Forensics Team Moves to Virtual Competitions

By Kaytlyn Kindschy

Photo Courtesy of Kaytlyn Kindschy

The CUNE Forensics team is one of the easiest competitive activities to transition to an online format, which gives them even more opportunities to compete this school year. 

In previous years, the Forensics team has spent a lot of time traveling to various competitions in Nebraska and Kansas. However, switching to an online competition format gives them the chance to compete at competitions that are hosted all over the country and face opponents they haven’t had experience with. 

Assistant Director of Forensics, Dr. Erica Lamm shared the different types of competitions they have on their online format this year.

“There are two different types of competitions: asynchronous and synchronous,” Lamm said. 

Asynchronous competition refers to when a competitor is alone in a room and records their speech without an audience. They then submit their recording to the competition. Synchronous competition refers to when the competitors are on campus and they log into a certain website at a certain time. This allows them to deliver their speech live with other competitors. 

Lamm also described the different levels of the Forensics team and what those different levels do for the group.

“‘Two-feet-in are competitors who compete with at least three speeches and compete every weekend,” she said.” One-foot-in are the competitors who don’t have to compete every weekend and have at least one speech. Two-hands-in are members of the team who help with researching and writing.”

Director of Forensics, Joe Davis also shared his thoughts on the team’s ability and stamina in transitioning to an online platform.

“Students have a different kind of pressure only performing for their computer that could potentially lead to a different kind of confidence; one that usually takes more time to develop,” Davis said. “I’m currently most proud of our team atmosphere. I’m confident that support will translate well as we ramp up the competition season.”

Along with the different types of competition that the Forensics team handle, there are also different categories of speech as well, including Interpretive and Public Address. 

Captain of Public Address, senior Malia Ebel explained what Public Address is and what type of events are associated with this category.

“Public Address is a category of speech that encompasses more traditional speaking styles,” she said. “It’s where your informative, persuasive and analytical speeches are, as opposed to the more emotionally-driven speeches in the Interpretive category. There are four events in Public Address which include informative, persuasive, after dinner speaking, and communication analysis.”

Ebel also shared some of the new challenges that the online format poses for Public Address. 

“After Dinner Speech is hard to do for a camera, because there is no way to tell if the jokes you made are landing,” she said. “Eye contact and visual reinforcement are a big part of public speaking, so the lack of interaction for recorded speeches can result in the speech being a little more uncertain than it would be in front of an audience.”

Captain of Interpretive Speech, junior Alia Hurst talked about what Interpretive speech is and how that differs from Public Address.

“Interpretation is the overlying umbrella that dramatic events fall under,” she said. “Examples of more dramatic events would be Poetry, Dramatic Interpretation, Duo, Program of Oral Interpretation, and Prose. All of these events are categorized into Interpretation because they are more of the emotional and dramatic outlets to the competitive side of forensics.” 

Hurst also described the excitement that the team has for the rest of the season.

“We have a strong and tight-knit group of freshmen this year who are up and ready for college forensics, along with the returners who are upholding high standards for the rest of the team,” she said. “We are back and better than ever.”

The CUNE Forensics team has already begun their competitions, however, they are hosting their first live competition and their first “home” competition on Oct. 10.