Student Congress Secrets...
I think it's definitely a combination of things...
Notes: Don't rely on them. In my district, the top 10 speakers almost never rely on notes. Sure, you can bring them up with you, but not having them makes for awesome speeches, and brings you above the rest to a certain extent.
Knowledge: You've got to know the issue. You can't just stand up there and make a canned speech. You need to make concessions to other senators, address points raised, and maybe even defend your own points if you get to do a second speech. It helps to have statistics, but if you have a study, be prepared to defend it.
Statistics: I recently did a round where a statistic was bounced around by the negation a few times, only to be refuted when questions were raised to the applicability of the statistic. The statistic was something like "94% of Iris Scans are accurate." The problem inherit with that statistic is that it doesn't address the scanning method, the technology, or whatever. Simply repeating "6%" scan rate didn't help when the aff brought up the fact that an iris scanner could simply take 4 scans, thus negating the failure rate (94% of 94% of 94% of 94% and so on.)
Quotes: Quotes can be cute (this legislation is like a naked banana, it lacks appeal), but the top five guys in my district don't use them. Your judges will often hear the same Ben Franklin quote or whatever five times. Don't use generics like "To change and to change for the better are two different things," claiming that "this legislation is a change for the worse." People hear them way too much. Instead, use relevant information or maybe a relevant anecdote. An example: in a recent speech about a gasoline tax, I started saying "Last thursday, oil prices reach a record high of $57 per barrel. Coupled with the closure of 50 of 200 American Refineries, this has placed immense stress on the current gasoline and oil consumption economy in America."
Notes: Don't rely on them. In my district, the top 10 speakers almost never rely on notes. Sure, you can bring them up with you, but not having them makes for awesome speeches, and brings you above the rest to a certain extent.
Knowledge: You've got to know the issue. You can't just stand up there and make a canned speech. You need to make concessions to other senators, address points raised, and maybe even defend your own points if you get to do a second speech. It helps to have statistics, but if you have a study, be prepared to defend it.
Statistics: I recently did a round where a statistic was bounced around by the negation a few times, only to be refuted when questions were raised to the applicability of the statistic. The statistic was something like "94% of Iris Scans are accurate." The problem inherit with that statistic is that it doesn't address the scanning method, the technology, or whatever. Simply repeating "6%" scan rate didn't help when the aff brought up the fact that an iris scanner could simply take 4 scans, thus negating the failure rate (94% of 94% of 94% of 94% and so on.)
Quotes: Quotes can be cute (this legislation is like a naked banana, it lacks appeal), but the top five guys in my district don't use them. Your judges will often hear the same Ben Franklin quote or whatever five times. Don't use generics like "To change and to change for the better are two different things," claiming that "this legislation is a change for the worse." People hear them way too much. Instead, use relevant information or maybe a relevant anecdote. An example: in a recent speech about a gasoline tax, I started saying "Last thursday, oil prices reach a record high of $57 per barrel. Coupled with the closure of 50 of 200 American Refineries, this has placed immense stress on the current gasoline and oil consumption economy in America."
posted by Centralize at 1:11 PM
1 Comments:
good for you if you can do that
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