<p>hi everyone, i'm looking to join an activity which would allow me to develop my public speaking / presentation skills and also my confidence in general. debate (APA style), mock trial and model UN are my obvious options. could anyone describe the differences among these 3 different activities?</p>
<p>which one would best allow me to accomplish the following things?</p>
<p>1) to develop public speaking confidence - speaking in front of large crowds without getting nervous</p>
<p>2) to be able to speak spontaneously and off the cuff, whether in a debate environment or simply in a public speaking capacity</p>
<p>3) to learn public speaking skills and techniques</p>
<p>4) through those speech skills, become a stronger, more decisive leader who can also bring people to work together well as a team.</p>
<p>i have done public speaking on several occasions before, but i don't get to do it on a regular basis now and i would also like to get better at it. i'm not planning to go to law school, but i do want to succeed in a work/corporate environment. i also have no problem with interviews - it's just the part about standing in front of a large crowd and speaking that still unnerves me. what do you guys think?</p>
<p>Well I don’t attend any of those clubs but I do know that Mock Trial strictly deals with law whereas speech and debates topics are more open and can deal with moral issues, etc.</p>
<p>What I did to improve my public speaking was actually joining small volunteer organizations and then running for officer positions. I’m still not terrific because I will freeze up every now and then and/or forget what I am going to say but I am able to recover a lot more. </p>
<p>If anything though, I know for sure Speech and Debate is a wonderful choice for improving public speaking skills. Good luck to you!</p>
<p>Does your school have a toastmasters club? If not, have you thought about forming one? Toastmasters is an organization that many businesses or community groups sponsor where people get together once a week and one or two of them gives a speech on a theme. They also hold little workshops where they critique each other’s delivery and practice tips for self confidence and speaking in front of others. It teaches public speaking and self confidence, in a venue that’s more supportive and less restricting than debate/mock trial/model UN. A lot of those clubs can be very, very competitive and unless they have a program to nurture novices they may not take kindly to a nervous person walking in and messing up the competition. </p>
<p>If you just want to work on your public speaking and confidence, try Toastmaster’s.</p>
<p>I would say that you could get involved in outside groups that allow you to have experience talking to people. If you are confident in talking to people one-on-one, you will be able to talk to an entire group.</p>
<p>OK, so I don’t know anything about Mock Trial, but I’ve been heavily involved in debate & model un, winning at the state level for debate & many college conferences for model un. </p>
<p>Model UN really depends what type of committee you are participating in. Every committee helps with public speaking, because you are encouraged to present ideas to a group of people. If you are in a large, GA size committee, it’s more about strategy of public speaking. So it’s about convincing people to support you or to negotiate with you -politics basically. Smaller committees, especially crisis committees are more about unofficial negotiation. You want to win over people by making alliances “under-the-table” more than publicly speaking. No matter what type of committee, you represent the point of view of a nation, not your own point of view. It teaches you to argue well because you can argue with something you disagree with and convince people of its merits.</p>
<p>Debate - what league type are we talking here? Was the topic poverty in the US for you this year? Firstly, you debate with a partner -this is really important- if you don’t work well/don’t like your partner it won’t work. You have to be able to gel together. In debate you design your own plan for affirmative, so it might be easier to do because you argue from your point of view, about what you find important. In Varsity Debate there are 2 rounds of aff and 2 rounds of neg, on JV 1 round aff, 1 round neg (at least that’s how my league did it). You don’t know what the opposing team’s neg argument is until they start debating. In this way, my favorite speech to do is neg 1, right after the first speech because it really teaches you how to think on your feet, and is also a test of your organization in your speech and the evidence you have. It gives me an adrenaline rush like no other. Whereas in model un you know what points you want to cover in a speech before you decide to speak, neg part of debate is really a test of your quick thinking/arguments. Also, debate involves cross examination, which are also a test of wit more than anything else I would say. </p>
<p>I hope that helps, and I hope you participate in some type of debate program. I’m generally shy person, but debate really brings out my bite, which I love. It’s great to know how to express your opinions in public.</p>
<p>I’m a decent - good speaker and I’ve never done any training, just sort of started doing it when needed in front of 1000 - 2000 people at a time.</p>
<p>I’ve done Mock Trial for years and I can tell you that for me, it’s definitely improved my public speaking skills. You’re scored on your presentation almost equally as you are on your substance, and you have to learn to think on year feet, sound confident and authoritative, be convincing, and other stuff. As an attorney you’ll probably get to exercise those skills more than as a witness, but both require that skill set.</p>