[center=] Speech making is a typically a difficult thing to do, but, like all other skills, it gets better the more you practice it. Here I’ll be talking about general aspects of creating and performing a speech, this one in particular being Original Oratory. This is as close as it gets to regular speeches in the real world, the exception being its time limit and certain restraints.[/center]
DISCLAIMER: These are just tips from my personal experience. If anyone else has any other useful tips, let me know!
What is Original Oratory?
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Original Oratory is pretty self explanatory by its name alone; simply an original speech made by yours truly. It is one of the types of speeches competitors are allowed to take on the Speech side of Speech and Debate. In it, applicants must formulate an 8-10 minute speech around (preferably) a subject that matters to them, memorize it, and perform it in front of a judge or judges. Depending on your proctor, they will either have you say your speech alone with them or in the same room as the rest of the competitors assigned to that room. In my experience, weekday competitions tend to have the latter much more than weekend ones.
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Tips on making your speech!
A speech is not the same as an essay! It is important that you are accounting for who your audience is as well as keeping them engaged. Engagement is one of the key points that will get you that first place. Have an attention grabbing hook that ties into the rest of your speech… which brings me to my next point…
Have a theme! Nothing is better than a hook and/or theme that ties your entire speech together. This is especially so if it’s not something that would be expected to have this strong correlation to your speech the first time it was mentioned. I find this to be most effective when this theme is used as the hook.
Example:
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One of the older speeches I made, based on the often dismissive nature when depression in teenagers are handled, had a theme about the monsters under our bed. Basically, it opened with me, as I was younger, calling for help from a “monster” in my nightmares, but, in reality, it was just an illusion. I then began to elaborate on how my mother then came in and dismissed it as such. The point was that a similar attitude is often taken when a person of a younger age talks about a serious issue, but then it is brushed of as a simple mood swing or splurg of emotion rather than anything of actual weight. In effect of this, many tend to bottle this up, or even think their issues are simply a fantasy or not big enough to talk about. When it is found out to be something more than this, more than a comparison to the monsters under our beds, it is often too late.
There are many better and creative relations though! One of the OO competitions I’ve watched, who I will link once I remember, related the grandeur of what we see on TV shows to the veil over serious issues that happen in the real world. I won’t get to deep into it on here, though.
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Effective movement is essential. In certain settings, it is usually thought to simply stand at a podium. However, movement, at the bare minimum with gestures and facial expression is essential. Not to say to move around every second! (This will make it seem disorganized). One method I was taught is to stay at the center for your hook+intro, move to another point/place (maybe just to your left) as you deliver your first point, then to the right as you make your second, then back to the center as you state your conclusion. (Unless you have 3 points. Good luck fitting that into 8-10 minutes if you write the Bill of Rights on every paragraph like I do, though. 
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Extra…
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Please use facial expressions and vocal color! When you’re being comedic, wear a smile. When you’re touching a sad or serious topic, maintain that facial structure, make your voice low, emphasize important points, and make your voice tremble a bit on subjects with emotional/serious weight. All of these contribute to engagement.
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Make the theme something you care about and/or something relevant to today. Remember what I said about engagement? That’s what’s also essential here. There are two ways that I know of for the message of your speech to reach the one listening.
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It is something they can connect with/care about. A relevant subject is the easiest thing to use as the more relevant something is, the more the person is to know of it, relate to it, and feel a connection to your speech.
-Be careful if it’s a subject that is very common though! If it is, put a creative spin on it if you absolutely want to use it.
-Another thing you can do is tailor your speech by the demographic of your audience, but a good percentage of the time you won’t know what it will be, so it’s safer to stay on relative topics in general.
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It is something that personally matters to you. Choose something that you care about, something you know you will genuinely be passionate about in your speech. Those feelings will get across and enrapture your audience.
And those are just a few tips I thought to give! These are pretty basic, but good tips to have if you’re going into speeches (particularly OO). At least I hope they are. Seeing is believing though. Search up OO speeches on NSDA or YouTube and you’ll see how creative and powerful they can be. If any of you actually read through this, I hope this helped even by a little bit. 
Be sure to leave any tips for other types of speeches or even OO as well!
