The Public Speaking Drills Toolbox, Part 2: Group Drills
Every good drills toolbox includes a balance of individual and group drills. If you haven’t had a chance yet, make sure to check out the first post in this series, which presents several single-person drill ideas targeting a variety of skills. This second installment specifically dives into group and club style drills that work best with a crowd of students. Whether your club is meeting in person or virtually this year, make sure you can maximize time together with these engaging ways to learn and practice public speaking skills!
The targeted skills in these drills include:
Critical thinking in a timed environment
Practicing persuasive delivery
Cutting a selection of literature
Blocking a scene for an interpretation
Preparing and answering cross examination questions
Confidence in presentation
Analyzing and recreating actions in interpretation style
Desert Island Survival: Fast-Paced Critical Thinking
Skills drilled: Critical thinking in a timed environment, practicing persuasive delivery
Quick! You can have a toothbrush, a jar of jelly, or pillow. Which one should you choose if you’re stranded on a desert island? This may sound like an amusing dinner conversation topic, but with a few additions it becomes an engaging group drill. Present any few random objects, and assign one student or group of students to present a compelling argument for why their item is the best. Allow for a few moments of prep time, and then have the teams present their arguments. If you’d like to add a competitive twist, have the audience vote on which team was most compelling. Although the topics and style of this drill are far from serious, it allows students a low-pressure chance to practice both creative critical thinking within a time frame, and persuasive presentation.
Mini Duos: A Hands-On Approach to Cutting and Blocking interpretations
Skills drilled: cutting a selection of literature, blocking a scene for an interpretation
Interpretations are perhaps the least intuitive category of competitive speech; the concept of adapting literature, much less the detailed rules governing it, are understandably discouraging to students. Rather than simply describe the process, have your group practice a simple version of the process itself. Split students into pairs and give each pair one to two paragraphs of a simple story with dialogue (excerpts are best found in children's novels or picture books). Allow each pair to practice cutting a simple script with dialogue from the paragraph, and then brainstorm how to present it and act out the characters. While this drill requires a bit more involvement in preparation and helping students work through it, it provides students with a better understanding of the entire interpretation process.
Piranha Packing: Intensive Cross Examination Practice
Skills drilled: Critical thinking in answering cross examination questions, and in forming cross examination questions.
This is a fairly well-known drill, but an excellent tool for polishing debate cases later in the competition season. One brave volunteer presents their first affirmative constructive (either for Team Policy or Lincoln Douglas style) to a large group. Afterwards, the entire audience is open to cross examine the speaker on anything they have prepared. This can be intimidating for the speaker, but provides a great chance to practice navigating confusing or intense questions, and realizing holes in an established case. It also gives the audience a chance to drill their auditory case analysis and question preparation.
The Drill Jar
Skills drilled: (included in handout, but any brief style of drill can be added at your preference) Critical thinking in a timed environment, confidence in presentation, analyzing and recreating actions in interpretation style.
There are often lulls, breaks, or awkward moments to fill in a club schedule. If you often find yourself with a few extra minutes at club meetings, a drill jar might be a great option for you! The premise is simple: short ‘mini drill’ prompts across various categories are placed on slips of paper. Students draw one at random, and perform the action for the group. This is a great way to work in short bursts of critical thinking, or charades-type interpretation modeling. A starter sheet with brief drill prompts is available here.