The Ball State University Forensic Team at AFA-NIET 2014 (@bsuspeech)

Chances are, if you follow SpeechGeek on Twitter or Facebook, you may have noticed a lot action surrounding the 2014 AFA-NIET earlier this month. If you don't follow SpeechGeek (on Twitter or Facebook or on Pinterest or Tumblr), take a moment to stop reading this blog post and add us now. It's cool, we'll wait.

Some of our more recent followers may have thought, "Where are my memes, SpeechGeek? I'm here for the LOLZ." Some follow SpeechGeek only for the annual coverage of these tournaments. Others shrug and think, "Eh, it doesn't really matter to me."

Don't get us wrong: we get giddy when folks enjoy and share our more humorous posts. But the geeks here feel like we need to make a contribution to the activity beyond pictures of bears wearing bow ties with the caption "#CrossExProbs." We love being silly - but we love forensics a bit more.

That's why hearing people say, "Huh? They have speech in college?" seems like a tiny imaginary foot is stomping on our hearts. YES! Not only is there speech and debate in college, but it is totally awesome!

Sometimes folks who are competing in high school may get told from coaches or alumni that college forensics "isn't for them." Maybe the coach or alum competed in college forensics for a while and really didn't like it. That's okay. The style of performances and speeches that shine in high school may struggle to be rewarded on the college circuit. Maybe they didn't like all of the travel. Maybe there was too much travel for them to balance speech, school, having a job, and experiencing the fifty billion other activities available on a college campus.

But here's the great thing about college: you get the chance to become a different person and try different things. Maybe you're happy to finish your four years in high school. Hey - you do you. You might, however, want another four years of speech before giving it up for good. (Or at least until being a professional interper is an option.) There are people who never clicked in high school who go on to achieve awesome success in college. There are people who have success in both high school AND college. You don't know unless you try.

The University of Alabama Forensic Team at AFA-NIET 2014 (@BamaForensics)

The things that make high school speech so amazing are still there on the collegiate circuit. It is an important and enriching activity that makes you a stand out candidate for graduate schools or jobs later on. Despite what you may think, your critical thinking and argumentation skills have only just scratched the surface. College forensics opens you up to new concepts, ideas, arguments, and literature. You're not only exploring new ways of thinking, but you're discovering more about yourself in the process. You'll get the opportunity to travel out of state -- and in some cases -- out of the country. Some collegiate teams offer full or partial scholarships in an effort to recruit students to their teams. (If you see someone at the National Speech and Debate Association National Tournament with laser focus and a fistful of business cards, it's probably a college coach.) Perhaps the most valuable aspect of college forensics is finding a network of people with a shared interest in what may be a big (and lonely) new campus.

For five years now, SpeechGeek has covered the American Forensic Association National Individual Events Tournament and the National Forensic Association National Tournament. Initially, we covered the tournaments because we were already in attendance as coaches. But even as we transitioned to working on SpeechGeek full-time, we continued to share the information and results.

We continue to do this to not only serve the friends, family, and alumni of college competitors - but to serve you as well. The college competitors are often alumni of your schools or people whom you competed against in the past. The alums of high school competition are often among the most enthusiastic volunteers, judges, and camp counselors. They frequently return after their semester wraps up to help their alma maters prepare for competition in July. Is there anything more inspiring as you prep for summer competition than watching others feel the hype and joy of national tournaments in the spring?

As we prepare to pack up and head to the NFA National Tournament in Ypsilanti, Michigan, we'll be posting articles that give you insight to the different events available in collegiate forensics. If you have questions, suggestions, or contributions, you're always welcome to send them via e-mail to stephanie (at) speechgeek (dot) com.

To get you started, here's a list of links that will help introduce to the teams, organizations, and tournaments you'll find on the collegiate circuit:

Council of Forensic Organization's List of College Programs

American Forensic Association

National Forensic Association

Phi Rho Pi National Forensic Organization

Pi Kappa Delta National Honorary Society

Delta Sigma Rho - Tau Kappa Alpha

National Parliamentary Debate Association

National Debate Tournament

Cross-Examination Debate Association

American Debate Association

International Public Debate Association

Novice Nationals

American Parliamentary Debate Association

Follow us on your favorite social media outlets for live updates, posts, new additions to the store, and general forensics fun. (Oh, here's the bear in a bow tie we promised.)

Here are all of your quarterfinalists for the 2014 AFA-NIET

For an activity that loves movies, it is always fun when a movie comes out about the activity!

A Sort of Homecoming is coming of age drama tells the story of a young woman's life-changing pursuit of a national debate championship. It stars Laura Marano, Parker Mack, Katherine McNamara, Michelle Clunie and Kathleen Wilhoite. The independent feature film recently finished production and is raising funds for marketing and distribution.

Want to make a contribution and earn some cool stuff from the movie? Check out their page on Indiegogo!

Rivalries are everywhere: Coke vs Pepsi, Oreo vs KitKat, Mayonnaise vs Miracle Whip. Even computers and search engines get a bit edgy. It’s the nature of competition – two sides destined to meet toe-to-toe in a battle for victory.

When it comes to college rivalries, the public often immediately thinks of either athletics teams or institutional prestige. In its special feature on America’s Top Colleges, Forbes magazine decided to touch on spirited rivalries between colleges. While athletics, academics, (and some personal history) were at the heart of many of the rivalries, we were a bit surprised to see two speech teams listed – Bradley University and Western Kentucky University.

Part of it is the novelty in seeing major news outlets reference speech teams.

Another part of it is the word rivalry. It seems laden with animosity. One almost pictures audience members with painted faces and foam fingers screaming antagonistically during a heated D.I. round, “YOU CALL THAT A TEASER!?!” The idea of fans bringing vuvuzelas to an extemp round is terrifying.

It’s not uncommon for two teams that frequently cross paths to engage in a competitive tug-of-war. This happens frequently on both the high school and collegiate circuit. Some inter-school competitions are based on proximity, size, or any other shared variable.

The key to discussing Bradley's and WKU's speech teams, however, is the notion of being competitive and remaining cordial. The teams have battled it out for the AFA-NIET and NFA National Tournament championships for years. While both teams share a drive for success, it does not prevent the competitors and coaches from being gracious, polite, and courteous to each other.  Countless connections, both personal and professional, have blossomed between members of the two teams.

Forensics teaches us many things. We learn how to be articulate and analytical. We refine our work ethic and open our minds to new ideas. We figure out what to do when we achieve our goals or fall just short of them. However, this may be one of the most difficult and rewarding lessons we can learn from the activity: our competition is not our enemy.

Competition can be wonderful. It can push us to think creatively, perform whole-heartedly, and dedicate ourselves fully. Competition can unite and inspire a team. If we focus too much on it though, we lose sight of everything else. There is much we can learn from our fiercest competitors. But when we are too preoccupied with “beating the other team,” we can’t see all the positive attributes that makes our opponents successful.  

Life after forensics is full of competition. Channeling a competitive spirit in a positive way is a crucial skill to learn. What better place to practice it than in the emotional, articulate, intelligent, and fairly quirky confines of forensics?

Every social media site seemingly has its own personality. Wanna get to know other people? Creep around on Facebook. Need to share your random thoughts? Tweet it out on Twitter. Prefer to express yourself in pictures and GIFs? See you around Tumblr. 

While I've had a Pinterest account for over a year, I couldn't shake my initial impression of the site. Pinterest seemed perfect for people who wanted to swap recipes, crafts, and wedding ideas. There was cute stuff on there. But when you're already committing time to other social media outlets (and probably more time than you should), a site needs to be more than just cute to earn time and attention.

If you're not familiar with Pinterest - the premise is simple and the site is easy to navigate. Essentially, Pinterest is a bookmarking site. A "pin" is an image that is accompanied by a description and/or a link to an external web page. "Boards" allow you to collect and organize your pins. Users can browse pins that are posted in a variety of categories ranging from food, drink, crafts, and fashion to science, technology, history, and literature. If someone has posted a pin that you like, you can re-pin it onto one of your boards. If you're browsing the internet and come across a webpage you want to save, Pinterest makes it easy to simply paste the link and post it to one of your boards. Most boards are public - but you can have up to three "secret boards" that only you can view. The Yummy Life has a great tutorial on using Pinterest, and there are videos to walk you through the process as well (such as this one).

Click here to visit SpeechGeek Market on Pinterest.

After trying to find a way to pull together all of the random links, articles, and videos for forensics I had bookmarked on various computers, e-mailed to myself, or screen-grabbed on my phone - it dawned on me. "Why not just put them all on Pinterest?" The site became the perfect organizational tool and a way to share ideas while collecting a few hidden gems. Plus, the Pinterest app is widely available for free on Apple and Android  devices. Need more convincing? Here are ten ways you can utilize Pinterest to prepare for forensics (listed in no particular order):

1. Save articles  and topic ideas for public speaking events. The first two on our list make use of secret boards. Sure, you may be able to bookmark an article on your desktop into a folder or e-mail the link with a description to yourself. The benefit of creating a secret board for topics are two-fold. First, you can keep all your topics together in one central location. Second, you can use the description box to leave yourself notes such as how the article can be turned into a speech topic or what person might be interested in reading it. By using a secret board, you don't have to worry about anyone stumbling across your great ideas.

2. Create a reading list of potential interp pieces. Again, another great use of the secret board. Sometimes you'll stumble across a short story online, but you don't have time to look up the author, search to see if and where its published, only to need to bookmark the site (if it isn't on Amazon). Plus, if your school is responsible for making the purchases, you're often encouraged to lump everything together. The description box, again, can be used to make notes about potential performers/events. By creating a secret board for interp literature pins, you're able to collect a list of options to return to when you're ready to order materials.

3. Browse  quotations to use as exercises  for limited preparation speakers. When you log in to Pinterest, you can click the red icon in the upper left hand corner of the screen. You'll be provided with a list of categories from which to choose. Clicking "Quotes" will allow you to browse and re-pin from hundreds of quotations. Whether you're working on impromptu, extemp, or debate - using quotations to practice analysis, interpretation, and argumentation is always a useful exercise.

4. Bookmark infographics  and interesting information for  attention getting devices  or examples. You don't always have to have an immediate use for a pin. I love collecting bits of trivia, stories, and examples. You can browse the technology, geek, science, nature, and history categories to collect things that are "neat-to-know." They can be added to a limited prep speaker's repertoire of knowledge or used as attention getting devices or examples in a public speech.

5. Hold onto inspirational sayings for team pump-up talks.  Sometimes you need to say more than, "Speak pretty everybody!" You'll find plenty of inspirational and motivational quotations on Pinterest to save for those days when warm-ups aren't doing the trick.

6. Manage a playlist of videos for performance tips and ideas.  Have you ever watched a video and thought, "That character is hilarious! They would be great in an H.I." or "I'd love to incorporate some of this movement into a Duo!" Videos can be great inspiration for performances. Use clips of celebrity impersonators to discuss vocal distinction. Cartoons are a great way to introduce basic, broad characters to new performers. Is there a cinematic clip that can inspire a dramatic performer? It's easier to hop over to a board of videos to reference than it is to try to search for the video you want (or worse, try to describe what you watched a few weeks ago).

7. Illustrate a variety of style options for tournament appropriate  attire. Research indicates that anywhere from 70 - 90% of communication is non-verbal. That means that to some degree, a competitor's appearance is communication a lot about that person before they begin their event. Most forensics tournaments encourage looking tidy and professional, but this doesn't mean competitors must spend a great deal of money to "look the part." A tournament attire board can illustrate a broad range of what is considered tournament appropriate attire. Pins on pairing shirts and ties, versatile and comfortable shoes, suits, hem lengths, and accessories can inform a student on what to look for or provide guidance in creating a professional appearance with the clothes they already own.

8. Hair, make-up, and grooming tutorials  can be useful. As previously mentioned, forensics isn't a beauty pageant but our appearances send non-verbal communication. A competitor's hairstyle or make-up doesn't have to be elaborate to be polished and professional. Still, discussing personal appearances remains a sensitive subject. A Pinterest board of "tournament ready" looks for hair, make-up, and facial hair can be an effective supplement to general discussions of what a coach or team considers competition appropriate appearances. Individuals can browse the pins for inspiration, ideas, and tutorials to achieve a look that is within their comfort zone without feeling singled out or embarrassed.

9. Collect remedies for tournament troubles. Speakers lose their voices, pop buttons, rip panty hose and face all sorts of other tribulations at tournaments. If you're lucky, you have back-up supplies in your bag. If not, it always helps to have tips saved from the DIY and health & fitness boards to help you out.

10. Add flair to tournament hosting  with recipes and decorating tips. Let's not forget the hallmark of Pinterest: recipes and decorating. Coaches have their hands full when it comes to running a tournament. Tournament hosting, however, can be an awesome exercise in team work and hospitality. Pinterest is great at providing ideas that utilize items you already own. Browse party planning and decorating boards for tournament theme ideas. Students can be assigned tasks from making signs to centerpieces, or even simple recipes to put in the lounge. There are plenty of opportunities for students to help host an awesome tournament while coaches are busy with entries, schematics, and running tab.

There's no limit to the number of ways you can utilize Pinterest in your forensics preparation. You can keep some boards secret but you can also share pins with other competitors and coaches. Make sure to follow our boards on Pinterest for inspiration, ideas, items from the store, links to articles about forensics, and anything else we think would be of interest to fellow speech geeks!