't make it to finals. Yazmin, though, is one of those sweet and grateful people who felt honored to make it to semis and just smiled afters breaks and said, "Next time, for sure!"
Now, Yazmin's parents were head of tab that tournie, and there are some pros and cons to that. The pros are you get to know if they're powermatching, randomizing matches, reverse powermatching, going odd-even, or doing the first round/fourth second/fifth third/sixth thing I can't remember the name of and confuses everyone...which is probably why tab does it.
The cons include that after that tournie during the ballot party Yazmin's dad announced WHY she had lost.
It was a 3-2 decision. According to him, he spoke to last judge. They said they noticed how Yazmin got distracted during the rebuttals. This judge says if Yazmin couldn't handle the pressure she didn't deserve to win.

No, just no.

Now, my coach Carys explained that you can whisper and still not lose someone a round. If you're sitting in the back, and you lean over to the person sitting next to you and whisper and quick quip about the round, and not even the people next to you can hear, then you're fine. People do it all the time. I even would encourage discussing the round in-round. But if you're sitting towards the front whispering loudly and laughing obnoxiously to the point where the audience is paying attention to you and not the round, then you're doing it wrong.

In fact, if you're like me and it's physically impossible for you to whisper (I just can't do it, kay?) try texting one another back and forth. Then you can talk all you want. You can even use all caps to illustrate your point. You can lol and rofl 'till the cows come home. Or, if you're old school, pass notes. It's not rude, nobody notices, and if you're talking about the round it's even educational.

But I swear if something like that ever happens to one of my friends again someone's gonna lose their head.

Guess What Time It Is? STRESS TIME.

Guess what? It's...

DUN DUN DUN

OFFICIAL PRE-SEASON.

I started student coaching today, and let me tell you, it was fun.I am also exhausted. I'm ready to settle down for the weekend and blaaaaah the whole time.

Nevermind I should actually attempt editing and, oh, I don't know, memorizing my DI. Or print my cases. Or find new quotes for intros. Research for extemp. Do some leftover schoolwork. But I can't. Because I have schedules and lesson plans to plan for next week. Not to mention I've got to call my partner about Parli tomorrow (which will actually be quite fun), call my best friend on Sunday (also fun), not to mention I might have a friend come down from out of town on Sunday, too. And a football game tomorrow.

I joke about being really extroverted all the time and how I love being busy. I score a sixty to eighty percent extroversion preference on the Myers Briggs typology test. In fact I just finished nodding and laughing at this list of 20 things about extroverts.

However, I'm kind of worn out.

I love school. I'm taking gov and Classic American Lit this year. That's super awesome to a future Literature major. I love people. My friends are everything to me. I love speech and debate. I even write a blog about it, for goodness sake.

We all have those moments, though, when we get worn down. We watch that pile of things to do get bigger and bigger. The sticky notes are flying and the printer's broke an you just want to scream WHY. WHY ME. WHY DO I FEEL LIKE BREAKING.

Why do we feel like breaking?

Because we are human. Because we are breathing creatures who want to revel in God's glory all the time, like we are meant to, one day in heaven.

Right now we are worn.

What we have to do is hold onto those moments the remind us Who we are living for.

When I walk into church and hear the chatter of voices and light streams through stained glass windows onto the cross.
When I run into one of my best friends I haven't seen in four plus months for a quick few minutes after drama class and he pokes fun at me and I listen to him laugh rather than 'lol's on a little bright screen.
When I try out for a solo with my besties even though I can't sing to save my life...just for the heck of it.
When my baby brother smiles at me, holds out a toy, and says "Edaphant!"

Then everything else....it just kind of melts away.
Because in them, I am reminded of God's glory. I might not be able to handle all my problems. But He can.

Showcase Night

Most clubs have a night where they dress up and show off. Some clubs call it I.E. Night or Performance Night. Our club calls it the Showcase. We wear fancy clothes and show off our skills in front of everyone we can convince to show up. So what's the purpose? There's a few schools of thought on the subject:

A few years ago on Showcase night when we were *shudder* newbies. (Jk, love the newbies.)

1. To show off
2. To recruit
3. To raise money for the club
4. To build awareness
5. To have fun
6. To dress up

Well, the answer is no longer the last one in our club. We went to wearing ballroom attire on showcase )night to wearing suits, which we do all the time. I fought, kicking, screaming, and passive-aggressively metaphorically biting, to keep fancy dress. After, the guys are wearing the same thing either way, But everyone thought it was too much hassle. #stillmadaboutthat #nevergonnagetoverit #offtopicagain #ADHD

Anyway, so what's the real answer? I think it's a combination of the first five.

You probably guessed that for yourself. So why am I writing this post?

A. I wanted a chance to rant about fancy dress without actually writing a rant post (Doesn't that look more fun than suits? ->)
B. I wanted to reminisce about being newbies.
C. What I'm about to say right here vvvv

Showcase night isn't really about us. It isn't about making us feel cool or accomplished. Because then all we're doing is standing up and talking at people for our own pleasure.

Funny, that's the attitude some people have about speech and debate as a whole.

Showcase Night is about honoring God and each other, raising money for the club, and encouraging people to join this thing we love.

Without that we're just teenager's in suits. Which despite what people think, isn't that impressive by itself.

What's impressive is the attitude we have and what we do in the suits.

In Defense of the Speech Events In Which We Defend

Note: this is a post from months ago I edited for grammar. Somehow it got bumped up. 

There's this theory going around I don't like. I don't know any better way to look at it the to treat it as a resolution.

Resolved: Apologetics and Mars Hill Impromptu serve no use and actually detract from your ability to relay the Gospel effectively.

I am Negative.

DISCLAIMER: I am not throwing anyone under the bus here. I love Travis Herche, who from what I understand originated this point of view. I read his blog religiously. I love his article in this year's Red Book on logical chronology and writing a good negative. I love all my fellow speech and debaters who hold this view. I just disagree with you on this one thing.

Here's what, from what I've heard, is the Affirmative.

1. Sharing the Gospel is Based in Empathy
Apologetics and MHI isn't very empathy based. It's more like talking at people than to them. Like sermonizing. There's a reason everyone thinks it's dull. It would be more useful if instead you actually sat down and talked to your judges, one on one, about their life and such.
In real life it won't be like this. You won't get chance to speak for six minutes to the person who disagrees with you and throw Bible verses at them. People who should here the Gospel won't be open to it at all this way. You are actually working against yourself.

2. You Aren't Really Learning Anything
Unless you write your own cards, then you get a minimum of knowledge gain. MHI isn't worth much at all, cards or not.

Here's my comeback (Negative):

Observation Point: MHI and Apol aren't supposed to spread the Gospel, or teach you how. The point is to define and defend your faith. First, to learn what you believe (everyone should be aware of what they're living for, I think). Second, to learn to defend it. Not convert people. Defend it in a logical, empathetic manner that relates to the common man. If you persuade people in the process, perfect, you are the ideal speaker. But the idea is to at least make them recognize you aren't a lunatic.

1. Apol and MHI Should Be Based On Empathy
This is where we have an agreement. I have watched too many lifeless, preachy Mars Hill and Apol speeches. Many of them are like that. I understand why others may dislike them. I think Apol and MHI should be different. My Parli coach, Jacob Aschmutat, can say it better.

"There is certainly some value in understanding *what* one believes, which is how the Apol competitors I watched at NITOC approached the event. They discussed the significance of certain aspects of Christianity, albeit on a very basic level most of the time (which is to be expected; you only have six minutes to talk—hardly enough time to discuss the ontological theory for God’s existence). I wanted to go deeper. I wanted to take advantage of Apol for what the very term meant.

'Apologetics' derives from the Greek word “apologia,” which is a noun meaning “defense.” In the Greek judicial system, defendants would attempt to 'speak' ('logia') 'away' ('apo') the accusation. I sought to incorporate the very nature of this concept into every single one of my Apol speeches.
I would do this in multiple ways. First, I would present common arguments with regard to whatever topic on which I spoke. For example, in the omnipotence of God issue, I would discuss the dilemma of whether God could create a rock too heavy for Him to lift. Under the deity of Christ issue, I would respond to the Muslim’s arguments supporting their belief that Jesus was merely a prophet. I would frequently tie these to either personal (I had a close atheist friend who raised in conversation the Rock Dilemma and a Muslim friend who asked me about Jesus’s deity) or external (I would cite popular or outrageous atheist websites and individuals) examples.

My other tactic was to reference or compare specific religions to my own. For example, when discussing the historical accuracy of the Bible, I would compare it with other religious texts (the Quran, Shadow Book of Wicca, Scientology’s Dianetics, etc.). When discussing the nature of God, I would reveal its significance as compared to other gods (Allah, Shiva, Buddha, the Mormon god, the naturalist’s god, etc.). Atheism reared its ugly head often, but I was careful not discuss atheism generally; rather, I would cite modern leaders in atheism and offer responses to their specific beliefs (i.e., Richard Dawkins’s “The God Delusion” is often considered the bible of modern atheism).
With this approach, I gained an understanding of the framework for other faiths and thus learned how to respond to them using the knowledge I had of my own. This also opened up to me a plethora of resources that I continue to utilize to this very day. In conversations with my agnostic friends at law school, I would explain my beliefs and use the sources I cited in my old speeches when asked a specific question. I spoke to people using the exact 'points' I would use in my six-minute high-school Apol speeches!

As far as competitions go, I remember my final round’s speech at the Regional Championship in 2009. There were two pastors and a published theologian judging my round. My topic was to explain the purpose of man, and I discussed the Christian purpose in contrast to the atheist’s and the Muslim’s, especially as it pertained to the afterlife. All three judges in that room granted me a 'first,' (blessing me with the First Place title at the tournament) and all three mentioned how I was the only one in the room to take full advantage of the event of Apol as a means of learning how to defend one’s faith.
If Apologetics is new on your radar, I encourage you to keep it in your sights and take advantage of it, and to attempt competing in it using my 'apologia' method, or at least something very similar. My only regret is that I only competed in it for one year. "

I really couldn't have said it better myself.

~Kylie~

Television Shows in Mars Hill Impromtu

 If you haven't seen this, and you do Mars Hill, you need to.


That's right guys.


Mars Hill now includes TV shows.


Look!!!

(From the official stoausa 2014-2015 MHI rules)

*happy dance*

If you know me personally, you know Mars Hill is my 'baby'. It's the first event I ever made it to nats in. It's what I rant about, cry about, the ballots I read most carefully.

Well, that's a lie. I study each ballot like it's a sacred text from the debate gods. Who are named Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. In our club, anyone who is late or the lastest person if there are more than one, is to be tied to a chair and hit with pool noodles as a sacrifice to Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. Okay, we've never actually done that, but it's a running joke and now I'm super off topic...

For those of you in NCFCA or other leagues (*cough* NFLers *cough*) Mars Hill is a limited prep event, like Apol (oh, wait,...NFLers don't get that, either :P), in which you draw a topic from pop culture and have to analyze it and connect it somehow to the gospel. I always like to add how said thing has impacted the culture as my second point in between.

A lot of people hate it. There's an entire body of people who think Mars Hill is useless and actually detracts from your ability to speak the gospel sincerely without 'fakeness'. I've got a separate argument for that, but let's just say I strongly disagree.

Other people hate it because they think it's dull. Well, we all have our opinions.

If you've ever though about doing Mars Hill, or are new, I highly suggest it. It's fun, it teaches empathy and culture/media analysis, and how to make day-to-day life connects to the gospel. If you're a lim prep person, go for it. If your not do it anyway.

The people who already have a deep and profound love of Mars Hill just want me to get to the point.

Here it is. We are getting some of the most amazing classic and modern television shows ever made. Some if not most of which we've all already watched. I can talk for hours with my friends about these. Think of how much fun we're gonna have giving speeches about them. Where judges have to listen to you rant on about how awesome the old Star Trek is compared to the new ones or the complications or plot twist in Once Upon A Time, Downton Abbey, or White Collar.

I'm mean, look at these, and you can't tell me that's not more fun than talking about nuclear power or marine resources:

Are you excited? I am.

1. Pick your topic
2. Rant
3. Learn

That's pretty much speech and debate as a whole.

~Kylie~