Extemporaneous speaking, colloquially known as extemp, is a limited-preparation speech event based on research and original analysis. Extemporaneous speaking is a competitive speaking event in the United States in both high school and college forensics competition. Extemporaneous speaking provides 30 minutes of preparation time, followed by a seven-minute speech. When preparation starts, speakers are offered three questions to answer. Questions are based on current affairs, and topic areas generally include international and domestic policy, economic policy, and social or scientific issues. Speakers generally speak persuasively, though some areas of the US offer informative speeches.
Contents
- Origin
- Basic information and format
- Competition
- Current rankings
- Past AFA Champions
- Past NCFCA Champions in Extemporaneous Speaking
- Past NFA Champions
- Past NCFL Champions
- Past NFL Champions in Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking
- Past NFL Champions in International Extemporaneous Speaking
- Past NITOC Champions in Extemporaneous Speaking
- Past Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions winners
- Past Montgomery Bell Academy Extemporaneous Round Robin Champions
- References
Origin
According to Pausanias (6.18.6), Anaximenes was "the first who practised the art of speaking extemporaneously." Extemporaneous Speaking was designed as an event to not be a memorized, rehearsed speech, but rather, a short, analytical speech spoken off the cuff, emphasizing critical thinking in addition to performance.
Basic information and format
Extemporaneous speaking is a speech that is either persuasive or informative in nature, usually modeled off of a 5 paragraph essay. At top levels, extemporaneous is a smooth, dynamic performance that incorporates research, background knowledge, and opinion. A successful extemporaneous speech has an introduction that catches the listener's attention, introduces the theme of the speech, and answers the question through three, or sometimes two, areas of analysis, which develop an answer to the question. These areas of analysis are followed by a conclusion, which summarizes the speech. Extemporaneous speaking sometimes allows for the use of index cards, but many extemporaneous competitors forgo their usage, and many forensic leagues do not allow their usage. The use of the Internet is often not allowed during preparation.
Debate and public speaking (collectively called "forensics") are generally stratified into novice and varsity levels. A varsity level extemporaneous speech typically contains anywhere from 6 – 15 sources, while averaging 8-10, to provide a basis of fact for analyzing the question. References are often referred to as a "cite" or "citation." Quality sources include newspapers like the New York Times and Christian Science Monitor, magazines like the Economist and Foreign Policy and journals like the The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs and Foreign Affairs. For a speech dealing with a certain region's issues, say Africa or the Middle East, it is good to include regional sources as well, like All Africa and Al Jazeera respectively.
The introduction is usually structured as a 1 minute, 30 second section, with an attention-getter to grab the attention of the audience, background information, which often includes a source to build credibility, a statement of significance, which tells the audience why the topic is important, before going into the basic overview of the structure of the speech, including the question, answer, and a preview of the 3 areas of analysis.
An individual point in Extemporaneous Speaking is typically structured like a basic warrant, with a claim, warrant, and impact, with about 1 minute and 30 to 1 minute and 40 seconds of content. This usually incorporates 2 – 4 sources to build credibility and provide information for analysis, and a mid of both broad argumentation and specific examples. Finally, the end of a point usually links back to the speaker's answer to the question, which functions as an impact. Some schools of thought argue that the impact of a point should link to a scenario outside of the scope of the question, but most competitive circuits in High School and Collegiate competition value a link back to the answer to the question instead.
The conclusion, which lasts for between 30 seconds and 1 minute, in Extemporaneous Speaking follows the basic format of the introduction, but backwards, starting with the speaker restating the question, answer, and review of the three points. Finally, the speech finishes with a basic reference to the attention-getter.
Competition
During the speech, competitors are evaluated by way of comparison to the other speakers in a "round" of competition. Generally, there are five to seven competitors in a given round. Judges give speakers time signals to help them pace their presentations, usually starting from five minutes remaining. Judges rank all students in a room in order, with the first rank being the best and the worst speaker ranked last (sixth, for example in a round of six competitors).
In High School competition, the National Forensic League (NFL), Stoa USA, the National Christian Forensics and Communication Association (NCFCA) and the National Catholic Forensic League (CFL) host most Extemp tournaments in High School. Both leagues have a national tournament at the end of every year, with the NFL tournament drawing a larger number of competitors. There is also the Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions, held each May at Northwestern University, along with the Tournament of Champions at the University of Kentucky, which has held a round robin since 2012. In addition, there are highly prestigious "circuit" tournaments, as in Policy debate, Public Forum, and Lincoln-Douglas. These include the Glenbrooks Tournament in Chicago, the Yale Invitational at Yale University, the Patriot Games at George Mason University, the Barkley Forum at Emory University, the Berkeley Tournament in University of California, Berkeley, and the Invitational at Harvard University. There are also two major round-robins, held at George Mason University and at Montgomery Bell Academy (MBA).
In collegiate competition, a myriad of organizations provide national competition in Extemporaneous Speaking. The American Forensic Association (AFA) and the National Forensic Association (NFA) are organizations responsible for Extemporaneous speaking at the four year level, with Phi Ro Pi serving the two year, community college level. Other organizations which offer Extemporaneous Speaking competition are Pi Kappa Delta, Delta Sigma Rho-Tau Kappa Alpha, and the International Forensic Association. Collegiate competition is almost identical to High School competition, with most tournaments hosted by Universities. The AFA hosts a National Individual Events Tournament (NIET), usually in April. The NFA hosts a separate tournament with easier qualification requirements known as NFA Nationals. Additionally, collegiate competition consists of dozens of tournaments across the country, like the Norton Invitational, hosted by Bradley University, and the Hell Froze Over swing tournament.
Current rankings
Rankings for High School Extemporaneous Speaking are maintained by multiple organizations, three of which are: Extemp Central, the Institute for Speech and Debate, and SpeechRanks.com. All three use a points system which assigns points to tournaments on the national circuit based on the size of each tournament's field, and its prestige.