By Andrew Wang, Opinion Editor | City of La Follette, Howe County

Walking into the Nationalist convention last night made me very excited.

Before the event, I heard that this was one of the most hyped events at Badger Boys State, and I was hoping that it would live up to this claim.

Walking into the Assembly Hall gave me hope; the atmosphere was packed with a lively crowd and the speakers all looked ready to prepare killer speeches. The Supreme Court Justice nominees then took the stage, and I quickly noticed a commonality between the vast majority of all speeches in the convention.

To me, more than 90 percent of speeches could be categorized into one of two categories: very formal or comedic.

The formal speeches focused on the speakers’ qualifications, why the position they were running for fit well to them and what they would do for citizens.

Ultimately, although all of these speeches had great delivery and good points, it was difficult to pick the best candidate out of all these speeches. On the other hand, the comedic speeches focused more on captivating the audience rather than focusing on qualifications and policy. This strategy gets everyone on their feet, but, at the end of the day, it is hard for citizens to select a candidate if they don’t know what they are advocating for.

The best possible way is to create a speech that embodies both these categories into one where the speaker captivates the audience and, at the same time, presents specific qualifications and policies.

One example of this from last night’s convention was the speech given by Elijah Banks City of Knowles in Carpenter County. Banks captivated the crowd with a very non-traditional introduction, and he then transitioned into a more serious discussion about why the position fits him the best and what he would do.

For speeches in the future, citizens should use this model to give more effective and unique speeches.