Dozens of Northern Minnesota students will compete at the state Speech meet Friday and Saturday, April 25-26, at Shakopee High School.
The region will be well represented in the Class A meet on Friday, with 69 entries; Northern Minnesota has five entries in the 2A meet Saturday.
In total, 74 entries from 27 schools across the Northland will speak at state.
The top three students in each of the 13 categories from each section advanced to the state meet.
At state, students will speak in three qualifying rounds and be ranked by a judge in each. The top eight will advance to state finals, where five judges will rank them.
Speech is a unique activity with a lot of quirks. The content of a speech or even the format of the round can vary significantly depending on the category. There are two types: public address and interpretation.
Public address includes Informative Speaking, Original Oratory, where students deliver a persuasive speech, and Great Speeches, where students analyze a speech and aim to convince their audience of its significance. All of the content in these categories is written by the students.
Discussion and Extemporaneous Speaking also fall under this grouping. In Discussion, the students in the round are given a task based on a different theme each year, and they work together to accomplish the task. While they work as a group, students are still ranked and are judged on the quality of their contributions, active listening skills and treatment of other participants.
For example, last year's theme was "Communication Breakdown: Keeping the Lines Between Us Open." In an example task from the Minnesota State High School League, the students acted as a group of media scholars who must decide the relevance and future of legacy media. This year's theme is "Workplace, Workforce and the Nature of Work."
Ex Speaking is one of three draw categories, where students choose one of three prompts half an hour before their speaking time and prepare their speech in the next 30 minutes. In Ex Speaking, the prompt is a current events question. Students use the prep time to research, write and practice their seven-minute persuasive speech, where they answer the question and convince the judge of their answer.
The other draw categories are Extemporaneous Reading and Storytelling, which are both interpretive. In Ex Reading, the prompts are three different cuttings of a pre-selected work. Students choose between the prose, The Moth presents All These Wonders, or the poetry, The Name She Gave Me. Students read from the book in the round.
In Storytelling, the prompts are stories; this year, fairytales from The Gutenberg Project. Students retell the story from memory in an entertaining style, often using characters and voices.
In Humor, Drama, Poetry and Prose, students perform a 10-minute published piece, with the tone and style in line with the category's name. In Duo Interpretation, speeches can be funny or serious, and two students give the performance but cannot look at or touch each other.
Creative Expression is also a 10-minute performance and, like Duo, can be funny, serious or a mix of both. But in this category, the speech is written by the performer.
Spectators can attend the state meet. The award ceremonies can be streamed for free at NSPN.tv. Awards are scheduled for 5:30 p.m. each day.
