You have seven minutes to prepare and present a speech based on Albert Einstein's saying, "Imagination is more important than knowledge." Go.
This is what students in the Impromptu category from the U.Va. Speech Team are confronted with at competitions.
The group, now in its third year of existence, has roughly 20 members, Speech Team President Lanita Warner said. Students in the group attend competitions where they deliver a speech to individual judges and are judged on how well they deliver it.
"Speech Team is a communications group where we hone in on different capabilities," Warner said. Among these capabilities are being able to think on your feet, being comfortable speaking in front of large groups of people, being able to use voice inflection, pauses and gestures effectively, and being able to express thoughts articulately.
Speech Team Treasurer Emily Green said the skills she has acquired as a member of the group help her in other aspects of life at the University and beyond.
"It helps so much in other things you do. There are so many times where I have to give a speech for a class or another activity," Green said. "It boosts your confidence, and you end up being more articulate."
Warner said there are 11 different categories at any given competition, and participants can enter up to six, although most people only enter one or two. Each category requires a slightly different type of skill. Informative speeches should discuss a specific topic, and are more serious in nature, while after-dinner speeches are supposed to be humorous. Extemporaneous speeches focus on politics and current events. Interpretative speeches are excerpts from plays, prose and poetry.
"You have to become the character," Secretary Kirsten Rumsey said.
Students draw upon experience acting or a natural flair for speaking in front of large groups when performing their monologues at competitions. The greatest obstacle for members of the group isn't overcoming nerves when delivering their soliloquies - it's figuring out exactly what to say when standing before the judges.
"The most difficult thing is trying to help [members of the group] find their piece," Warner said. "They come in, and they don't know exactly what they want to do. We try to help them find what they really love and what they're going to do well at."
When choosing a speech to deliver, students consider their strengths and weaknesses as public speakers. This year, the team has added a "speech coach," who helps them refine their technique and create activities that strengthen specific skills, Rumsey said. In one activity, members of the group pass around an imaginary bunny by making hand gestures directed toward someone else.
"This is an activity on concentration and communication," Warner said, "and it also makes you realize that it's OK to make a fool out of yourself sometimes."
These activities, which the group uses as warm-ups before its meetings, can also be more serious. In one activity, members of the group are given a topic and have to speak about that topic for five minutes without saying "um" or repeating themselves, Warner said. Other times, their speech coach gives lessons on specific aspects of public speaking, such as tone, inflection, emphasis and pauses, and on specific aspects of speech writing, for those who want to write their own monologues.
After this warm-up activity, which usually lasts 10 minutes, Warner said, students start practicing their speeches. Each participant presents his speech to the whole group, which then critiques it. These practices help prepare students for competitions at other universities, mostly in the Washington, D.C. area, but a few that are in nearby states such as Pennsylvania and New York.
Green said at these competitions, students present their speech at least three times to different judges each time. As students approach the final round, there are more judges and more observers who listen. After students finish delivering their speeches, they listen to those of other participants.
The largest competition is nationals, which occurs in March. To qualify, a student must place highly in six competitions. Students go to competitions to support their teammates, even if they themselves are not competing.
"If any one of us makes it to nationals," Warner said, "we'll all go to cheer them on"
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