Oratory Lecture
No props, costumes
Must be memorized
Great orators end at exactly 10 minutes
150 words directly quoted limit; paraphrases don’t count but don’t do all paraphrasing
1) Oratory Initial Planning
a) Make a topic list
i) Make a list of what’s happening on the international scene – trends, problems, good
things, unique ideas – get outside of own culture and look at newspapers written
specifically for ethnic groups in the US but are written in English eg. Russian press,
European press etc.
ii) Make a list of national problems
iii) Make a list of social problems – cross off the first 10 –isms that you have on the list
b/c they won’t make good oratories
iv) Make a list of personal problems
v) Make a list of pet peeves – things that piss you off ie. packaging
vi) Topic brainstorm with other orators and trade lists
vii) Browse magazines – go to the bookstore or wal-mart and browse all the magazines on
the racks – if you can go to Barnes & Nobles or Borders – you can write a great
oratory on bizarre hobbies of humans; Girls: look at all adolescent mags for boys –
write down titles of magazines, articles, and ads and do an oratory on how strange
how boys are; Boys – do the same thing for adolescent girls and have fun.
viii) Browse best-selling non-fiction – at end of 4th quarter all serious orators would
create a summer reading list based on best selling non-fiction list – judges are the
people who make these best sellers SO the obvious key would be to pick topics the
judges nation wide are reading!
ix) Browse quotation dictionaries for topics, not the quotes ie. ambition, curiosity etc.
x) Trade topic lists with other orators – staple together and trade
xi) Watch the nat’l finals of oratory – also watch all the DVD’s that you can and write
down EVERY topic for the past ten years and analyze what all the topics have in
common – Oratory finals at nat’ls = $5000 scholarship!!
b) Evaluating and choosing a topic
i) Analyzing audience interest – probably a judge won’t be entertained about HS
cliques; good example is a nat’l finalist who wrote an oratory about putting the
romance back in their relationship – she treated the topic with sincerity and humor
and went all the way – think like a middle-aged person
ii) Analyze your own interests – don’t pick a topic you think the judge would like if you
don’t like it; you’ll get REALLY bored halfway through the year
iii) Analyze the available materials
(1) Ex. A student would want to write an oratory on something that there was no
available research on.
(2) Lots of material = easy!!!
(3) Think of different types of material – don’t just limit self to internet searches;
look for non-fiction books, movies, song searches, magazines
iv) Analyze topic quality
(1) Has it been used recently – was it in state finals last year; if coach doesn’t know,
find someone who does
v) Will topic allow for a variety of delivery techniques
(1) Rap, poetry recitation, if it walks/talks/and acts like an extemp its not an oratory
(2) How will the topic compare to other oratory topics
(a) Write down nat’l winners and write down your topic in the middle and ask
coach or captain to pick out your topic. If they can’t pick out yours instantly,
it might be a good topic; check yourself against the very best
vi) Is the topic manageable in 10 minutes – ex. How to be a rebel – tattoos, piercings etc.
but these are artificial aspects of rebellion, real rebels are those who have died for
their amazing causes; don’t confuse alternative lifestyles with real rebellion. The
next year she wanted to do Killing in the name of God but after two weeks realized
NO WAY could she do that in ten minutes
vii) Do not feel locked into a topic –
(1) To avoid this, come up with three ideas and start a file folder on all three. As you
find information add it to each file and then decide
viii) Don’t change topics too quickly when you hit a roadblock; this is another reason
you need three topics.
ix) Do an outline and give it a test
(1) Give it an impromptu treatment – if people like it then you’re onto something
(2) If it doesn’t test well, run a test on another of your topics; if you’re weak at
impromptu, give it to an impromptu person and see what they come up with
2) Researching a Topic
a) Sources of Info
i) Personal Experience – jot down but use caution if they make their way into oratory;
don’t talk about things that make judge uncomfortable ie. the really weird mole your
mother had removed; be careful what sort of personal information you reveal
ii) Interview – many orators will say this is the best step in the writing process; interview
an expert at the university or a writer or someone who had real world experience that
related to their topic and from that interview you will get the best ideas. It will bring
your topic to life.
iii) Cut out Newspaper clippings and put them in your file folder
iv) Cut out Magazine articles and put them in your file folder – rip them out at
orthodontists office
v) Copy sections of books that have info. Relating to your topic
vi) Copy sections of anthologies
vii) Find literature that deals with topic – talk to English teachers (not just Mrs. Isaman!!)
viii) Browse for movies that may have something to do with topic. Search by theme.
ix) Search lyrics and songs that relate to topic – must go to one new release EVERY
month!!! For movies, music etc. You need to expose yourself to it. Sooo, make your
parents take you to the movies.
b) Directing your Research
i) Open file folder and on inside cover list all the questions that you MUST answer to
do your topic
ii) Answers to those questions will become major points in your speech
iii) Take notes on EVERYTHING you do – when do you get your best ideas? Right
before you fall asleep so keep a notebook next to your bed and write it down right
when you get it.
iv) Check footnotes and chase them; ideas have ancestry so trace that lineage and that’s a
great way to build research
v) Do enough research!!!!! 30 pages of varied research!!!!! Use a variety of sources
in this 30 pages
3) Picking a Structure or Organization
a) Patterns
i) Past, present, future – what was it like, what is it now, what is it likely to be in the
future
ii) *** Cause, effect, solution – the most popular structure of an oratory (same structure
as a 1AC in policy debate) – it’s a first affirmative constructive that sounds really
pretty
iii) WRITE AN OUTLINE AND DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP
iv) Determine how research fits into the pattern
(1) Take the parts of oratory and write CAUSE across top of page with a marker,
create a page for effect and solution
(2) Go through file folder and put each article where it goes
(3) This allows you to see that you have enough evidence/sources for each category;
quote a study, use lyrics from a song etc. Oratory should come from a range of
human experience and the best oratories do
4) Writing Introductions
a) Write it LAST!!! Write the body of your oratory first and then figure out a very clever
way of introducing the topic
b) Purposes for an intro
i) Catch the audiences attention – ex. “SEX . . . has nothing to do with my oratory, but
now that I have your attention . . . “
ii) Set the tone for your speech – if its humorous let them know up front; if its serious let
them know Ex. If you’re discussing dying of cancer, don’t start with a joke
c) It should provide a thesis – its smooth and its implied – show it
d) It should provide a preview, a very smooth roadmap – don’t do 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc.; just give a
preview without giving a specific structure; should be toward the end of the intro.
i) Incorporate elements from each part into one paragraph; they don’t even have to be in
order; look at magazine articles to get an idea on how to do this well; the writers are
GREAT at hooking you in first paragraph and giving an idea of where its going in the
next paragraph or two; imitate and steal
e) Ways to introduce
i) Shocking statement
ii) An eloquent quotation
iii) An original poem or rap
iv) A joke
v) An interesting anecdote or story
vi) A physical trick – an oratory at nat’l where she said “I’m ready, start the time, (and
then was totally silent until it got awkward) and after silence she asked, “how long do
I have to be silent before we’re all uncomfortable.” The oratory was on how humans
feel it necessary to fill the silence.
vii) Describe a scene from a movie or a play that creates a vivid mental picture for the
judge – if you can put the judge in that place that’s the imagery you want
5) Conclusions
a) Purpose – to restate your thesis
i) ***focus your audience on the action step of your oratory; what you want the judge
to do
(1) if the judge isn’t thinking of anything but doing what you want them to do and
change themselves, you won!!! Focus the judge on the action step
b) give the audience a feeling of completeness – every hear an oratory and the orator’s done
and “you’re looking at each other like where’s the rest?” then you’re missing a
conclusion; the end of your oratory should be clear
c) Provide a brief review of the oratory; return to some important moments or points
d) *** a memorable re-statement; the perfect paraphrase –it needs to stick in the judges
mind
i) ex. Humans have to have an answer for everything; we really hate a mystery; we have
to know where we came from, why stars in the sky, what happens when we die etc. at
the end of oratory, she called it “answer cancer” which sticks in your head! You need
to stick your phrase in the judges head
e) Tie back to the introduction
6) Language
a) Quality – must be very close to poetry; meant to be spoken; think about rhythm, meter,
imagery, figurative language etc.
i) SAY IT WHILE YOU WRITE
ii) Use precise language – don’t say car, say yellow camaro; be as specific as possible
iii) Be concrete and specific
iv) Use imagery
b) Use
i) Alliteration
ii) Euphony – smooth, soft language
iii) Cacophony – harsh sounds
iv) Similes
v) Metaphors – test try as a simile and as a metaphor and see which is better
vi) Personification – give inanimate objects human qualities; think Disney
vii) Humor
viii) Repetition – take audience back to beautiful or funny things you’ve already said;
think of a comedian who loops back to a joke where he then gets another laugh as
well as applause because the audience now “gets it”
ix) Use a variety of quotes
7) Learning and Delivery
a) Don’t memorize it – LEARN IT!!!
i) If its memorized, they go blank for a couple of seconds and then they have to go back
to the beginning; don’t keep starting from the beginning; also can make you look like
you don’t really believe what you’re saying and its not completely sincere
b) To memorize it
i) Read it through beg. To end without interruption 40 - 100 times; make a chart on
front of folder to track
ii) Record your speech and listen to it over and over
iii) Test to know if its memorized by giving a friend and have them read any three words
in a row and start from there ANY place in the entire oratory. If you can do that
you’ll never be stalled
c) Delivery
i) Your opening impression is EVERYTHING
(1) Dress, attitude
ii) Orators are almost always the best dressed at a tournament
iii) Always be on time
iv) Gestures must be fluid and natural
(1) Plan every movement
(2) Gestures should occur in the box – waist to shoulders
(3) Every little thing great orators do is planned
v) Vary your pace and volume
(1) When you lower your voice people listen more/harder
vi) Use eye contact to control your audience – don’t stare at your judge, you’ll freak
them out
(1) Don’t flirt with your judge but the eye contact will be similar as if you’re flirting
(2) Flirt with your eyes – look at them, they look at you, look away
vii) Add some voices – if you have a GREAT voice figure out a way to add it.
8) Movement
a) Watch finals and what you’ll see is either the diamond or the triangle; movement to
transition between pieces
b) Make them point their toes perfectly straight forward; now try to rock back and forth and
side to side