Beyond the Tournament: Bridging the Gap Between Collegiate Forensics and the Outside World
Date
2023-12
Authors
Bass, Haley
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Abstract
"Beyond the Tournament” is a podcast series that interviews collegiate forensics competitors—that is, collegiate speech and debate competitors—about the speeches and pieces they competed with during the 2022-2023 academic year. Each episode interviews a unique competitor from universities across the United States, speaking about an individual speech and debate “event.” The format of each episode first explores the nature and rules of the event in question, then interviews a competitor about their experience performing that event, and finally concludes with a recording of the piece itself. Through the podcast medium, this project attempts to examine the gap between the insular speech and debate community as the typical audience of these competitors and a more diverse, outside audience. Though not all speech and debate events are persuasive in nature, all seek to examine a social or political phenomenon and either persuade an audience to shift their perspective or broaden their knowledge base. Because of the inherent demographic similarities among the competitors and judges who traditionally view these events, I ask competitors to examine whether the typical tournament audience can be persuaded or affected by their pieces. Finally, by publicly posting their interviews, I give them access to a more diverse audience typical of the world outside of collegiate forensics and open the door to outside engagement with the speech and debate community.
Description
Keywords
speech and debate, collegiate forensics, forensics, podcast
Citation
Bass, H. (2023). Beyond the tournament: Bridging the gap between collegiate forensics and the outside world. Honors College, Texas State University.