CONVERSATION - details...
Contained here are the procedure and rules to holding a competitional Conversation.
Conversation is a type of public speaking, created and developed by Huckleberry Walker around the turn of the 3rd millennium. Rules have been re-written and updated in 2026 since first writing in 2000 or thereabouts.
- Form a Conversation group.
A conversation group consists of two equal teams of one or more speakers and a number of scribes equal to the number of people on one team. If this results in having an even number of people in your conversation group, add one extra scribe so you have uneven numbers.
For example: a conversation group consisting of two teams of three would need three scribes, (nine people in total.) Whereas a group consisting of two teams of two speakers each is also going to need three scribes to avoid even numbers, (seven people in total.)
- Gather resources.
You will need a stopwatch and a bell/horn/warning sounder… Also, each scribe will need some paper and two different coloured pens. I suggest red and blue for contrast, but it’s open to interpretation. Also, slips of paper for voting.
[The recording methodology is a suggestion rather than a rule.]
- Decide on the time that each team member will speak for and any team preparation time.
(A suggested time for preparation could be 20 minutes with each speaker allowed three minutes with a warning bell sounding at two minutes).
- Decide on a topic to be conversed upon.
The topic may be as small as a word (or even a letter) or as large as you like, say a book or a specific presentation on a subject. For simplicities sake, I suggest starting out with a short sentence style topic;
Some ideas.
- Last Wednesday was awful.
- As I get older.
- My favourite toy.
- What would make things better.
- The machine that is missing.
- Decide upon which team will speak first.
Usually the flip of a coin. Maybe rock scissors paper. Last one standing… ?
- The first speaker has their turn. The scribes record their impressions of what is being said, recording these using one of the coloured pens.
The first speaker may say anything they like, relating this to the topic. This means that they can present material of factual, dubious, contradictory, metaphysical, political and any other nature that come to their minds. The scribe(s) make a record on paper (or whatever) using one of the two coloured pens, once again, this can be any kind of record; drawing, writing, reactions and interpretations.
Remember to give a warning sound at the appropriate time and a time-up sound.
- The next speaker from the opposing team has their turn. Scribe interprets and records with the different coloured pen.
Speakers can now speak on the original topic as well as what has been said by any speaker who has already spoken. Each speaker adds to the topic, in this way Conversation is an additive style of public speaking, where each speaker increases the size and complexity of the topic.
Remember to give a warning sound at the appropriate time and a time-up sound.
- Repeat step ‘7’ until all speakers have spoken.
- Each scribe now votes on which team should win the Conversation.
Each scribe has one vote. How a person should vote and why is up to them to decide. Scribes may confer with each other but not with the speakers. Votes are counted. Winner and runner up are announced.
- Now the work of the scribes may be viewed, discussed and archived.
BONUS CONSIDERATIONS
There is room for other versions of Conversation that have underlying mechanisms which guide the type of conversation and help the scribes to decide the winning team. Versions could include:
Axiomatic – where the speakers are attempting to build directly onto the subject matter of the chosen topic, rather than freeform additive speaking. Building insight, narratives and viewpoints that are novel, sound, funny etc, and being able to link any of what has been said previously back to the core of the subject matter is the aim of this style of conversation.
Contrary – an “um-actually” approach, where each speaker claims that everything that has come before is incorrect, and then tried to justify their position.
Fact checked – where factual claims are checked in real time against existing evidence and given weight by how reliable the evidence is viewed by the scribes. (this would be tricky and require a greater suspension of ego).
World building – the topic is a scenario, such as an environment or situation and the speakers build on this through character, plot and storyline development.
Systems focussed – where the speakers endeavour to respond to a subject by adding elements that feed into the topic, hypothesising or demonstrating how elements interact ,to form an increasingly accurate model of the subject.
Prop assisted – objects and costumes can be used to augment presentations.
Technology assisted – where the use of a smartboard, phones, computers or other devices is allowed, to augment presentations.
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