Public Speaking Programs : Stanford National Forensic Institute

Our summer 2020 schedule is now available and registration is open - sign up to secure a space in your preferred session!

Public Speaking Programs

Public speaking is a crtically important skill for almost every profession in today's world, yet many people harbor a fear of speaking in front of others - in fact, speaking in front of others is often ranked near the top of many people's lists of most-feared activites. It shouldn't be that way!

Public speaking doesn't have to be scary or intimidating, and like the common saying goes, practice does absolutely make perfect! Our Public Speaking programs are designed to break down the barriers to speaking in front of others through a variety of structured activities that build baseline fundamental logical and rhetorical skills in addition to practicing speaking in a public setting.

SNFI is proud to share our speech & debate education expertise, accumulated since 1990, with students looking to learn the art of public speaking! Our Public Speaking Camps are perfect for students looking to learn and practice many critical academic and professional skills, including:

logical thinking and argumentative structure - which directly mimics the academic and professional writing process
confidence when speaking in front of others - including eye contact, posture and poise
thinking quickly on your feet - be prepared for the questions at the end of your presentation or pitch
speaking extemporaneously on subjects that you have not yet thoroughly researched - take the initiative and impress someone with your ability to quickly break down and analyze a new problem or opportunity at a high level
and many more highly transferrable academic and professional skills

Our Public Speaking programs teach many of the same skills as a traditional debate program, just without the focus on direct head-to-head competition, including:

targeted research skills
logical argument development
organization of material into a methodical presentation
classic Aristotelian logic through the "claim, warrant, impact" model
how to think adversarially
analytical responsiveness
see our skills page for more information on the power of speech & debate-based education

2020 Public Speaking Programs Staff Members Include:

Check back closer to the start of camp for details on our 2020 staff

We will continue to add additional staff members as enrollment and availability dictate. Details are posted on additional staff members as they are confirmed and as we have complete biographic information available. Staff listing may not be fully up to date or reflect all hires to date.

2019 Public Speaking Programs Staff Members Included:

DaCobi Anderson, Instructor

DaCobi is currently a debater for Chabot College in Hayward California. DaCobi competed for 3 years in high school policy debate and currently competes in several formats of collegiate debate including policy, parlimamentary and Lincoln-Douglas.

Rashid Campbell, Instructor

Rashid was the top speaker at the 2014 National Debate Tournament (the collegiate national championship in policy debate), becoming the first African-American to receive this award. At the same tournament he was also a semifinalist and the first seeded team in preliminary rounds. Throughout the year, Rashid cleared at nearly every national tournament and received his 2nd back to back First Round At Large Bid to the NDT. He was also a Finalist at the Cross Examination Debate Association debate tournament of 2014. In high school, Rashid debated for the Bay Area Urban Debate League at Skyline High School in Oakland, CA.

Alisha Eastep, Instructor

Alisha Eastep is an educator and performer with two decades of public speaking experience in a variety of forums, from the classroom to the podium to the stage. Alisha has been captivated by performance since her first exposure at the age of seven, and knows first-hand the importance of strong adult mentors and educators.

Alisha has competed on the national level both individually and in groups, earning accolades in the speech and debate community, in “The Citizen and the Constitution” Competition, and has had numerous roles in community theater and on the stage. In policy debate, she is a national champion, winning Junior Western Nationals in 2004 and placing second in community college national in 2005. She is a published writer and researcher with 16 years of experience, and has earned faculty recognition for her honors research project on a theater community at UC Berkeley in 2011, where she earned her undergraduate degree in Rhetoric and Anthropology.

As an educator, Alisha has been nurturing the minds of children of all ages and developmental abilities for a decade, and listens to each of her pupils to get a sense of their individual needs. As opportunities to educate occur inside and outside of the classroom, Alisha has gained valuable knowledge teaching educational curriculum, empowering social and living skills, and workplace training. During the year, Alisha teaches debate at Head-Royce School, where the team earned 9th place in the Tournament of Champions, and does research in East Asian Archaeology and on Foodways in the Pacific Rim. She is ready to put these skills to work creating engaged and thought-provoking activities that foster growth and improve young minds at SNFI.

Jurrien Le, Instructor

Jurrien is currently studying environmental science in college, where he competed in debate and model UN. In high school, he competed in Congress, Parliamentary Debate, and Extemp during his four years, reaching outrounds at multiple tournaments on the local and national circuit, such as ASU, Berkeley, Emory, and Stanford. Jurrien also put his debate experiences to use as a member of his mock trial team in high school, and as a volunteer with multiple congressional campaigns. He currently serves as an assistant debate coach at Leland High School, and also as a hired debate judge. This is his third summer with SNFI.

jon sharp, Instructor

jon sharp has been a debate coach for longer than you have been alive and has taught at SNFI since 1996. He has coached for Emory, New Trier, West Georgia, the University of Southern California, and the University of Kentucky. He is currently the Director of Debate at the Georgetown Day School. As a college coach, jon has coached teams to the late elimination rounds of every major tournament in the country, including multiple CEDA National championships. As a newly minted high school coach, his teams have won Greenhill, the Greenhill Round Robin, and the Ohio Valley at the University of Kentucky. He has taught at more than 40 debate labs at the Bates, Berkeley, Emory, Kentucky, and Stanford debate institutes, including directing the Kentucky Fellows Program, the Berkeley Mentors, and the Stanford Swing Lab. His former lab students have won every national tournament on the schedule, including the TOC, and include multiple former TOC top speakers.

Orion Steele, Instructor

Orion is an attorney, college professor and debate coach. Orion is currently the Director of Forensics (Debate) at the University of San Francisco. In 2012, Orion began teaching college Public Speaking courses at San Francisco State University and now regularly teaches public speaking at every major college in San Francisco. In addition, Orion taught several sections of High School public speaking while coaching debate at St. Vincent de Paul High School, and has taught at workshops for the Bay Area Urban Debate League.

In 2015, Orion began assisting the debate team at University of San Francisco and became the Director of Forensics at the University of San Francisco in January 2016. Orion is currently a member of the TriForce Debate Cooperative, sharing coaching resources between SFSU, CCSF and USF. In the Fall of 2013, Orion became the varsity travel team coach for the Bay Area Urban Debate League and asssumed assistant coaching duties at San Francisco State University. In the Fall of 2011, Orion became an argumentation coach at St. Vincent de Paul High School and qualified a team to the Tournament of Champions for the first time. Orion was an assistant debate coach and graduate student for California State University at Fullerton from 2009-2011. Orion worked as an assistant debate coach at the University of Redlands and at San Francisco State University while in Law School from 2005-2008.

While in law school at UC Hastings, Orion participated as a member (and coach) of the moot court team, winning awards for his rebuttal speeches in Maritime Law. In college, Orion participated in policy debate at the University of Redlands for 4 years, finishing as a quarter-finalist at the 2004 NDT and as a quarter-finalist and the 16th individual speaker at the 2005 NDT. Orion participated in policy debate for 3 years at Millard West High School in Omaha, Nebraska, and attended the Tournament of Champions.

Tommye Weddington, Instructor

Tommye Weddington is currently a sociology PhD candidate at the University of Pittsburgh focusing on race and social movements. Formerly an assistant coach with the City University of New York (CUNY) debate program, he has over five years of experience instructing communication and argumentation.

Upcoming Camps

1-Week Advanced Public Speaking

SNFI is proud to share our 29 years of speech & debate education expertise with students looking to learn the art of public speaking! Our Public Speaking Camps are perfect for students looking to learn and practice the critical skills of logical thinking, confidence when speaking in front of others, and the ability to think quickly on your feet in a supportive, noncompetitive environment.

Our Advanced Public Speaking program is designed for students that have prior ...

1-Week Middle School Public Speaking

SNFI is proud to share our 30 years of speech & debate education expertise with students looking to learn the art of public speaking! Our Public Speaking Camps are perfect for students looking to learn and practice the critical skills of logical thinking, confidence when speaking in front of others, and the ability to think quickly on your feet in a supportive, noncompetitive environment.

Our Public Speaking Introduction program is designed to be a student's fir...

1-Week Public Speaking Introduction

Our Public Speaking Introduction program is designed to be a student's fir...

2-Week Middle School Public Speaking + Debate Basics Experience

Our 2-Week Middle School Public Speaking + Debate Basics Experience is designed to be a student's first structured experience with public speaking, debate and formal argumentation - no prior experience is necessary. Speech & debate is a very powerful activity which teaches students many skills which are in high demand in the contemporary world: public speaking, research skills, writing and logical thinking!

This program starts from the grou...

2-Week Public Speaking + Introduction to Debate Experience

Our 2-Week Public Speaking + Introduction to Debate Experience is designed to be a student's first structured experience with public speaking, debate and formal argumentation - no prior experience is necessary. Speech & debate is a very powerful activity which teaches students many skills which are in high demand in the contemporary world: public speaking, research skills, writing and logical thinking!

This program starts from the ground up with...

2-Week Public Speaking Experience

Our 2-Week Public Speaking Experience program is designed to be a student'...

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Upcoming Sessions
* Tentative and Subject to Change

Camp:: 2-Week Public Speaking + Introduction to Debate Experience
Date:: Jul 12th - Jul 25th
Grade (fall 2020):: 9th-12th
Location:: Stanford University