Blocking for Different Room Setups
Tournament rooms vary widely in size, easel availability, and audience seating, so blocking must be adaptable. You'll learn how to adjust planned blocking on the fly.
Anticipating Variable Rooms
Some rooms provide an easel or table for the aid; others require the speaker to hold it or lean it against a wall or chalkboard ledge. Rehearsing blocking in multiple configurations (aid on a table, aid held, aid leaned) prepares a speaker to adapt quickly without visibly panicking on tournament day.
Adjusting for Room Size and Seating
In a small classroom with a judge seated close to the front, movement should be more contained since large sweeping movement can feel overwhelming in tight quarters; in a large room or auditorium, movement and gestures may need to be slightly bigger to remain visible from the back. Always do a quick visual scan of the room's size and seating before beginning.
The Thirty-Second Room Scan
Experienced competitors use the brief moments before their speech begins to do a quick, thirty-second mental scan of the room — noting aid support options, judge seating position, and available floor space — and silently adjust their planned blocking accordingly before their first word is spoken.
A speaker arrives at a tournament room to find no easel, only a small side table pushed against a wall.
She had rehearsed with an easel at home, but adapts by leaning her tri-fold board against the wall on the side table, adjusting her blocking to approach from a slightly different angle than planned so she doesn't block the aid. Because she rehearsed this exact contingency at home, the adjustment is smooth rather than visibly flustered.
1. Why should a speaker rehearse blocking in multiple aid-support configurations (table, held, leaned)?
2. True or False?
"Movement and gestures should generally be sized the same regardless of room size."
3. What is the purpose of a quick pre-speech room scan?
Answer all 3 to check.
Prepare blocking for multiple possible room configurations so you can adapt calmly rather than being thrown off on competition day.