Let's Talk About Speech

     When people ask me what sport I play I am immediately honored they'd believe I possess any athletic prowess. However, I sometimes hesitate to tell them I'm involved in Speech because it brings so many questions, like what even is Speech? All you do is stand and talk to people? Do you use a podium? Where do you compete? How are you scored? And all of these questions are pretty fair, I think the activity of competitive speech is not widely understood or talked about. So...I'm here to answer those questions. While Speech is very much alive at the High School, and even Middle School levels, I will be focusing on the collegiate competition - since that is what I'm currently participating in. 

So What is This Whole Speech Thing? 

    Speech is a largely American Activity dating back to 1874 when the Interstate Oratorical Association was founded as the first public speaking competition in American history. The group holds an annual competition for orators (people who speak persuasively) from around the country. This competition continued to gain popularity and new events beyond oratory began to take place. Today there are 11 different events collegiate competitors can participate in that can be divided into three distinct categories. 

The Three Types of Speech : 

1) Limited Preparation - speakers are given a quotation or question to interpret or answer in an off-the-cuff style of performance. 

2) Public Address - PA is generally the most accurate representation of what most people assume speech is. In Public Address, students write their own ten-minute speech that can be persuasive, informative, analytical or a combination of several elements. 

3) Interpretation - in interpretation events, students perform excerpts from books, movies, plays, poems, songs, etc... usually to present an argument using the literature. 

So When, Where, and How Do You Compete? 

    College students from around the country compete at different universities nearly every weekend between September and April. There are no podiums involved, but students usually dress in full suits and professional business attire. When walking around college campuses in colorful suits, speech kids get a lot of curious stares, to say the least, a suit is the exact opposite of the usual college attire of sweatpants. Competitors in each category are broken up into rounds of six speeches and perform for the same judge. The judge is then tasked with ranking the speeches from 1 (best) - 6 (worst) in the round. After two preliminary rounds, the final round for each event kicks off with six competitors and three judges. Tournament days are long, it is pretty common for the day to start at 7:00 AM and end after 8:00 PM. Caffeine and flats are an absolute must-have in my personal arsenal of Speech Day necessities. 

So What Makes You Love Speech So Much? 

    For me, what has brought me back to the competition year after year, is certainly not the early mornings, late nights, or uncomfy shoes. I love speech so much because of the amazing people I get to meet. This activity has brought me all of my closest friends and helped me make connections around the country. While I also love the competitive nature and the activism that speech brings, I always come back for the people. 

To Wrap it Up...

I'm so glad that I get the chance to bring you all along with me over the last few months of my speech career as a competitor. I've been suiting up almost every weekend since I was 12 years old, so the fact that it's all ending so soon is absolutely surreal and there are a lot of exciting stories on the horizon that I can't wait to share. 

Talk Soon! 

Kaity