Best Oratory You've Ever Seen...

[aceguitarist]

What's the best OO you've ever seen? In-State, Nationals, etc. Describe the topic and the way it was performed.

Mine: 2005 NFL 3rd Place. It was on our inability to communicate effectively because we don't share the same understanding of symbols. It was called "An Unfortuneate Banana." The guy was hilarious and took some big risks. Like jumping off the stage in final round and walking up the aisle.

[Aelfric5578]

Not that it matters, but that speech was actually called "Oy...the Story of a Cultural Banana," and it was a pretty good speech (despite the fact that I always found him a bit of a friendly rival)

My favorite overall oratory performance in a given round though, was Alex Weisman's performance at Harvard finals last year. At the moment I can't remember the title of his speech, but it'll come to me.

[jdcongresscapt]

Mr. Weisman had "The Most Simple Equation."

I'm a bit biased (forgive me, Frank), but either of Mr. Riccobono's speeches are quite good. There are certain speeches that I enjoy but get tired of after the fourth or fifth time I hit them. I could listen to either of his speeches ("Enough is Enuf" and "Monolingual Americans Ski Monkeys") and never tire of them.

I did also enjoy both Mr. Maddow-Zimet and Mr. Weisman immensely.

[Rab1dFetus]

The Beak (Nats finals), Watch your Slanguage(Nats finals), Connecting Beyond the Dots(Harvard Finals and soon to be Nats).

[guest]

The best OO'ers and original oratory's I've seen had to be the 1992 winner Colin Stokes, the 1994 winner (two time champ) Anton Ford and 2004 Emory champ Ben Unanaowo Major Instinct (3rd NFL).

[Ryan]

guest, are you Ben Unanaowo?


Adding Chris Marianetti's 'Uncommon Sense' to the list. Anton Ford's 'Find Out' was very impressive.

[KrispyKreme]

I doubt it was Ben Un... I'm pretty sure his speech was called "The Drum Major Mentality" may have been the Drum Major Instinct, though... hit it in Emory finals of 04

[jeawagne]

Illinois OO state champ this year (2007) was darn good. Writing was good, research was great, delivery was spectacular. But the best part for me was that the topic was mature yet relevant to the high school audience. (essentially it was rethinking the automatic, traditional academic path post high school.) That was the key for me.

Well done.

[Aequaleis]

This one girl who semi-finaled this year (07). Her speech title was 'As the world turns..." I remember seeing her the first time (I was a novice) and she just blew me away. Ahh I never got tired of her speech.

Nicole Kreisberg's 'Watch your slanguage!' in 2006 & Mr. Lindberg's 'Mickey's World' in 1996 were just off the hook.

My favorite oratory of all time had to be Anton Fords oratories. Just simply amazing.

[tvatuva09]

i remember i really enjoyed the runner up from 2003 nats in atlanta, i think her name was sarah lee from glenbrook south, and honestly i cant remember any of the content but i thought it was awesome. also how can you not go with francomcaro from this year, winning emory, cfl nats, nfl nats, villiger, and im sure many more tournaments

[Aequaleis]

I liked Anthony's oratory...but it just didn't stand out to me. He deserved to win by a longshot this year at NFL's (when I saw him in quarters), but it just didn't "wow" me.

I also saw Apple Valley's 'Once Upon a time' oratory in quarters as well (and in finals too). I really liked hers; it was kind of a toss-up between Anthony's and Carrie's (I believe that's her name) speech in quarters.

[blumentos]

Is there anywhere where I can see one of these oratorys online?

[MackAttack]

I don't watch many oratories, but the best one I've seen is "Raised By Wolves" by Matt Fitzgerald from my school, Moorhead High. He got 9th at nationals this past season.

[Aequaleis]

He was Matt F.? I thought he did 'Nuggets of Knowledge' that made it to semis. I must be thinking of another person then.

[nbateman]

four words. (James McGraw)- Tough Guise/Tough Guys


word.

[GFan]

I'd have to say Ashley Artmann - Something for Nothing (from Green Valley) tops my list right now.

[Steve Perry]

I've been watching the NFL final round tapes the past few days, and a guy named Kobe Libii gave an awesome speech in 2003, it was called "Spin Cycle."

He did speak a bit fast for my liking, but I would still have given him the 2, he was way above 5th.

[OO Storyteller]

Kinda late, but this one guy fom California. Did a speech called "There Is No Place Like Home." It was about the importance of home and its values.

[TruRavenclaw]

I'm pretty sure it involved her doing the moon walk and rapping?

[kevking]

HAHA one of the best I have ever seen was "Horizontal Gravity"
IT wasn't a real oratory, it was a filler, but still hilarious
The person gets up and says..................
"The great philosopher Christopher Blank once said...One day there will be horizontal gravity"
The performer then slowly started sliding sideways and said
"Oh my gosh it's happening right know!!!!!!!!!"
And they just ran out of the room
HAHAHA

[MNOratory2010]

I didn't see it in person, obviously but Hoo-ah by Josh Gad was ubelievable

[Hollywood12]

Joe Wycoff in the 80's. What You See is What You Get. The message was simple....but the writing and delivery were awesome!! The speech could be delivered today and would still be relevant.

[BBALL/FORENSICS 4 LIFE!]

Josh Gad, hands down.

[OO cubed]

Gotta love Colin Stokes.

"...It would be like crossing the street without looking both ways...Stupid!"

Puts a smile to my face everytime. :) See?

[Aelfric5578]

I already posted in this thread about two years ago, but I think that John Hoffmeister's NCFL-winning speech from this weekend has replaced my former favorite speech. I tend judge oratories based on their sincerity, and I think that John's delivery was incredibly sincere. I suppose it's possible that that comes from his success in DI, but either way it was quite the performance. Additionally, there were some great phrases in the speech. Perhaps he shouldn't have used so much interp, but it didn't take long to forget that it was somewhat out of place.

[thebellmuffin]

Alexandra Elam's 'Not Black Like Me' at TFA State 2009. (She won 2nd). Freaking awesome.

[batman930]

Yeah, John's speech was amazing. The Interp was surprising, but he pulled it off well. I had him in my Quarters round and was blown away.

[Interp<3]

I have to disagree with people saying that the kid that won NCFLs this year was amazing. I was in that final round watching, and there were a couple that I tought were better. I'm slightly biased, I'm friends with a couple that were competing, but I really did think that he wasn't the best in the room. I thought Adam Connor was amazing, and so was Alfonce, and the one girl that did the speech on being mean was really good too.

[GFan]

How did you rank the round? ^

[Interp<3]

Hm.. that's a good question.

See, for me 1 and 2 are tied... because I think both kids are really good.

1/2. Alfonce (Speech on asking questions)
or
1/2. Adam Conner (Speech on reaching goals)

3. Dana Urban (Eenie Meanie speech)

4. Kid who won

5 and 6. The others, I forget what their speeches were on.

[acon11]

Wow. I'm not going to rank the round because I'm rather biased but I'm pleasantly surprised. Personally, I would have ranked the Apple Valley speakers a bit higher but I'm not going to make official ranks because they wouldn't be completely impartial.

[GFan]

That's really interesting!

I can only wish that I could've observed that round.

Adam, two of my friends told me they gave you the 1, lol and also Alphonce the 2. Looks like that was a common thing for that round..

[batman930]

Well, I did not see the final round, but I did compete against a few of them. I think if John performed at the level he did in my Quarter final, he deserved the win.

I know the one guy that made it out of my Semi was really good, I assume that he is Adam Connor. That was the goal speech. I really enjoyed that one.

The Apple Valley girl that made it from my Semi was good, that was the Boat Oratory.

The one about being Mean.... Eh... I honestly did not think that would make it out of my Semi. I definitely know I didn't deserve to advance, I choked bigtime in Sem's... but I wasn't sure she was top 3 of that round.

[acon11]

Well, I did not see the final round, but I did compete against a few of them. I think if John performed at the level he did in my Quarter final, he deserved the win.

I know the one guy that made it out of my Semi was really good, I assume that he is Adam Connor. That was the goal speech. I really enjoyed that one.

The Apple Valley girl that made it from my Semi was good, that was the Boat Oratory.

The one about being Mean.... Eh... I honestly did not think that would make it out of my Semi. I definitely know I didn't deserve to advance, I choked bigtime in Sem's... but I wasn't sure she was top 3 of that round.

I'm sure I met you but what was your speech on? In fact I'm sure I met you.
Again, I'm not going to rank any people in this round (I considered myself very fortunate to be in that semi) but I will say that Lindsay (the "boat" oratory) went right after me. Since my speech was on goals and the odds and how we should never give up, having hers come after mine (hers said that sometimes it's wise to quit) was really interesting. Personally I really liked her speech. But I thought it was so funny how I went up and gave my speech saying something like "our tendency to avoid the odds is closing doors on our dreams, limiting our capability and crippling our spirits" and then she went up and said that quitting is okay. I got a kick out of it; I really enjoyed it. Her speech was so well written and I thought it was aweome. I'm telling you, these Apple Valley orators are just incredible.

I thought that Lindsay's speech and Dana's speech (on being mean) both deserved to break. I won't say anything about myself; I thought everyone on the round was great.

So what else does everyone think about this round?

[batman930]

Hey!
I was the guy with the T-Ball speech haha. You did very well. I thought the round was very competitive and think everyone did well. It's just hard to pick the top 3 I guess.

[acon11]

I see what you mean. I think you have a superb speaking voice, by the way. I heard the other semi was ridiculous. the top 3 from finals came from that room. and the 2 top orators from the james logan tournament were in that room too (I'm not sure who the other speaker was). im glad i wasn't in there.

but anyway that final round was easily the hardest round I've ever been in. I felt really lucky to be competing with everyone there.

[batman930]

Thanks man, I thought your speech was pretty captivating/motivating. But yeah, that was a tough round. I would watch for the OO's from those two Semi's at the NFL tournament. I'll be going in US Extemp, so count me out haha.