Starter Tips for Original Oratory

In Original Oratory, shallow topics can’t replace genuine vigor and deep personal connection. If you’re an aspiring oratory speaker you need to find a way to latch onto a topic that isn’t simply mainstream and find the unique angle that will make YOU stand out in a sea of familiar voices.

Here’s how:

First:

You have to find a topic that you are genuinely passionate about. And when I say passionate a lot of kids think about issues that they see as a big problem and while that’s a good place to start you have to really dig in. Ex: I care about climate change so I’ll do an OO about climate change. Well there’s two problems with that first, how passionate are you really about climate change and second that speech has been done so many times and it’s gonna be challenging to find a new angle to approach it. Some people claim that you don’t need to have a personal connection but I think every good OO has a real world scenario that inspired the orator to write the speech. Also keep in mind speech season can get very loooonggggg, you want to feel connected to your speech every time you say it or work on it or it’ll feel washed up. If you reach that point it’s going to be hard to get yourself out of that hole. 

Second:

Understand the definition of Oratory (coined by Pam and Joe Wycoff) 

When you’re getting started with your thesis it must fit every single one of these criteria. 

Creativity: is it a new argument we maybe haven’t heard before? Or if it is an older one are you bringing it up in your own special way? Is there a new interesting take on the thesis? 

I like to think that there’s really no such thing as an “old thesis”, there's always a new way to approach a topic. Just make sure you aren’t stealing an entire argument and then doing nothing to make it your own. 

Analytical: You need to make sense. Yeah I know, simple enough right? Wrong. A lot of good ideas can be turned upside down when you include evidence that doesn’t help a judge or audience member understand why it fits into the argument. Everything you say must be connected in some way to the main point you are making. Don’t make it too hard to connect something and oftentimes if it takes more than a sentence or two you should probably opt for something easier to explain and understand. You don’t at any point want to confuse anyone watching you because it’ll take time for them to wrap their head around what you said. You don’t need that kind of distraction to take away from any other point you’re making either. The easier your speech is to focus on, the more people will want to listen. 

Sharing of a truth: In oratory a lot of people think since it falls under that “public address” category you have to stand and deliver a big serious speech but that’s nonsense, for the most part. Original oratory is a conversation, yes at times it can get serious and hard to say but you are sharing a truth, your truth. You want to be as genuine as possible and this can mean so many things. Like in writing, be genuine with yourself. And in delivery, be careful with your hand gestures and your stance. You want to just be a person. Talk to your audience like they are people you’re having a conversation with. Do not talk at them, instead talk with them. 

Insight and significance: Connecting with the audience. Make sure you’re saying something that is timely. It’s not just something that happened at a random point in history but it’s something you can get evidence for from within the last 3-5 years. Most of your evidence I would even argue should be from the last few months. If your evidence is very close to when you’re giving the speech then your topic in general will have more credibility. 

Some other helpful things you can do are watching the NSDA finals. Watching those final rounds will help you get a better understanding of the event. 

Some orators I recommend watching are: 

All of these orators do a great job pacing, their delivery is personable and they did a wonderful job researching as the evidence is timely and even surprising at times. Reading both articles and books is also very helpful because it not only can give inspiration for topics but you’ll learn pretty quickly in oratory that the greater your vocabulary is the better your speech will be. It matters in writing and it matters in how you are able to describe the emotions on your face as you’re telling each story in your speech. 

It won’t all be simple at first but remember, the heart of your speech lies in its authenticity. We live in a world where information has been passed down and regurgitated countless times, you’ll be hard pressed to ideate a completely unique idea. Thus, the unquestionable way to achieve originality starts with you. No one else is you after all. Don’t just deliver a speech–  Give your audience heartfelt value. It’s a long journey but a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Happy Speaking,

The Forensic Funnel team