The Montgomery Bell Extemp Round Robin is a unique experience for those extempers who have attended it. For the participants that are getting ready to compete, as well as those extempers who one day aspire to compete in the tournament, The Ex Files has assembled a panel discussion of four extempers who have competed at the tournament over the last several years, including one overall tournament champion, David Tannenwald. This panel discusses their experiences at the tournament in the hope that competitors can learn more about how the tournament works, what they should expect in Nashville in a few weeks, and advice to extempers who won day hope to receive an MBA bid.
Panel:
David Tannenwald: As an extemporaneous speaking competitor at Newton South High School(NSHS), David won the MBA Round Robin and the Harvard National Tournament in 2003; placed third at NFL’s in IX in 2003; and was a two-time finalist at CFL Nationals (3rd place in 2002 and 5th place in 2003). After graduating from NSHS in 2003, David attended Brown University from 2003-2004 before transferring to Harvard College in the fall of 2005. In the interim academic year (2004-2005), David took time off from school. During his time off, he served as a field organizer for John Kerry’s presidential campaign in Pittsburgh in the fall, and he worked as a research assistant at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government in the spring. While in college, David remained involved in forensics by working as a coach at summer forensics institutes in Massachusetts, Texas, and Virginia. After graduating from Harvard College in June 2008 with a degree in government, David spent the summer continuing to do research on his college thesis topic, subsidies for professional sports stadiums. In the fall of 2008, David biked down the U.S. Pacific Coast from Seattle to Los Angeles. David returned from his bike trip a month ago, and he is currently working part-time as an independent consultant for a law firm in NYC while he looks for a full-time job.
MBA FINISHES: 1st place (2003); 2nd place in Exhibition Round (2003); 7th place (2002)
Hunter Kendrick: Kendrick is a 2008 graduate of Danville High School in Danville, KY. He competed in speech and debate for four years, and over that period of time he amassed fourteen different state championships in six different individual events – including eight different titles in Extemporaneous Speaking. Nationally, Hunter is most notable as a two-time finalist at the Barkley Forum of Emory University, the 3rd place finisher at the 2007 NCFL National Championships, the 3rd place finisher at the 2008 MBA Southern-Bell Round Robin, and as the 4th place finisher in International Extemp at the 2008 NFL National Championships. In the summer of 2007 Hunter was named an NFL “Academic All-American,” and by the end of his forensics career he had earned the degree of “Premier Distinction” from the NFL. Hunter is a freshman at the University of Kentucky where he is pursuing degrees in History and English.
MBA FINISH: 3rd place (2008)
Ian Panchevre: 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.
MBA FINISH: Participant (2008)
Logan Scisco: Logan competed for four years for Danville High School in Danville, Kentucky where he was coached by Mr. Steve Meadows. He also competed for two and a half years for Western Kentucky University. He was the 2003 NFL United States Extemporaneous Speaking Final Round National Champion, a CFL finalist, a two-time NFA finalist in college, a two-time Kentucky state champion in extemporaneous speaking, a two-time MBA invitee, and was a four-time qualifier to CFL Nationals in extemp and a four-time qualifier to NFL Nationals in U.S. Extemp. He has coached two Kentucky state extemporaneous speaking champions, an MBA finalist, ten extemp national qualifiers, a CFL finalist, and a NFL finalist (IX). He currently teaches social studies at Grant County High School in Dry Ridge, Kentucky and coaches for Grant and Boone County high schools.
MBA FINISHES: 6th place (2004), 9th place (2003)
TOPIC #1: How did it feel to get an MBA bid?
Tannenwald: I was pleasantly surprised to get an invitation to MBA during my junior year because of my limited competitive success up to that point. During my sophomore year, I didn’t even break at NFL Nationals, and my resume during the fall of my junior year was fairly thin. In late October of that year, I won a Massachusetts local tournament against outstanding competition (Josh Bone, Pablo Ros, Hays Golden, Brendan Jarboe, etc.), but, still, it was only a Massachusetts local tournament. Then, a few weeks later, I placed second at Villiger behind Ariel Schneller, the previous year’s NFL IX final round champion. Both of these results were great, but I wasn’t sure it constituted a portfolio that warranted an MBA invitation.
After Villiger, I e-mailed Adam Johnson (who I had gotten to know at UTNIF that summer) with hopes that he would invite me to MBA. I didn’t hear back from him, so I assumed it was not going to happen. However, a few weeks later, Adam e-mailed me to see if I’d like to attend the tournament. My invitation came after the initial round of MBA invitations, so I’m pretty sure I was an alternate. Overall, I felt very fortunate to get the invitation. I was really an unknown commodity at that point, so I appreciated AJ taking a chance on me.
During my senior year, it was also very nice to get the invitation. Because I had enjoyed MBA my junior year, I was very excited to have the opportunity to return.
Kendrick: Getting the invite was probably one of the high points of my competitive career. One of my coaches, Logan Scisco, had been to the RR twice before, and he had some pretty exciting/funny stories about his experiences there, which really made me want to experience it for myself. I was PUMPED beyond belief when I finally got that e-mail from Adam Johnson!
Panchevre: It was very exciting. I hadn’t even heard of the RR until early in my senior year, and didn’t even consider it as an option until after St. Marks. Getting the invitation was easily one of the most exciting moments of my extemp career.
Scisco: I remember that I was in the school computer lab during my economics class when my coach, Steve Meadows, stopped by, pulled me out, and showed me the letter that I had been accepted for the Round Robin. He had contacted Adam Johnson about the possibility of inviting me since I had placed 13th in U.S. extemp the year before at NFL, but since it was very late in the semester I had given up hope of being invited. I remember as a freshman and sophomore reading about the Round Robin and how it had the best extempers in the country such as Jason Lear, Jason Warren, Gilbert Lee, Rana Yared, Ariel Schneller, Amanda Knight, etc. so I was very happy to be selected for the tournament.
TOPIC #2: Were you nervous heading into the MBA Round Robin?
Tannenwald: I was nervous heading into the RR during both my junior and senior years but for different reasons. During my junior year, I wondered whether I realistically could compete at the RR. I had not even broken at NFL’s during my sophomore year, and, though I had some success during my junior fall, a part of me feared getting blown out of the water.
In my senior year, I was nervous for the opposite reason: I felt like I had a shot to win the tournament but wasn’t sure I would do it. After placing third at CFL’s and seventh at NFL’s during my junior year, I really thought I had a chance to be one of the top extempers in the country during my senior year. However, during the first half of my senior year, I had good but not great results. I was beginning to wonder if I would would ever win a major tournament, and, as MBA approached, I had four chances left to win a big one: MBA, Harvard, CFL’s, and NFL’s. That made me incredibly nervous.
Kendrick: Of course. Then again, I was nervous about every tournament I went to. But, yes. I was more nervous than normal about the RR. Just think about it: only 16 people get invited each year! The level of competition speaks for itself… It would almost be silly NOT to be nervous about going to MBA…
Panchevre: A little bit. I knew that the competition would be tough and the format exhausting, but I had faith that if I stuck to my general game plan I would be fine. I was nervous enough so that I worked to prepare myself for it, but I don’t believe the nerves impaired my performance.
Scisco: I was very nervous and intimidated going to the Round Robin for the first time. I never traveled the national circuit when I was in high school and the only national circuit tournament I ever attended was the Barkley Forum, but that was my senior year. I had talked to Amanda Knight before the tournament about what to expect and she gave me some good information, but the element of the unknown made me very nervous. I was afraid of embarrassing myself and ending up in 15th place, especially because I did not want to look bad in front of the best extemp coaches in the country who I had heard and read a lot about. My senior year I was not as nervous and actually looked forward to attending because many of the participants in the 2004 Round Robin were also at the 2003 tournament such as Josh Bone, Ron Kendler, and David Tucker.
TOPIC #3: How did you prepare heading into the Round Robin?
Tannenwald: My preparation for the RR was drastically different during my junior and senior years. During my junior year, I had little time to prepare because, during winter break just before the tournament, I was on a family vacation in Hawaii. I spent a bit of time filing in the hotel business center, read the newspaper, and gave a couple speeches to my older brother (he was in college then but had competed in student congress in high school). With all of that said, it was virtually impossible to prepare for such a big tournament while on vacation.
During my senior year, my family was once again taking a Hawaiian vacation, but I decided to skip the trip and stay at home to prepare during winter vacation. I still spent time hanging out with friends that winter break, but, with time running out on my extemp career and still no major championships on my resume, I decided to go “all in” so to speak. I filed fastidiously, gave numerous practice speeches, and read extensively.
Kendrick:I read more in December 2007 than at any other point in my life. Ever. I felt the company I was buying my highlighters from should have sponsored me… I would have put their company’s logo in decal form on my boxes and everything…
I didn’t get to do much actual practicing, though – my area practically had a blizzard and my coach (who lived out of town) couldn’t make it into the school without dying. I resorted to doing fluency drills ad nauseum.
Panchevre: My preparation was research intensive, and light on developing the actual mechanics of the speech. Everyone prepares differently, but I think it’s important that you strike the right balance.
Scisco: I went through my usual routine and throwing away old information in my files, reading newspaper articles, and reading some of the VictoryBriefs brief books that I had received for Christmas. I read a great deal of Economics for Extempers, but I did not do anything out of the ordinary. My junior year, my coach had me come to the school and give two practice speeches, which were cross-examined by an ex-teammate. This gave me some background into the three minute cross-examination format, which I was very unprepared for since I was not a debater and was only used to the old one minute question and two minute response format from NFL Districts. I also watched the 2000 NFL IX final round several times, which is the only tape my team had of extemp at the time, to see if I could pick up any new techniques.
TOPIC #4: What do you remember about your first speech at the Round Robin?
Tannenwald: Unfortunately, I don’t remember the speech itself, but I do remember the immediate aftermath of the speech. I was in the prep. room, and I overheard two separate conversations about my speech. In one instance, a competitor said to another competitor in a surprised tone, “my coach [who judged my round] gave Tannenwald the one in the round.” In the other conversation, another competitor said to her chaperone (who had watched my round), “What did you think of Tannenwald? I thought he was pretty good.” The chaperone replied, “Nah, you have nothing to worry about with him.” I found this to be simultaneously a comical and disconcerting introduction to RR extemp. It was comical to hear people gossiping about me within earshot, and it was disconcerting that people gossiped so much.
Kendrick: Ha! Train wreck! The timer and I apparently had a communication block, and he didn’t understand how I wanted my time signals given. So, I ended up only getting a signal when I had 5 SECONDS LEFT to speak! Luckily, I had been moved to my conclusion with enough time to wrap everything up, but overall the speech was still shakier than it could have been.
Panchevre: My first speech concerned the state of democracy in Georgia. The speech went well but the impacts at the end of my points were weak. At most tournaments, making errors like this don’t cost you much in terms of ranks. However, at MBA, when the pool is so competitive, any little mistake will put you at the bottom of the room. It wasn’t my strongest round, but I felt that it was a decent start to the tournament.
Scisco: I remember that the night before my coach and I drove down to Nashville that I had received an instant message on AOL from Clare Lascelles and she told me what the pairings were for the first round. My first round included her, Jessica Ponn, Ron Kendler, and Amaris Singer, who had been to the Round Robin twice before and had placed third the previous year. I was nervous about hitting Amaris, but eager to test my skills against one of the best, and arguably the best female extemper in the country that year. The panel for that round was Joe Vaughan of Scarsdale, Lisa Miller of Nova, and Jonathan Mott of MBA.
The question that I drew for the first round was on whether Tom Daschle was a viable presidential candidate. Keep in mind, this was before Tom Daschle would lose his Senate seat in the 2004 elections. I thought my speech was pretty good, and I was relieved when it was over and I survived by first bout of CX with Clare okay. I also remember cross-examining Ron Kendler and I did a really bad job of it. I ended up going 1-4-5 in that round, but what stands out is that Amaris and Jessica introduced themselves to me after the round, which I thought was nice of them. It made me feel very welcome to the tournament.
TOPIC #5: What experience at the Round Robin stands out the most to you and why?
Tannenwald: Two experiences at the RR stand out. First and foremost, I will never forget the feeling I had when Adam Johnson announced me as the RR champion at the tournament my senior year. I felt immense pressure to win my senior year because, though I had appeared in the final round of many major tournaments, I had never won one. I felt tremendous relief, happiness, and satisfaction when I won the tournament.
Second, while at Logan Airport in Boston en route to MBA my senior year, Lisa Honeyman (my coach) received a phone call from Ron Kendler (my teammate and a sophomore at the time). Ron was calling us to let us know that he had just received a call from Adam Johnson and found out he was getting a last-minute invitation to the RR because someone dropped. It was great to have Ron join me and Josh Bone (another Massachusetts extemper) in Nashville, and it was also really exciting to have all three of us in the exhibition round.
Kendrick: Um… My favorite memory doesn’t involve the competition, but here goes. The weekend we were at the RR the Pittsburgh Steelers were in a playoff game. Jack Grennan – who is from Pittsburgh – was sporting a Steelers hoody when he, Billy Strong, and I watched the game in the hotel lobby while our coaches went to the grown-ups-only soiree. The Steelers ended up losing that game, and Billy and I gave Jack hell over it. Good times.
Panchevre: There were many experiences that stood out. I think it’d be difficult to select just one. However, one that I remember particularly well was the experimental round. The year I attended we drew political cartoons out of a bag and had to develop our own question based on our interpretation of the cartoon. I really enjoyed the round and in terms of ranks it was my best round of the tournament.
Scisco: When people say MBA, what I remember most is getting annihilated by Dan Hemel during cross-examination on a speech I had given about poverty in South Africa. I finished what I thought was a pretty good speech, but then Hemel came up and put me through the longest cross-examination I had ever experienced by blitzing me with questions on patent information I had never heard of before.
Outside of the tournament, I remember standing around a small computer screen with most of the competitors watching the ESPN Gametracker for the Miami-Ohio State national title game in 2003 and watching Ariel Schneller play poker hands between rounds in 2004.
TOPIC #6: Was there ever a disappointing experience for you at the Round Robin? Explain.
Tannenwald: No disappointment for me. I felt incredibly fortunate to be there twice.
Kendrick: Well, MBA is notorious for using special question rounds. I don’t want to go into detail, because I don’t want to ruin the surprise for this year’s group if Adam ends up using the same round format again. So, very vaguely, let me say that one round required you to use a certain medium to craft your own question. I thought that I had blown the round away, but then Jason Warren (who judged my round) stopped me in the hall afterwards and said something along the lines of “you missed something.” When I looked at my prompt again, I noticed a portion that I had completely overlooked – so, in other words, I gave a speech about something completelty different than I should have. Needless to say, didn’t do so hot that round.
Panchevre: I had a few rounds half way through the tournament that I felt went rather poorly. It was rough knowing that I didn’t do my best and it was difficult to focus on future rounds when I was so shaken by my performance in earlier rounds.
Scisco: While I am very grateful to have been invited to the Round Robin twice, I was disappointed my senior year (2004) to have missed out on the Exhibition Round by two ranks. Although I was very nervous about having to possibly compete in the Exhibition Round, it would’ve been nice to know that I had an opportunity to compete in it and you never know, one of the ten competitors judging the round may have been able to give me some advice that would have improve my extemp abilities my senior year, a year I thought was very flatline in terms of development.
TOPIC #7: Do you feel the Round Robin was beneficial to your extemp career? Why?
Tannenwald: The RR was tremendously beneficial to my extemp career. In my junior year, I learned a tremendous amount from watching the more experienced seniors, and I gained a lot of confidence from placing in the top-half of the field. I really think that confidence was integral to my competitive success later that year. In my senior year, winning the tournament was critical for my extemp career. In some sense, it was a capstone experience for me in extemp. After competing well but never winning a major tournament, I was extraordinarily proud to be the RR Champion. In addition, the RR win gave me momentum going into the second half of my senior year. After finally winning one of the big ones, I was a far more relaxed competitor and had what I felt was the best tournament of my career at Harvard a month after winning MBA. In the final of that tournament, I felt like I was “in the zone.” I felt incredibly relaxed and spoke really well. Had I not won MBA, I would have still felt tremendous pressure to win a major and would not have been able to relax as much at Harvard.
Kendrick: Very. Every round you see the best extempers in the nation. You see what they do well, what they don’t do so well, and you see how their styles differ from yours. Seeing new takes (15 new takes) on something you have been doing for a while can be very beneficial for your “self-discovery” in extemp. I recommend watching any rounds that you can, especially when your fellow competitors are as high-caliber as the RRers.
Panchevre: The RR is one of few opportunities for elite extempers to learn in a competitive context. For myself, the RR proved to be the most educational tournament I ever attended. The comments I was getting on my ballots were the best I had ever received. The feedback that judges were more than happy to offer throughout the tournament was incredibly insightful. Also, you learn a lot from your competition. It’s customary to watch the remainder of each round after you have spoken, and you pick up a lot of new things from your competitors.
Scisco: Without a doubt, if it was not for the Round Robin in 2003 I would never have won my final round national title in U.S. extemp, or much less finaled at CFL or NFL that year. Truth be told, I may not even be writing The Ex Files, coaching, or teaching if it was not for MBA. In 2003 I was very rough in finding “my style” of doing extemp, I was merely copying other competitors. Getting feedback from all of the coaches at the tournament and watching other competitors helped me find the style that best worked for me. Finding this style made me more confident as a speaker and that confidence helped me win my first extemp state title in Kentucky three months later and propelled me to a lot of success on the national stage that summer.
Also, I gained a lot of good friendships from MBA that made CFL and NFL a lot of fun in 2003. I remember at those tournaments that the people who had been to MBA sat close in the prep room and we all rooted each other on. It was an atmosphere that made the competition less stressful and more fun that I ever realized it could be.
TOPIC #8: If you had to go into the Round Robin and do anything differently what would you do?
Tannenwald: I would have prepared far less thoroughly for the tournament going into my senior year. During that year, I spent nearly my entire winter break preparing. In retrospect, I had a skewed sense of what was most important. Though I am proud I won the tournament, I wish I had taken more time to be a kid and spent time with my family and friends.
Kendrick: I would have foregone the haircut I got the week of. It was nippy down there. Short hair + cool winds = discomfort. Hard to focus on Middle East Peace when you think your ears are suffering from frost bite…
Panchevre: I didn’t prepare as prudently as I should have. I anticipated the questions to be so obscure that I devoted the majority of my preparation to research. Though the questions were challenging, they weren’t impossible to address. In hindsight, I would have been better off collecting more general knowledge and devoting the additional time to more practice speeches.
Scisco: During the U.S. politics round my senior year, I drew a question on Carol Moseley Braun and while I thought my speech would be good on it, I could tell ten minutes into prep time that it was just not going to work. While I gave it my all in that round, the judges all said that I simply did not have enough specific information to answer the question and that I should have chosen another topic. The 5-5-5 I received in that round crippled my overall ranking, sent me from second place to about ninth, and I spent the rest of the tournament fighting my way back into the top five, which I almost did over the last two rounds. However, I sometimes think about where I possibly could have placed without choosing that topic and giving a speech instead of the Bush Medicare plan, which is one of the other topics I chose.
TOPIC #9: What advice do you have for those going to the Round Robin?
Tannenwald: For first-time RR attendees, my advice is do not get intimidated. Despite all of the pomp and circumstance, it’s just a tournament. To people who are considered favorites to win, I would say don’t put too much pressure on yourselves. Again, despite all of the pomp and circumstance, it’s just a high school speech tournament.
To all RR attendees, I would say three things. First, watch the rounds after you speak. Normally, extempers do not stay and watch rounds, but Adam Johnson encouraged us to do so at MBA. I learned a lot from watching the other competitors. Second, enjoy hanging-out with your fellow competitors. I had a lot of fun spending time with the other kids at the tournament. Third, do not let the competitive crock bother you. For example, Adam Johnson used to post this chart which tracked the standings anonymously. In other words, one could see fluctuations (for example, the person leading after round two would be in sixth place after round five), but, because it was anonymous, people guessed who was who. This guessing game is unproductive. Just focus on your own stuff, and you’ll be fine.
Kendrick: It is ok, natural even, to be nervous. However, do not let nervousness prevent you from performing to the best of your abilities. Take a breath, it will be ok…
Panchevre: Take it round by round and don’t let the events in an earlier round impact later rounds. Everyone is going to make mistakes and one or two mistakes here and there will not eliminate you from the running. However, a series of mistakes will be difficult to recover from. When you make mistakes, the best thing to do is to put it aside and not to let them affect your future performance.
Scisco: Several items come to mind. First, enjoy yourself while you are there and talk to the other competitors. These are people that you will most likely see again at nationals and it will give you people to talk to and have fun with when most of the people from your state are no longer around, especially because at nationals when there are four to five different sites for competition.
Second, do not obsess over changing too many things in your style or obsessing over becoming the most knowledgeable person alive. You have received an MBA bid because you are one of the best at what you do and you have earned the right to be there. Go in confident. Regardless of where you place at the tournament, use it as a learning experience. Even if you do not win or place where you would like, look over the ballots that you receive back from the tournament and see what aspects of your performance you can change. MBA has the luxury of being sandwiched in the middle of the year and it is not too late to fix parts of your performance that could handicap you at state or national tournaments.
Finally, make sure to thank Adam Johnson, your coaches, and the MBA staff when you can. When I got home after attending the tournament each year, I made sure to e-mail Adam a thank you for inviting me and explaining how much I enjoyed the tournament. Without sacrifices from people like Adam and your coaches, tournaments like MBA would not exist, and receiving some thanks for their hard work and dedication does make them feel good about what they do.