A little Up-Date

Hey Everyone!

Well, I just thought that I would let you know how everyone is doing in Forensics so far this semester before I go into the rest of the events that you can compete in.



The first tournament took place on Tuesday, January 27th. The team traveled to the Twin Cities for the first TCFL (Twin Cities Forensics League) tournament of the 2009 year. This tournament is a favorite of many involved in Forensics because it is only one day, whereas other tournaments can be two days long. At this tournament, Veronica Fischer placed 3rd in Persuasion and 5th in Program Oral Interpretation. Betsy placed 2nd in After Dinner Speaking.

The team's second tournament was in St. Cloud on February 6th and 7th. This was a two day tournament with a lot of tough competition. Veronica Fishcer placed 1st in Children's Literature. Now, if you look back at the list of events you could be entered in, this event is not listed. At a few tournaments, schools will introduce a new category so that students can try something new and expand their speaking skills. This category involved selecting children's stories and then presenting them as an Oral Interpretation.

The team traveled to their third tournament of the semester on Wednesday, February 11th. Lucky for them, the tournament is in Arizona! Betsy Stoltz and Veronica Fischer were the two students that were able to represent SMSU in Arizona--along with coaches Mark Fokken and Leah Breberg. Veronica is competing in six events (wow!) during this tournament and Besty is competing in four. They both are going to stay very busy. They returned on Sunday, February 15th. Veronica placed 6th in Persuasive Speaking, 2nd in Poetry, 5th in Prose, and 7th in Informative.

The fourth tournament of the year took place on February 17th. This tournament was the second TCFL tournament of 2009. Thirteen students attended this tournament and SMSU came home with quite a few trophies! Brando Sheffield placed 6th in Dramatic Interpretation. Scotty Anderson and Katlyn Richter placed 2nd in Dramatic Duo and Anna Hilbert and Candace Conway placed 4th in Dramatic Duo. Veronica Fischer placed 2nd in Persuasive speaking and 4th in Program Oral Interpretation. Good job team!

Well, that is the up-date for now. Up next, more descriptions of events!

Individual Events in Forensics

So, what can you do in Forensics? What do you speak about? Why is it even fun to get up in front of people and speak?

Well, there are at least eleven categories that you could be involved in while in Forensics. Of course, it is impossible to be in all eleven, but the SMSU team is proud to say that one member is in six of those categories. That is definitely an achievement! Along with the eleven categories, there are two basic categories that the eleven fit under--Public address and Interpretation.

The Public address category includes Impromptu Speaking, Informative Speaking, Extemporaneous Speaking, Persuasive Speaking, After-Dinner Speaking, and Communication Analysis. We will focus on these six events during this post.

Impromptu Speaking
This event involves a lot of thinking on your feet. The speaker is given a quote or saying or even just a statistic on a piece of paper and they have seven minutes to construct a speech and give the speech. A good speech length is about four to five minutes which only leaves two to three minutes for the speaker to prepare what they are going to say. Speakers are definitely given an adrenaline rush as they scramble for ideas to talk about!

Informative Speaking
This event requires the speaker to write their own speech. They pick a topic, research the topic, and then write a eight to ten minute speech. The speech should be memorized, although speakers have a few tournaments where they can be "on script"--meaning, they have their speech with them while they are performing. To be more professional, the script must also be lined in black construction paper. As the semester progresses and you still happen to be on script, their are chances that you will not do as well. This event can also have visual aids. This helps the speaker explain their points more fully to the audience.

Extemporaneous Speaking
This event is usually a small one since it is probably the most difficult. This is known as a "draw category" because speakers do not know what they will be giving a speech on until thirty minutes before they speak. The pick a slip of paper out of an envelope which has their topic on it. Then they are given thirty minutes to draw upon the sources that they have collected to write a speech. The speech has to include source citations and should ideally be eight to ten minutes in length. Those individuals who are in Extemp. Speaking always carry around briefcases and "traveling" filing systems.

Persuasive Speaking
This event is very similar to Informative Speaking, except for the fact that the content of the speeches are very different. The speeches in this event are also written by the speaker but they are persuasive in nature. Other than that, the category is very similar to Informative.

After-Dinner Speaking
This event is known as the "humorous event". Often abbreviated to "ADS", this speech is also written by the speaker. It is a persuasive speech that is humorous. The speech includes source citations as well. This event is also similar to Informative and Persuasive other than the content being different.

Communication Analysis
This last Public Address event is also similar to Informative and Persuasive. The writer picks a famous (or not famous) speech from the past and critiques it. However, it doesn't just have to be a speech. The writer can pick a poem, poster, film, or campaign. Visual aids are often used in this event to help the speaker make their ideas clearer.

Well, those are all of the Public Address events! There are five more events that I will cover next time.

Have an awesome day!