POWELL -- American foreign policy is a little like the board game Risk. Consumer product warning labels are a good metaphor for the threat of religious violence in India. And college football dynasties can help explain why Internet search firm Google isn't likely to suffer during the current economic downturn.

Those were just some of the persuasive devices used by competitors in a single round of extemporaneous speaking Friday at the 38th Annual Trapper Rendezvous Forensics Tournament, which concludes today.

Students from 13 colleges, including some from as far away as Arkansas and Kansas, gave dramatic readings, debated complex topics and gave off-the-cuff chats about current events in more than two dozen rounds of competitive speaking.

"I like it because it's spontaneous. You have to be quick on your feet, especially in debate," said Stacy Hotchkin, who teaches public speaking at Sheridan College, where she is also a debate coach.

"It's educational and keeps you up to date and makes you a more well-rounded student. Anyone who has been involved in speech or debate will tell you it helped them in their career choices and their course work," she said.

"The number one fear in America is public speaking, and these students are overcoming that, which a lot of people never will," Hotchkin said.

That's true for Alex Stringer, a Northwest College sophomore from New Mexico who spoke about international trade policy, using a small-town grocery store as a way to explain declining commerce among some of America's allies.

"I'm a political science major, and I eventually want to end up in politics, but I've always been terrified of public speaking. So I joined partly to get over that, but it's actually a lot of fun," Stringer said.

Things are more fun on a winning team, and the Northwest College forensics squad has won 20 straight tournaments over the past 21/2 years. The two-year school often beats nationally acclaimed four-year universities, and continues to make a name for itself as a powerhouse in competitive speech and debate events.

If public speaking alone isn't scary enough, extemporaneous speakers must be prepared to discuss virtually any topic, usually drawn from current events. They must choose from one of three randomly drawn topics, and be ready within a half-hour to deliver an informative and entertaining speech lasting about seven minutes.

Students carry a small file of clippings from news publications and Web sites, which they can browse during their 30-minute prep time. But they can't use the Internet to research a topic.

Consequently, most are voracious readers, focusing on current events, national politics and foreign affairs.

"We're constantly doing research, so we try to be expansive and cover everything," Stringer said.

Besides keeping up with global affairs, students must also make their speeches persuasive and entertaining, which isn't easy when the judges are often debate coaches who know nearly every trick in the book.

Mark Schafer, a Casper College student, brought up ridiculous consumer product warning labels about obvious risks to highlight the danger of ignoring the growing violence between India's Muslims and Hindus.

"You may not have seen the labels on Stihl chain saws that say, 'Warning: do not stop manually with bare skin.' " he said.

World governments might need a label such as "Warning: India is on the verge of a religious war" before they take that issue seriously, Schafer said.