Tip
for poets about Slamming… Basic Strategy: 1. Have fun. Have fun before taking the
stage, on the stage, and off the stage. People will notice
and reward you. 2. Be a good sport. Better to let some asshole
win on a technicality this time and leave with the audience
on your side. 3. Be confident. Audiences respect humility,
but love confidence. 4. Know the rules, when you'll be reading,
and who you follow. 5. If you break a rule, do it with STYLE. 6. Be friendly with the organizers, bring
friends to be in the audience. Consider that the prize
may be $20, but the people you meet can often hook you
up with paying gigs, even if (or maybe because) you lost
a slam. 7. Watch the judges and consider what they
are scoring high. Consider what their biases may be. 8. Do your best work FIRST. If you don't
advance to the next round, it won't matter what you still
have left in reserve. 9. Consider who you are following, and what
style of poem they are most likely to do. Pick a couple
likely responses. 10. Consider who follows you, and if you
have a poem which "shuts them down" before they
even speak. 11. Know who you are, or at least what "character" type
you are most likely to be perceived as. Be aware that a
poet before you or after you may use a character that "trumps" yours.
I liken this to a deck of cards; a King trumps a Jack,
an Ace (or team piece) can trump a King. 12. The audience will always struggle to "peg" you
as a person or archetype before they listen to the poem.
Time they spend trying to figure out what makes YOU tick
is time taken from your poem. Consider ways of dressing
and non-verbal behaviors which will help them to recognize
who you are or wish to be perceived AS QUICKLY as possible. 13. Lead the audience, do not Boss the audience. 14. Show, not Tell. 15. Audiences want to be told what they
already know. They want their expectations to be filled,
especially regarding acting out your archetype. How you
choose to remain true to yourself is what makes you an
individual. If you can convince an audience what they really
want to know is something only you have, something unexpected,
then you've got it in the bag. 16. You can only continue to "One Up" a
particular subject/style/poem twice before scores begin
to drop. 17. After a topic has been overdone, or
three poets in a row have attempted to "One Up" each
other, then this is the perfect time to "Flip" the
energy and do something completely different. Like a comedic
piece after three heavy political pieces. 18. If the poet ahead of you bombed, then
avoid doing the same kind of poem, even if your version
is much better. 19. Vary the level of intensity of delivery
during your performance. 20. Honesty beats artifice, sincerity beats
sarcasm, drama beats comedy, team beats individual, emotion
beats reason, politics beat sex. Most of the time. Again,
if you can make yourself the exception, your reward will
be that much greater. 21. Most slams are popularity contests.
Some slams are about choosing the competitor most worthy
to be called "Poet." Some slams will only let
you win if you are an embodiment of what the audiences
itself wishes to be. Other slams are unspoken auditions
for gigs. Try to figure out what the TRUE prize of a slam
is, and proceed accordingly. Dismissing the unspoken prize
can set you apart from the crowd - for better or worse. 22. You can never lose if you learn something. TIPS: GENERAL :: VOCALIZATION :: AT
A SLAM :: BASIC
STRATEGY
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