Dahle Communication

The Benefits of Debate - Learning about Space Travel!

One of the greatest things about being a debate coach is that I have to learn a great deal about a new topic each and every year. This year I get to learn about Space! It's like I'm a kid again. Space is amazing and I've forgotten how inspiring it is and how it can trigger our imagination.

For an example, I have embedded an info-graphic about the International Space Station that I wanted to share with you. I don't think most people know how big and complex the Space Station is.

If you have kids, get them involved in competitive debate - they will learn more about a topic than they will in any other class! If your school doesn't have competitive debate, work on them to add it! If you ever want any help, please let me know and I will get you the information you need!

Enjoy the info on the International Space Station.

 

Source Space.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration

What is Debate? Watch and Find Out!

If you are not a part of the debate world, it can be a bit confusing. Because of some of this misconception, I decided to give an ignite speech about debate that will hopefully clear up some of those ideas. While it is only 5 minutes long, you can still learn a lot from it (I hope). If you want to learn more, go to the National Forensics League website.

 

Travis Dahle at Global Ignite Week #4 from Ignite SD on Vimeo.

Thanks for watching.

-Travis

Smart, Well Dressed Teenagers - Our Future is in Good Hands

This coming weekend is a pretty big weekend for a lot of students in the Rushmore District of the National Forensics League. It is the tournament that determines who gets to go to the National Debate Tournament in June. Officially it is called the District Qualifying Tournament, but to debaters, we call it simply "Quals."

Quals is by far the most intense tournament of the year for a lot of school across the nation. While some might not believe it, South Dakota is a very competitive state when it comes to debate. We are divided into 2 separate districts - with a few schools in the Western part of the state competing against Wyoming teams. The students who qualify for nationals routinely do well at the National Debate Tournament getting into quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final rounds.

I spend a good part of my time coaching students from Washington High School in Sioux Falls and will spend this weekend coaching my team and judging some rounds of debate and individual events. Debate is a great activity for students. These kids will not need my help (hopefully) when it comes to improving their speeches in the business world. They are confident, well spoken, well educated and as well dressed as anyone in the business world.

So if you have any doubts as to the future of America and if we are going to hell in a hand-basket - go find out if there is a debate tournament near you and go watch some rounds. You'll be amazed at the level of intelligence of the students and research that these kids have done.

It is communication at its finest.

Out of Town and Out of Contact

I just wanted to put a quick post up today. I am at the National Debate Tournament in Birmingham, AL coaching students from Washington High School all week. Needless to say it's been a busy week and internet connections are a little sketchy at times in our hotel and the schools have cut off wireless at the schools where students are competing.

Basically what I am saying is - sorry for not getting a post up and running this week - hope to be back at it early next week with some thoughts from this past week at the national tournament. There are a lot of great things that go on at the national debate tournament and I'll share them with you soon.

Thanks for reading, I appreciate all the comments (both on-line and off) that I've gotten over the months.

Travis

How do you communicate with someone you disagree with?

Seth Godin posted an interesting blog this morning title "What do you call things you disagree with?" Well, since he doesn't have a comments page to discuss what we would call it, I figured I would post about it here and if anyone wants to add to the discussion they are more than welcome.

What I think is most obvious in Seth's post is his comment that when we get annoyed with something or afraid of something, we "lose eloquence and start calling things names." Evidence of this can be seen every single day if you watch any type of news commentary, read blog posts on politics or marketing or listen to AM talk radio. When people disagree with something, they get angry and just delve into name calling. While I think he is talking more about marketing, I see it more often than not in politics.

For me, I call things that I disagree with by their names. If I disagree with someone, I don't delve into name calling and trying to degrade them. What I try to do is see things from their perspective, analyze it and then disagree with them in a civilized manner. Unfortunately, people forget that they are talking to another human being when they are arguing with them and they are passionate about something. This is one of the main reasons why I got out of politics.

It is also one of the reasons that I love teaching debate. It forces students to learn how to see things from both sides of an issue and be able to defend both sides of that issue. This is also why I want to extend my knowledge and teach people that communication is about talking to another human being. They are not someone who you should throw names at and try to disparage them. Disagreeing with someone is a necessary component of our democracy...calling them facists, left-wing radicals, communists, socialists, right-wing bigots or anything in-between doesn't solve anything. All it does is create more hatred in this world.

As Seth Godin says, "there's never a shortage of boogy men available to the people in the community that you're frightening." This is true. But don't get sucked in with them. Raise above it and try to engage them in an intellectual discussion. Be civil. Most importantly, remember that they are just someone who disagrees with you...and that's okay.

Travis

Timothy Geithner Needs a Speech Coach

When I was on the high school debate team, my partner and I were by far the most succesful team from our school during our junior and senior years. We may not have been the smartest people on our team, but we were the best debaters. The reason for this is simple: we could communicate our ideas and arguments more persuasively than our peers on the team. The lesson we learned was a simple one: while you want to be smart and knowledgeable, you also have to be able to communicate those ideas persuasively if you want to be effective. Unfortunately, Timothy Geithner didn't learn that lesson until recently.

The Seattle Times had an interesting piece about President Obama's economic team and how most of his top advisers were selected on their expertise and NOT their abillity to communicate. The first time Geithner stepped in front of a TV audience to explain the generalities of the plan to save the economy, the Dow dropped 382 points. Last week when those generalities were made specific, Geithner didn't go in front of the TV cameras...the Dow went up 500 points. Needless to say, if Geithner needed to defend himself in an Athenian court in front of 500 people, he would have gone the fate of Socrates.

The point is simply this: it doesn't matter how good your idea is if you can't effectively communicate that message to your targeted audience. You could have a plan to save the planet, but unless you present it in a way that is engaging and interesting, the message will be lost. Look at what An Inconvenient Truth did for Al Gore and his message on global warming. No one really listened to Al him except for people who wanted to believe him already or were previously involved in the green movement. However, once the movie came out, because it was done so well, people sat up and listened.

President Obama needs someone who can communicate his economic message to the public. Until he does this, he is going to have to continue to be the person talking about it, which I don't' think he minds, but it would be nice if they could find a spokesman who understood the economic policies that they are implementing and can communicate them effectively.

So ask yourself this question when you are planning on speaking: are people going to understand what you are saying or are they going to walk away more confused then ever. If they are going to walk away more confused, its time to work on your presentation.

Travis

High School Debate -- Tomorrows Leaders

In a couple of hours, I am going to be judging a High School Debate Tournament.  However, this is not just any tournament, it is the tournament of the year for Northern South Dakota -- the National Qualifying Tournament (schools south of Interstate 90 have their tournament next week).  The top two to three students in each division will advance to the National Debate Tournament held in June of each year.  Needless to say, it is an intense tournament that will last well into the night on Saturday (South Dakota has a rule that says students can't compete on Sundays...we're old school).  There are 9 events at this tournament: Policy Debate, Public Forum Debate, Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Original Oratory, Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking, International Extemporaneous Speaking, Dramatic Interpretation, Humorous Interpretation and Duo Interpretation.

If you don't know what high school debate is, I would recommend two movies for you to watch.  The Great Debaters and Resolved.  The Great Debaters shows debate how it used to be and Resolved shows what Policy Debate has become.  I will say this about Policy Debate, which is what is portrayed in Resolved: it does not help your speaking skills.  The other types of events that students participate in however are great ways for students to learn public speaking skills, much like the Great Debaters movie (which is a lot how Public Forum works).

The students that I will be judging this weekend are the leaders of tomorrow.  They have learned the skills necessary to be confident when they speak in front of an audience, the ability to research and prepare themselves as needed and the confidence to comprehend anything that is thrown at them in the workforce.

If you ever get a chance, I would recommend that you find a local tournament in your area and watch some rounds or even offer to judge a Public Forum round (we actually encourage people who do not have a background in debate to judge Public Forum).  You will be amazed at the level of intelligence and professionalism that high school teenagers can have.

Travis