by Ian Panchevre
A typical prep room experience does not involve recognizing someone from the nationals final round video. At the Glenbrooks, however, this sort of encounter is typical. The Glenbrooks can be an intimidating tournament. But you will learn that the excitement of the tournament can easily overcome most apprehension. The Glenbrooks offers an incredible learning opportunity and I hope to share with you what I got out of it, but in order to do so, I’ll have to break the spirit of extemp. Instead of covering three distinct points, I will begin by addressing the sort of preparation I did and then precede to reveal the attitude that I had throughout the tournament. In the process, I hope to address specifics about the tournament.
While preparing, it is important to keep in mind what really matters. You have a limited amount of time and therefore you have to be selective in regards to how you devote yourself.
Reading is obviously important. I encourage extempers to increase their reading load before a tournament such as the Glenbrooks. However, be realistic about how much you can read and what sort of knowledge will be useful in rounds. Reading a journal article about the fishing industry in Fiji will have little applicability. Moreover, trying to go through an entire book is probably unrealistic. In addition to regularly reading The Economist and Foreign Affairs, I would read the entire domestic and foreign section of The New York Times for about a week and a half before a big tournament. Also, while filing, I would set aside articles that clarified situations I did not completely understand to read at a later time. If you have the time to read a journal, go for it. Otherwise, stick with more general news.
You should also have a similar attitude when it comes to filing. Early in my career I excessively printed and filed because I over calculated how comprehensive my tubs needed to be. Though depth in your tubs is desirable, you have to consider whether or not a particular article covers a subject that will likely appear. Do not waste your time with an article that covers the details of labor strikes in Kazakhstan, for example. Additionally, if your tubs don’t have many foreign, journal, or think-tank, articles, use the week prior to the tournament to broaden your diversity of sources. Put aside the Washington Post and instead collect articles from The London Times, Der Spiegel, The Chicago Tribune (for local appeal), The Council on Foreign Relations, The Human Rights Watch, etc.
Practice speeches are also important. Try to give at least two practice speeches before you leave. Work on reoccurring issues. Give speech redoes to apply the advice you receive and to polish your delivery. Do whatever is sufficient to develop a nice rhythm.
After having told you that you should read, file, and practice, I doubt you feel particularly enlightened. I recognize that this advice is generic. But I share it with you so that you understand that it’s important to practice prudently. To succeed at the Glenbrooks, you will need to maximize your effectiveness. With less than a week until the tournament, you need to selectively choose how you will focus your time. Devote it according to what will help you improve in an actual round.
Unlike tournaments such as MBA or NFL, the Glenbrooks does not have a unique format. It is fairly standard in the sense that it has four preliminary rounds the first day, three outrounds the second day, and asks both foreign and domestic questions. The final round is unique, but that will be addressed later. In order to succeed you need to have the right mindset. My following advice will attempt to relay the attitude I had during the tournament.
First, it is important to be comfortable, relaxed, and focused before competing. This involves being rested and having everything in order. Put aside the temptation to overly socialize the night before to instead sleep at a reasonable time. Try to get to the prep room as early as possible so that you can claim a preferable location to work in. Do whatever you need to do to calm your nerves and relax.
The second bit of advice is to not be intimidated. There is a very strong competitive field at the Glenbrooks. Despite this, it’s important that your competitors do not affect your performance. I didn’t come from a high school that traveled or had a history of producing quality of extempers, so being surrounded by people who came from this sort of environment was slightly unnerving. However, I ignored the competition as much as possible. The only thing you can control is how you perform. Ignore the “who is who” and “who won what” gossip to focus on yourself. There are numerous factors that determine how your judge will rank the room. Therefore, a reputation is not as advantageous as you would think.
A third issue that’s worthy of discussion is what sort of “style” to pursue. There is a general divide in the activity over how much emphasis to place on analysis over delivery. Many competitors hailing from different regions may be unsure of what will work at the Glenrbooks. Keep in mind that the judging pool will be diverse. There is no way to identify a preferable style. Therefore, don’t view analysis and delivery as mutually exclusive. Strive for a universal appeal by articulating smart arguments in a clear fashion and delivering them well. If you plan on using humor, don’t let it distract from your arguments and use it sparingly and appropriately. If you aim to win every type of judge, you generally do.
A fourth token of counsel is to pace yourself. Tournaments like the Glenbrooks should be seen as two separate competitions. The first is prelims. Your speeches must be strong enough to place you in the top quarter of the pool to advance. However, you don’t need to consume unnecessary energy to break. If you consider yourself a solid competitor, don’t feel pressure to give your best speeches early on. If you are less sure of your abilities, then consider making more of an effort and see where it gets you. Either way, think about your performance within the context of the entire tournament. The outrounds, on the other hand, require you to commit your fullest effort. Leave absolutely nothing for granted and focus your entire mental capacity on each outround. An impressive prelimary performance is worthless if you cannot carry the energy over into the quarterfinal round.
In regards to the final round, the most important thing is to relax and be you. I know this sounds cliché, but it’s true. I did not enter the final round nervous, nor did I feel the need to change my entire strategy. Keep doing what you have been doing and let your personality reveal itself. Engage the audience with an energetic delivery and you will lift the mood of the room. Use the large audience to improve your speech as opposed to hinder your performance.
Further discussion of the final round is appropriate. Odds are, you have never been in a similar situation before. The Glenbrooks is one of a few national tournaments (St. Marks and MBA are others) that offers an experimental round. An experimental round does not involve the standard “draw three questions from an envelope” routine. Last year, the final round was a “Do-It-Yourself-Triadic.” We were given a list of about 20 nouns and asked to select three to construct our own question to speak on. I understand that the final round prior to the one I competed in consisted of a hypothetical scenario that asked the extempers to explain how they would respond in a certain situation.
I genuinely enjoyed experimental rounds because it offered an opportunity to think in an unusually abstract fashion. However, my impression is that most people don’t share this sentiment. If the final round is once again an experimental round, the way to approach it is to relax. No matter how crazy it may seem, you still have thirty minutes to develop a seven-minute speech. Approach it like you would any other round and you will have an inherent advantage over your competitors. At least one person in the room will not perform well because of the nature of the round. Don’t let that person be you.
There’s one last issue I would like to address, and that is how much pressure to put on yourself while you compete. I believe that it is counter-productive to expose yourself to excessively high expectations and pressure. I didn’t go to the Glenbrooks expecting to win. I went to learn and to see how I compared to others. Now that I am removed from the activity, it has become painfully obvious that I would perform better at the tournaments where I didn’t place excessive pressure on myself. When I entered a tournament wanting, or even expecting, to win, I would over-think the process and commit errors I didn’t typically commit.
I recognize that performance related advice is idiosyncratic. What works for me may not work for you. While I was at the Glenbrooks, I unintentionally followed the rules I just delineated. I prepared intelligently and effectively. I remained comfortable and focused. I didn’t allow the other competitors to disrupt my mindset. I spoke in a style that I believe appealed to an array of judging preferences. I paced my performance in prelims and elevated the intensity in quarters and semis. In finals, I relaxed once again and had fun with a speech that played well with the audience. And finally, I didn’t put unnecessary pressure on myself. Though this approach works, I don’t claim that it’s the only way to win a quality tournament. It’s important to find what works for you and to commit yourself to it. I wish you the best of luck competitively, and I hope that you enjoy your time at one of the best tournaments you can attend.
[1] Ian graduated from Tom C Clark High School in San Antonio, Texas in 2008. Throughout his career he has won several national tournaments in Extemp including The University of Texas, St. Marks, and the Glenbrooks. He competed at MBA, placed fourth at the Extemp TOC, and was a national semi-finalist in IX. Ian is attending Yale University where he plans on majoring in Ethics, Politics, and Economics as well as International Studies.