A speech presented on a randomly drawn choice of three words, quotations and current events with limited preparation.
Round 1: Concrete Nouns
Round 2: Quotation (“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again”).
Round 3: Current Event (“Who will win the election this year?”)
Round 4: Abstract concept or vocabulary term (ex: Blue Crayon or Antidisestablishmentarianism).
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Rules:
Students draw three topics from an envelope containing prompts that relate to a specific topic, and will choose one prompt
Students will have a total of seven minutes to prepare, memorize, and perform their speech.
Each student is given a (5) minute maximum speaking time; with (2) minutes, in round, preparation time prior to that
Students may consult published books, magazines, newspapers, and journal articles that they bring with them to preparation. These materials must be originals or photocopies with no annotation, underlining, writing, or highlighting.
Students may not bring outlines or pre-written speeches into the preparation room.
No notes may be used during the speech.
An Impromptu speech typically follows a basic structure in which a student presents an introduction, body, and conclusion.
The introduction should provide adequate context for the trajectory of the speech. If a student has illustrated an example, conveyed their chosen prompt, and provided a thesis statement for the speech, they have created a structurally sound introduction! The body of the speech commonly explores two or three areas of the prompt in greater depth. For example, if a student’s thesis focuses on cultivating innovation, they would likely introduce two effective ways to do so and use examples to prove their point. The conclusion wraps up the speech. It will tie back to the attention grabbing device from the introduction, reiterate the prompt, and review the main points of the speech.
Event Checklist:
Notebook and pencil for reflections
Try to know who you are competing against in your round
Figure out what room you will be performing in
Computer: Download all your prep!
Mouse (optional)
Flow pad: to write speech outline and doodle during prep
A lot of different colored pens (need them to flow and pens get lost easily)
Timer
Some Tips From People Who Have Excelled in this Event:
DON'T PANIC...like me. Seriously. Let your creativity flow dude! This is your 5 minute stage to talk about literally ANYTHING...relating to what was on the slip of paper, of course. Wow not only your judges but your audience with the insane amount of knowledge you possess. After all, you're in Speech & Debate - willingly might I add - so you're definitely an intelligent & cool kid.
- Chris Rivera
Speak from the heart! The more you rack your brain with things to say, the more confused you'll be when it's time to speak. Write down general ideas and just elaborate on those ideas instead of writing out a whole speech.
- Nidhi Bhaskarabhotla
Perfect practice makes perfect performance.
- Aashril Shazar
Without any practice or knowledge, I went into my first tournament doing impromptu completely blind and all I was told was to structure it like a mini OO but within five minutes and it worked.
For those doing platforms, think of this as a mini platform, with the first minute being introduction, then road map and 2-3 minutes on the main body, and ending 1 minute with a conclusion that connects to your attention grabbing introduction.
For example, for my first round I chose the topic "happiness" so I started off my impromptu by singing the first verse of "if you're happy and you know it clap your hands." For the third round, my topic was fear of heights so I talked about Godzilla reigning over Tokyo. They all started off unique and weird, but I didn't hesitate to delve into the seriousness right after.
Personally, I think that the contrast between an outgoing and witty introduction and the serious content is very eye-catching.
- Manreet Sohi