Tip for poets about Slamming…

General Performance Tips:

1. Have Fun.

2. Stay true to your muse and yourself.

3. Know the rules. Both the actual competition rules, and the unspoken rules of the venue.

4. Break the rules. Rules are meant to be broken. It is the rules you break that make you uniquely you. Often, its the poets who invent exceptions to the rules who win.

5. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. If you were a professional musician, you'd be at it for several hours every day. At least put 15 mins into your performance every day, especially before an important gig. Consider it exercise, just like lifting weights. It doesn't have to be brilliant or meaningful every time. Just keep rehearsing.

6. Don't rehearse "wrong." Don't learn your mistakes or bad habits. Practice just like you're performing. Pretend a crowd is responding. Keep track of your time.

7. If you try to out-do someone, there will always be somebody bigger and stronger. If you simply be yourself, nobody can do it better. I believe that the poet who is MOST themselves will get the greatest points based on character alone.

8. Wear clothes that emphasize your strengths. This IS a performance, after all! Don't be afraid of overdressing. Dark or bold colors are often best. Avoid pure white unless you need to make a point it washes out in the spot lights and overloads cameras. But do not be contrived or untrue to yourself. Emphasize your uniqueness without alienating the audience.

9. Observe, observe, observe. Find new ways of approaching your work and interacting with the audience. Ask questions.

10. Find a "master" and study them. Read their work and take what you like from it. Observe their movements on stage and emulate what works for you. Listen to their vocalizations and the "music" of their speech. Try reciting your work in their "voice," as if you were an actor. Find new a new master as soon as you've exhausted the last.

11. Cherish criticism, but consider the source. "The best a person's advice can get you is where it has gotten them." Find friends whom you respect and will be honest with you, then ask them about your performances. Don't be surprised when a big visiting poet was too busy selling chapbooks to pay any attention to the details of your performance.

12. Tape yourself.

13. Perform in front of a mirror.