Platforms - Discomfort is Where the Magic Happens

12/30/2024

What makes a platform speech powerful? You might say clarity, personal stories, or good logic, but I would argue that there is an even more fundamental component to success—discomfort. Yes, you read that correctly; in order to deliver a winning platform speech, you must make your judges uncomfortable.

To be clear, I am not saying that you should do everything possible to make your judges want to run and hide during your speech. You should certainly not by making your judges feel awkward, skeptical, or embarrassed. However, there is a healthy level of discomfort that you do want your judges to be at while they listen to your speech.

In 2021, the Persuasive that won NITOC was a persuasive dealing with the issue of Christian persecution in China. I was uncomfortable listening to that speech. In fact, I felt more uncomfortable listening to that speech than I did listening to every other speech in that room. How could a speech that was so uncomfortable beat all the "comfortable" speeches? The answer is simple: because it was uncomfortable. Discomfort has a proven track record of success. Why?

Why Does Discomfort Win?

Discomfort is memorable. Discomfort is emotional. Memorability and emotion win. There is a reason a large percentage of winning platforms have to do with topics such as human trafficking, abortion, and persecution—because those topics are memorable and emotional. But none of these topics are "comfortable" to hear about.

Discomfort = Memorability

Discomfort = Emotion

Memorability + Emotion = A Winning Speech

What Does "Making Your Judges Uncomfortable" Look Like?

There are two (beneficial) ways to make your judge uncomfortable: Present a unique topic and include jarring stories. Presenting a unique topic has to do with memorability; including jarring stories has to do with emotion.

1. Presenting a Unique Topic. "Making your judges uncomfortable" does not necessarily mean presenting a big and scary topic that has to do with something like human trafficking; it can be as simple as presenting a uniquely challenging topic to your judges. For example, in my junior year of competition, I did a persuasive on why the judges should "be an embarrassment." It surprised the judges without fail. It raised eyebrows without fail. It won multiple tournaments. Why? In part, because of the unique challenge that the speech posed. It was outside the box. It was engaging. It was memorable. Now you need to be careful not to get too "creative" with your topics—your thesis should, of course, be defensible—but having a unique challenge for your judges can often have the effect of creating a slight level of discomfort. Why? Because it brings the judges to an actual decision point of whether or not they will hop on board with your position. It prevents them from simply nodding their heads in agreement to a basic thesis such as "human trafficking must be stopped." Simply put, it engages their mind because uniqueness equals memorability.

Uniqueness = Memorability

My senior year Original Oratory was similar to my junior year persuasive in the sense that it was a unique choice of topic. The thesis was: "Regret is a gift." In order to be unique and memorable, you need a thesis that makes the judges tilt their chins just a little bit and say to themselves, "Maybe... but I'm not convinced yet. Let's see where this competitor takes this...." If I were to venture a guess, I might even say that the title of this post made you think something similar. The uniqueness was intriguing. The uniqueness was challenging. The uniqueness was just a little bit uncomfortable.

However, you may be thinking, "So many high-placing speeches that I've seen have to do with topics that I've heard a hundred times—like human trafficking or abortion. Since these topics lack uniqueness, how is it that they do so consistently well?" Simply put, these speeches place well because they master the second aspect of discomfort—emotion—even though they lack the first. The most powerful speeches are, however, of course the ones that can master both. Sadly, these are few and far between however.

But how does one create a healthy level of emotional discomfort within their judges?

2. Including Jarring Stories. Jarring stories are the quintessence of emotion. This should come as no surprise. The reason platform speeches about human trafficking, abortion, and persecution commonly win is because it is almost impossible to give a speech on one of these topics without including an emotional story—you would almost have to try not to. These emotional stories are jarring, or, in other words, uncomfortable. This discomfort that your judges experience is a good thing. After all, isn't that why competitors keep using these "uncomfortable" stories?

However, I recommend this with a caveat; I do not recommend presenting just any "jarring" story; I recommend, with rare exception, using stories that are uniquely about someone other than yourself, your friends, or your loved ones. To further understand why I recommend against leveraging personal stories for the sake of pathos, I recommend reading section 3 of this blog post. Regardless though, the main takeaway here is that if your Persuasive, Original Oratory, or Expository does not currently posses a jarring story, I highly recommend adding one.

Jarring Stories = Emotion

My most successful platforms contained both the aspects of discomfort that I mentioned; they contained both a unique topic and a jarring story. In fact, both of these elements were present even in the introductions of both of the speeches. Beneath, I have included the introductory paragraphs to my junior year Persuasive and my senior year Original Oratory. I hope these help in expanding your view of discomfort.

Persuasive: I remember going ice skating and noticing this young boy. We've all seen that kid who can't stop falling, right? That was this kid. The surprising thing was he didn't seem to care because no matter how many times he fell flat on his face in front of everyone, he just kept smiling. What saddened me though was how different I was from him because when I fell the very first thing I thought was, "I hope nobody saw that." How interesting. See, every person in this room used to be like that young boy because we all used to be young. Children are not afraid to fail or even to feel embarrassed, but for some reason, we are. So what changed? See, as we grow older, we start to care more about what other people think. We become more self conscious. We become preoccupied, not with enjoying ourselves, but with looking good and avoiding failure. I mean, that's why most parents have to force their teenagers to do speech and debate, isn't it? See, as a result of our fears, we tend to stop trying new things and the worst part is we don't even know what we're missing. Adults are always trying to impress others and never try to embarrass themselves. So that's why I'm here to convince you to live differently. Allow me to persuade you to be... an embarrassment. Yes, you heard me correctly. In a world where people are constantly concerned with being cool, I want you to be an embarrassment. And to fully understand why, we'll dive into just three points. To start, we'll look at the situation—the reason we fear embarrassment is because we fear other people and their disapproval. Second, we'll acknowledge the consequences—that those fears become our limits, limiting our abilities and our futures. Last, we'll explore the solution—how you can (practically) embarrass yourself, because we've wasted enough time trying to look good, don't you think? It's time to enjoy ourselves the same way children do—by ignoring other people.
Original Oratory: Author Marc Chernoff said this about his grandfather: "In the final decade of his life, my grandfather woke up every single day at 7 A.M., picked a flower on his morning walk, and took it to my grandmother. One morning, I decided to go with him to see her. As he placed the flower on her gravestone, he looked up at me and said, 'I just wish I had picked her a flower every morning when she was alive.'" This quote illustrates the power of regret and regret is something that affects all of us. My grandfather is 90 years old. Something he has told me over and over again is that when he looks at his life, he can't seem to figure out where the time went. Now it's often been said that our lives are the sum of our choices. According to Ph.D. Eva Krockow, the average American makes 35,000 choices per day. How many choices would you say you regret each day? On this day, I'd like to transform the way you think about regret. I want to show you that regret is a gift. But I get it, that might sound like a really weird claim at first. We're usually told either to live without regrets or, at best, maybe to learn from our regret. But today, we're going to look deeper. We will see that regret is a gift. See, a gift is something that's been given to you by someone for a purpose. Regret is a gift because it's been given to us by God for a purpose. And wouldn't it be sad if we viewed a gift from God as a curse? So to see why regret is a gift and why we need to view it as such, we'll dive into three ideas. Today we'll discuss the definition of regret, the dangers of viewing regret improperly, and most importantly, the difference this topic should make in our lives.

There is a simple formula present in both of these introductions that I recommend following:

Unique Topics + Jarring Stories = Discomfort

However, make sure you do not stop there; be sure to "end on the mountaintop," as I call it. Be sure to end with an inspiring call to action or a hopeful and insightful revelation, depending on the parameters of your chosen event. Don't fall into the trap of allowing your "jarring stories" to depress the judge too much. Always end with inspiration.

Discomfort + Ending on the Mountaintop = A Powerful Speech

and....

A Powerful Speech = A Winning Speech

So now, as you go to write your Persuasive, Original Oratory, or Expository, I want you to ask yourself this question: Will my speech make my judges uncomfortable? If you are able to answer that question with a "yes," then your speech will make the judges go "wow"—just like at the end of a magic trick!

If you are interested in plunging deeper into the depths of persuasion so that you can have a full-house no matter what cards you are dealt, we would encourage you to examine the resources that our coaches offer. As always, please reach out with any questions, comments, or thoughts on this post!

Now, please go make some judges uncomfortable ;) Thank you!

-Coach Benjamin