NSDA Champion Interview with Miles Saffran (Part One)

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Miles Saffran competed for Trinity Preparatory High School in Florida.  He was the 2014 NSDA National Champion in International Extemporaneous Speaking, the 2014 FFL State Champion in Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking, and a two time qualifier to the Exhibition Round at the Montgomery Bell Academy.  Miles also won several national tournaments, including Wake Forest, Yale, Bronx, Blue Key, Sunvitational, and Emory, and placing in the top three at Harvard and MBA.  He will be studying at Yale University, where he will continue his debate career with the Yale Debate Association.

Miles agreed to sit down with Extemp Central to discuss his career and thoughts on the activity.

Miles, congratulations on winning this year’s NSDA national championship in International Extemp and thank you for taking part in this interview with our readers.

Thanks for having me.

How did you get involved with extemporaneous speaking?

When I was in 8th grade, the Trinity Prep forensics team held a free pizza lunch for any rising freshman interested in speech and debate. I was lured in by the pizza but impressed by the performances, so I signed up for the team. When it came time to deciding which event I wanted to try out, I chose extemporaneous speaking because I thought it would require the least work (since I was told nothing had to be pre-prepared). Dumb move on my part, but I’m glad it worked out the way it did.

What was your first extemp speech on? Was it any good?

I gave my first speech to my coach, Mr. Vigars, and the two senior trainers on the team. I can’t remember what it was about, but I do remember that it was an abysmal 3 minutes. My first speech in a tournament was about North Korea, and that lasted a comparable 2 minutes and 45 seconds, complete with a 30 second pause. It wasn’t until I gave an Ivory Coast speech in January that I broke the 7 minute mark.

When did you win your first tournament? Any memories from that experience?

The first national tournament I won was the Bronx. It was a really nice win because my dad had attended the Bronx High School of Science, and the final round was in one of his old classrooms. The first local tournament I won was actually held at my high school, so it felt surreal.

What is your favorite source to cite? Are there any obscure sources out there that you were found of?

My favorite source to cite is Project Syndicate. The articles are written by field experts, giving the analysis a consistent depth. Plus, you can sometimes get articles written by politicians themselves, which can be very useful in a speech when you want to establish political positions. In terms of obscurity, I was always a big fan of M. Taylor Fravel’s blog about the Asia/Pacific. Very in depth and very unique.

What source(s) do you think extempers should cut more from?

I think extempers should cut more from academic research. A lot of the time, extempers (including myself) examine issues superficially by reading a few daily sources instead of trying to see all the nuances. I think journal articles provide a much bigger picture with bona fide analysis to boot.

What is the best extemporaneous speaking question that you ever drew? What is the worst?

I really liked a question I drew in quarters at NSDA: “What impact will the Eurasian Economic Alliance have on growth prospects for Eastern European countries?” I think this is sort of the quintessential extemp question — there are valid arguments for both sides, one has to take in to account political and economic conditions, and plenty of references can be made to broader theories about free trade. The worst question I’ve ever drawn was at a local novice tournament. The question was “Where is Osama Bin Laden?” I got this in January of 2011, months before the Navy SEAL raid.

The Florida extemporaneous speaking circuit is considered one of the top ten circuits in the country by many observers. What do you think makes it so great? Did you learn a lot of great lessons there?

In my opinion, Florida is just a really big state with a lot of impressive schools. The FFL does a great job of marshaling all of this talent into a well-organized league with frequent competition. I ended up getting the chance to compete against some really amazing extempers — at the novice state tournament my freshman year, I placed 3rd behind Cameron Bonnewell and Isabella Paretti, both of whom were extremely nationally successful. So I was definitely lucky to do extemp in Florida.

What was the best advice you ever received in extemporaneous speaking? Where did you get this advice?

“Own the [expletive] room,” courtesy of extemp enthusiast Rob Warchol. If you’re confident in what you’re saying, then things like fluency and clarity just naturally fall into place.

Not being able to choose yourself, who do you think was the most distinguished extemper on the national circuit this year? Why?

That’s a difficult question, and one I don’t have an answer to. I couldn’t pick just one person; there were so many talented extempers this year with multiple impressive accolades. However, since I know my mom will be reading this, I’m going to go with my brother, Nat Saffran.

Do any comments you have received on ballots over the years stand out to you (for good and bad reasons)? If so, what are they?

The best comment I got on a ballot was simply “be a person.” I would get so wrapped up in trying to craft the best speech possible that I’d sometimes forget to have fun while doing it. Out of all the bad comments (and there aren’t many), the one that stood out was a judge who wrote “you’re making too much eye contact and it’s creeping me out.” To this day, I’m not sure where she wanted me to look.

Explain your development as a speaker. What were some of the biggest challenges and hurdles that you faced when trying to become a nationally recognized speaker?

One of the things I struggled with most was amassing all the knowledge for extemp. I had no background or interest in current events, so it was tough for me to plunge directly into the event. At my first extemp practice, I embarrassingly confused Iraq and Iran. Luckily, I had some very forgiving coaches and mentors who were able to point me in the right direction.
My biggest hurdle by far was speaking. I was terrified of public speaking. I couldn’t make consistent eye contact, my voice was flat, and I had trouble enunciating clearly. I had to work a lot on my speaking freshman and sophomore year on communication skills. It wasn’t until my sophomore year at nationals that I really put all the pieces together. After that, it was (mostly) uphill. However, I’m still pretty uncomfortable with public speaking.

In your opinion, what were your greatest strengths as a speaker? What were your biggest weaknesses?

I think my strengths were being conversational but authoritative. A lot of extempers fall into a predictable speaking pattern, which feels forced and bombastic, so it ends up sounding a lot like oratory (minor offense to oratory intended). This leaves a niche for speakers to simply explain things to their judge, and I tried my best to “be a person” while speaking. I also tried to set myself apart by establishing credibility through statistics, specifics, and comparisons to history. Extempers sometimes forget that we, as high school students, don’t start off with a lot of baseline ethos. My biggest weakness was speaking in general. My fluency was always pretty mediocre, and sometimes I’d snap back to a monotone. I got pretty nervous before each speech, so although I’d strive for confidence, sometimes I’d just sound dull and timid. Also, my impacts were sometimes too safe or underdeveloped.

What were your initial goals coming into the 2013-2014 season?

My goal was just to improve my standing from last year at every tournament. I find extemp is a lot more fun and manageable if you set goals against yourself, rather than focus on what everyone else is doing.

Take us through your experiences on the national circuit in 2013-2014. You started the season with victories at Wake Forest, Yale, and the Bronx and then did not win a TOC qualifying tournament again until the Sunvitational in January. What do you think accounted for this drought between victories?

For the past two years, Trinity Prep extemp has flown out to Wake Forest because it’s a really nice warmup for the season. In that sense, I was excited to win, because there were some amazing competitors and judges. However, Yale was sort of the make or break tournament for my first half of the season. It has almost all of the competitors you’ll see on a regular basis, and offers a prolegomenous look at how the season will play out. I was glad to win that, since it convinced me that I stood a chance on the circuit. After Bronx, I split Blue Key with Lily, which I was more than happy with. I had never broken at Glenbrooks — I’m not sure if I was doing something wrong or my style clashed with the judges, but I was just happy to make it to semifinals this year. GMU, as the biggest tournament first semester, carries some very serious pressure, and I felt lucky to make it to finals. Once there, I tried to answer a very odd triadic, and didn’t do a very good job. So I guess it’s hard to ascribe this “drought” to any constant; each tournament has differences that make it unique. That being said, I’m usually pretty gung-ho about extemp coming into the beginning of the season, but when schoolwork and other extracurriculars pile on, it’s tough to practice as much and stay motivated.