5 C’s of Public Speaking
In Tuna Snider’s book, The Code of the Debater available here, he discusses the 5 C’s of public speaking. I really think these are a great guide in trying to improve your persuasive speaking and speaker points. They are:
1. Competitive (serious demeanor, ready to debate on time)
2. Confident (proper research, up on time, act like you feel good about what you are saying)
3. Courteous (not shmoozing, friendly, mature)
4. Credible (you want to be, dynamism can really help)
5. Commanding (dress appropriately, don’t use street language, don’t be afraid, don’t be rude, don’t swear)
You can think of each of these C’s as a goal that you want to demonstrate to the judge throughout the debate. REMEMBER: you are being judged as SOON as you walk in the door. As earlier posts have mentioned you want to make sure to have your files and papers organized BEFORE walking into the room. Don’t wait until the other debater and judge are waiting for you to start the debate to find your 1AC! I’ll go over each one briefly below and discuss some ways to try and demonstrate each of the 5 C’s to your audience.
Competitive
A competitive speaker cares about the debate round and winning. You want to know the room you are going to, your opponent, and your judge. Write these down from posting. It amazes me how many times people don’t remember where they are supposed to go until the last minute forcing them to be late to the round.
Make sure you are ready to go. Look like you care about the debate to the judge. One thing I’ve noticed judging NFA-LD is that after the 1NR a lot of negative debaters stop flowing and daze off into space. What message do you think you are sending to the judge? For me, it’s that you don’t care about the debate anymore. In policy debate you want to keep flowing so you can refine your strategies for the next debate. See where the aff debater attacks your position in the final speech so you can shore that up next time. Keep focused and stay competitive throughout the entire debate.
Confident
This is really the most important C, and one that all the other C’s build into and feed. If you can master the other 4 C’s this one is a piece of cake. Conversely, if you can master confidence, the other 4 C’s will fall into place. Work on sounding more confident to your judge.
One thing you can do is to avoid powerless language throughout the debate. Powerless language demonstrates a lack of confidence – it can include second-guessing yourself (“Onto the second disadvantage, oh wait, nevermind, that’s not a good idea”) to using verbal fillers (“uhm…. ahh… whatever…”) to other ways that you demonstrate you are not confident by your word choices.
The easiest way to get ‘confident’ is to really believe in your case and arguments. Research your own positions, read the primary texts (don’t just rely on cards someone cut – go read the entire article), know the strategic choices you are making in your case, and understand how the positions work together. Avoid stretching evidence (power-tagging) since that may make you worried someone will call you on it during the debate.
Courteous
Here is one that most debaters overlook and can probably have a major impact on your speaker point skills and getting those really close decisions in your favor: BE NICE! When a public speaker is calm and friendly to the audience people will listen more and be more receptive to their ideas. It doesn’t require a PHd to understand that an audience is more receptive to a friendly speaker than a hostile speaker.
Make eye contact with your judge (avoid staring only at your notes!), answer the C-X questions politely, talk to the other debater before and after the round about anything other than debate (tournament food/hotel/sports/how nice the campus is/other events). Be generally approachable. One thing you can do is to have a copy of your case ready to let the other team take a look at during the debate. If the other team asks for a copy of your case give it to them – it seems really rude from my perspective judging when a debater refuses.
Finally, be able to go with the flow – things will happen during your speech that are annoying – someone’s cell phone may go off, a person’s folder may fall on the floor, a person might enter the room, a school bell goes off, etc… Don’t let it frazzle you. Stay calm, wait for the person to turn off their cell phone, and then proceed with your speech. React to what happens and try to take in stride, laugh it off, make a friendly joke, try and bring everyone back to your topic. Most people will be mad at the person who caused the disruption and re-focus on you as a sign of respect.
Try to have fun in your debates – hopefully you are doing the event because it’s an enjoyable experience!
Credible
This is one of the easier ones in policy debate because you can give your source citations. Make sure your evidence is relevant, cut appropriately (no missing words/context), and is not power tagged. Power tagging is when you try to stretch your evidence to say more than it really does. One of the main ways people tend to do this is to avoid the qualifiers from the card in the tag. So a person may have a piece of evidence that says “Sea Level rise may, in 100 years, flood coastal regions” and tag it as “Sea Level Rise will kill us all!”. That’s really not what the evidence says and presenting it as such wrecks your credibility.
You should also seek out sources your audience will know and be familiar with to boost your credibility. Foreign Affairs, major US newspapers (LA Times, NY Times, Washington Post) and magazines (Newsweek,Time,US News & World Reports), major think tanks (CATO, Heritage, NCPA), all have credibility with most people before you get up there and speak. Draw from that and avoid sources that no one has heard about.
Give author qualifications when helpful. What sounds more credible – ” Smith 2007 ” or “Dr. Dan Smith,a leading public health expert specializing in the Greater Horn of Africa, 2007.”
Finally, while some disagree, it’s hard to refute that the way you dress affects your credibility. Attire is one of the most influential types of nonverbal communication one can communicate for credibility.
James P.T. Fatt in an article in 1999 in Communication World said:
Personal appearance is a major factor used to judge a person simply because the first impression of a person is based on appearance. One’s physical appearance creates an image of the person in the same way other nonverbal messages do. People who are attractive are found to be credible more often than less attractive people. People can change their appearance by changing clothing styles, hairstyles and other factors. Generally, clothing and hairstyle should flatter body type, rather than expose weaknesses. To establish credibility, people should wear styles that fit the environment and feel comfortable.
For me, it’s never that someone is wearing a $1000 suit v. a $10 dress shirt. It’s about showing up looking like one is taking the event seriously. Taking that extra few minutes in the morning can help you communicate credibility.
Commanding
Finally, you want to be commanding. One of the best ways to do this is to arrive to the room on time and walk in telling yourself “Self, I will win this round!” In communication studies we talk about positive self talk and the role that what you tell yourself has on your life. When you tell yourself before the round that ” I am a good debater, my case is strong, I will win” you are setting yourself up for victory. Is it guaranteed? Of course not – both debaters may be using positive self talk. However, you are giving yourself a better chance. Look at it from a contrasting point of view – if you walk into the room telling yourself you are going to lose you probably will. Not because you have a weaker case or bad arguments, but because you don’t believe in yourself and that always leaks out when you are debating.
A few ways you can communicate commanding to your judge is be ready to go as soon as the debate is going to start, avoid ever looking frazzled during the debate – even if you can’t find that 1 card you really need. Just move to the second best card and be commanding.
Make sure to know the speech times and avoid going substantially over or under. Keep track of your own prep time ( at least how much is left after you are finished the first time ) to avoid asking the judge questions like that. When your prep time is about to expire stand up and start making your way to the lectern with about 5 seconds left to avoid having the timer go off and you still prepping. A commanding debater would not need to wait until told to stand up for their speech! =)
Recap
These 5 goals are what to work for in your speech. When you see a good public speaker they have probably mastered these five areas – practice is how you get there! Try to work on one or two throughout each tournament and your speaker point scores will go up dramatically!
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Excellent point about the importance of looking confident EVEN if you may not be. A lot of people did not realize that confidence is a state. So just be confident. Walk like you know you are going to win. Speak like you know the audience are in awe.