Speech and Debate

So it looks like @schickbob and I are co-moderating the Speech and Debate Team next year.

I remember forensics from my high school days and I wonder how (if?) it has changed. I mean, it's one thing to prepare for a random-topic LD debate back in the days of pencil and notecards and a half-a-brain full of scattered trivia and select reusable quotes. It's a whole other story in the days of an iPhone and a pocketful of immediate access to most of the knowledge and events of human civilization.

And when it comes to speeches these days... well... what constitutes a speech? I see a handful of NPC monologues from MMOGs as well as various viral YouTube clips just as potent for interpretive address as any speech of Patton or Henry V.

I guess I'm just thinking out loud, but I'm looking forward to the challenge; and I'm also humbly asking any Speech and Debate coaches among you for advice. What flys? What doesn't? This will be my first year and I really don't know what to expect.

And alas, since this is a request for forensics advice, I submit my petition unto you in the worst possible paraphrase jumble of Shakespeare that I could conjure, so: "Friends, Tweeters, Blogsphere! Lend me your Comments!"