come to a speech & debate invitational with me (december 15)

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impromptu and declamation

Hi everyone! Here's a brief history of my published Speech & Debate tourney wrap-ups:

I'm doing Impromptu and Declamation in this one, and I have hope! I think I prepared well and have a good chance of making finals in both events. 

Note: I like to wrap up debate tournaments by writing a reflection, and I decided to publish it on this blog because why not. There might be some debate jargon or confusing bits that only make sense in my head. 

after round one

declamation

So round one just ended, and I think I did really good in declamation. My speech went just as I practiced, and it was just under the time limit. I also went first, so that probably added to my judge's perception of me.
It was actually kind of funny because this other guy also wanted to go first (we were both double-entered) and the judge was just like 'ladies first' and so I got to go. I feel a little bad for the other person though, but whatever.

impromptu

So impromptu was also good, but my speech might have been a little confusing. I think I gave a good speech, but my connection might have been a little weak.
The thing that really annoyed me in impromptu was the fact that out of the 5 people in my round, 3 of them were obviously cheating. They turned thier cameras OFF during prep time, which is illegal because they could have just copy pasted the prompt into Chat GPT. When they were actually giving the speech, they were clearly reading off of the screen and thier words sounded AI generated. The worst part is, I don't think the judge cared. This is why I dislike online tournies. I didn't cheat and did the best I could, so we'll see who wins.

after round two

declamation

I think Declamation round 2 also went pretty well. It was similar to the first round. It's honestly hard to fail Declamation because it's a prepared speech. One interesting thing was that four out of the six people in my round, four of us wanted to go first. I ended up going second. I feel like I'll make to to finals, but I'm not sure because I only saw one other speech. It was 'I Have a Dream'.

impromptu

Okay so for impromptu my speech was very super confusing but YOU KNOW WHAT? That's okay!! I don't think it was bad, and it certainly wasn't cliche. So it's fine.
I think, yes, I will make it to finals. 90% chance for declamation and 70% chance for impromptu.

after round three

This was the last round before finals so I'm super nervous to know if I made finals or not!

declamation

Okay so I think out of all my declamations, this one was the worst. It wasn't bad, though- it was just imperfect. Some slight stumbles/stutters, things like that. I was nervous. I think about 2/3 of the way through I realized that and started improving, but maybe it was too late. We will see.

impromptu

I think this impromptu round was good. For SOME REASON, all of the prompts were about cats! Every. Single. One. The first imp round was holiday-themed words, the second was bill of rights quotes, and this one was cat quotes. I think I did good, but my connection was a little weak. But the other people in my round weren't perfect either, so we'll see.
I think I'll make finals in both, but I'm going to find out what actually happens at 6pm (half an hour).

after finals

SO YES, I MADE FINALS IN BOTH EVENTS
i'm super nervous!!!! im in the awards zoom right now!! its starts in 6 minutes!!!
realistically, i think i got 8th in impromptu and 5th in declamation

FINAL RANKINGS

I WON FIRST PLACE IN DECLAMATION!!!!
AND 6TH FOR IMPROMPTU!!!!!!!
THAT'S A LOT BETTER THAN I EXPECTED!!    

also, this tournament happened 1.5 months ago but I forgot to post it, sooo...
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