Extemporaneous Speaking.

1. Purpose. The purpose of this event is to encourage students to read widely on current public affairs, and to train them to apply principles of speech composition on a selected timely topic in a limited period of time and to deliver the speech from notes with fluency and effectiveness.

2. Rules.

a. The general area from which the extemporaneous speaking topics are to be formulated shall be current public affairs.

b. Specific topics shall be selected from subjects discussed in standard periodicals during the current school year.
  1. The NSAA office shall provide managers with a list of topics chosen for contest use.
  2. A NSAA Certified Judge shall supervise the preparation room. The supervisor shall inspect the preparation material used by each contestant. Pre-prepared extemporaneous speeches, handbooks, briefs, and outlines shall be barred from the preparation room. Underlining or highlighting on material will be allowed if done in only one color on each article or copy. The use of electronic devices, e.g. computers and calculators shall not be used in the preparation room or during preparation time. During preparation time, students may consult published books, magazines, newspapers and journals or articles therefrom, provided:
    1. They are originals or photocopied copies of originals.
    2. Original articles or copies must be intact and uncut.
    3. There is no written material on original or copies (source citation is allowed).
    4. Topical indexes without annotations are allowed.

No other material shall be allowed in the extemporaneous preparation room other than that given above and material deemed in violation of these guidelines shall be removed by the supervisor and taken to the students coach or tournament director. Students violating these guidelines DURING preparation time will be disqualified.

e. Class A, 30 minutes; Class B, C, D, one hour before the contestant is to speak, the contestant shall draw three topics, select one without consulting anyone, and return the other two.

f. After the topic has been selected and recorded, the contestant shall withdraw to rooms assigned and prepare the speech without consulting anyone.

g. Before speaking, the speaker shall present the judge with the official copy of the topic drawn and selected.

h. During preparation, a contestant may use magazines, books, and pamphlets.

i. Electronic devices (computers, calculators, etc) in the preparation rooms or during preparation time shall not be allowed at district and state contests.

j. The speech shall be delivered extemporaneously.

k. Time limit shall be five to seven minutes.

l. One 4x6 notecard may be used.

3. Judging Standards.

a. The extemporaneous speech shall not be regarded as a memory test of the materials contained in any one magazine article, but rather as an original thesis by the speaker of the current fact and opinion on the designated topic as presented by various sources.

b. Information presented shall be well-chosen, pertinent, and sufficient to support the central thought of the topic.

c. The contestant shall be held accountable for strict adherence to the precise statement of the topic drawn, and downgraded for shifting to some other phase of the topic other than what the topic states.

d. Delivery shall be judged for mastery of the usual mechanics of speech and communicativeness.

e. The final test of good extemporaneous speaking is the ability of the contestant to interest listeners in the thought to the extent that the speaker causes them to forget that this is a contest.

4. Disqualification Criteria.

a. Did not present judge with the topic drawn.

b. Did not speak on the topic drawn.
    1. Obviously not having an original speech.
    2. Using more than one 4x6 notecard.
    3. Violating prep time guidelines

5. Lowering Rank Criteria.

a. Overtime (exceeding 30 seconds).

b. Undertime (exceeding 30 seconds).