Welcome to Lasting Impact! Are you looking for tips, ideas, or guidance in your journey of Speech and Debate? You have come to the right place! Here are just a few things Lasting Impact! offers…
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– Online Clubs (Clubs) – Speech, Debate, Impromptu, Apologetics, Extemp, Juniors
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– And So Much More!
Those of you who know us… know that we have A LOT to say, especially when it comes to Speech, aka Forensics. We are excited to share our passion about Speech and Debate, and we have DECADES to pull from, as well variety of experiences. Along the way we will be blessed to have others join us- interviews, experts, videos, examples… All devoted to you- competitors, parents, coaches, and clubs!
- We want to help students reach their audiences to hopefully have a lasting impact!
- We want to help parents guide their students through the crazy world of Speech and Debate.
- We want to help coaches prepare their students to the fullest potential!
- And we want to support clubs helping to make it all happen!
- We support a variety of leagues, businesses, scholarship events… if it’s public speaking related – we can do it!
We are thrilled to make this an interactive approach- so feel free to write in ideas, ask questions, watch the videos, and use Lasting Impact! as a resource. Thanks for making us a part of that journey!
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Why Lasting Impact!?
Long after the medals go into a box and the trophies have a layer of dust on them, will your speech still be having an impact on the audience you gave it to? Does it matter to you if you get a medal for your speech… Or is what you really want is to leave a lasting impact with your audience?
As a judge, I can still remember speeches I heard 5 years ago. I wonder if those kids knew the impact they would have on me years later?? Did they actually set out to have a profound impact on me, or were they merely just giving a speech?
It wasn’t until our second year of speech and debate during a tournament that I began to realize this… My daughter received a ballot that stated, “although I may not be giving you first place, the impact of your speech will be with me the rest of my life.” The rest of their life!!? Speech became no longer about placing… It was about impacting. To me, that is what a true communicator should want for their speech. The message should last beyond the season! As a coach, and parent, that is what I try to instill in all the kids I coach.
Through this blog, Kristi and I hope to help you make speeches that have a lasting impact. We also hope to help you realize how much power you have! You have the ability to inspire, inform, and IMPACT! This website is meant to be encouragement to the student, parent, coach, and club. We hope you will join us on this journey!
Lasting Impact!
by: Kristi Eskelund
Wrapped up in the quest for a lasting impact is first of all the ability to make a mark, leave an impression, or somehow touch in a meaningful way the world around us. If that impact is to be lasting, then something has to happen beyond just me and my moment of presentation. If the focus is me, I might light up the room for a minute, but that glow will fade and be gone before long at all.
To be honest, I’m not sure that kind of impact is even worth the time and effort it takes to prepare. But if something can happen when my words leave me, if they can be carried by a greater purpose to a fuller expression in the life and thoughts of my audiences, THEN, things change. Then people’s thoughts change. They get ideas. Ideas become actions, and actions lead to policies. And I may not ever even know the true nature of my impact.
A good friend of mine is a photographer. She does stunning photos of alpine wildflowers, many of which she has to hike arduously to find where they grow in high, lonely crevices in chilling winds. They are exquisite. I look at her photos and wonder about how those beautiful flowers got there, about the breathtaking colors and intricate designs of some of them. They represent a kind of unexpected beauty that penetrates more deeply because it was unlooked for. And when she stumbles upon one of those blooming beauties and gets a photo, the effort of the climb feels a small price to pay for the privilege of showing the world those hidden gems.
My own work has always been with teenagers. I sometimes see something of the same unexpected vibrancy in them, the same unlooked for wonder and complexity and I want to do something with that. I want the world to know!! That’s the reason I’m here, doing this – throwing out my ideas and experience and knowledge in a way that will spring up out there in the someday where I may never see its complete magnificence. But my hope is that others – so many others – will.
In the same way, I hope students – YOU – will bloom with all the vibrancy you have, so that you will leave an impression of something truly beautiful in the barrenness of today’s culture. I want your certainty and idealism to last. I want your challenges to keep sounding in the minds of your listeners. I want YOU to go far – so much farther than a Speech and Debate awards ceremony!