While extemporaneous speaking requires students to learn and master a variety of event-specific and unique skills and strategies, it is important to acknowledge the versatility of spontaneous events, allowing individuals to succeed in relevant supplemental events alongside the main event. Especially as students across the country gear up for nationals, now is a great time to brush up on your supps! This article will primarily focus on the relationship between extemp strategies and impromptu as a supplemental event.
An Intro to Imp
Impromptu speaking is a supplemental event on the national circuit and is regarded as a main event in the college circuit, as well as in certain states such as California. The event has a “draw” and “speaking” allocation similar to extemp; however, it is a total of seven minutes as opposed to thirty-seven. In impromptu, speakers select one topic from three and are able to split the seven minutes into speaking and prep time as they see best fit. Many speakers opt for a 2:5 prep-to-speaking split; however, on the national circuit, preparation time can be as short as 1:6. Speaking topics can vary from proper nouns, intangible ideas, quotes, popular culture, current events, and more.
A Natural Choice for Extempers
As you can imagine, the similarity of this limited-prep supplemental to extemp lends itself to being a natural choice for many extempers looking to double-enter at tournaments. Much like extemp, impromptu speakers employ the “diamond walk” to signal different points, often organizing their analysis into three distinct ideas. Similarly, impromptuers roadmap before and after their points, consistently tie each point back to the prompt, and add on-tops before points. These transferable skills not only make impromptu feel natural but also allow speakers to practice necessary elements of extemp in a lower-pressure environment.
Leveraging the Differences
Impromptu lends itself to an increased level of personality, allowing personal stories and humor to take center stage and encouraging more interaction with the audience than a typical extemp speech. Even this difference strengthens extempers, as it builds comfort with audience engagement. Additionally, impromptu speakers may not consult the internet or notes during their seven minutes, including prep time. While this can be challenging for extempers, it presents an opportunity to build memorization skills for “cards” or examples that can be dissected within points. Crafting narratives out of these cards on the fly helps speakers create cohesive, digestible storylines for any spontaneous event.
Impromptu Points
Points in extemp are divided into three separate yet unified reasons supporting a broader answer. Points in impromptu are often similar, though how they are chosen and communicated varies widely by region. Impromptu can take the form of a cause–solution–impact structure (much like extemp), three examples of a thesis in daily life, or an exploration of how an idea scales within society, among others. It depends heavily on the prompt and interpretation. In alignment with extemp, many speakers interpret prompts symbolically to represent larger societal themes. For instance, “Sandra Day O’Connor” might become a discussion on the need for greater inclusion of women in underrepresented spaces; “French fries” could reflect the impacts of modern consumer culture; or even something like “Finding Nemo” could be interpreted as rediscovering a sense of childhood wonder. This broader idea is then explored through multiple facets (typically three), often introduced through a personal anecdote or illustrative story.
Why Impromptu?
Impromptu encourages creative thinking and personal narrative outside the limits of a traditional extemp speech while allowing personal voice to be celebrated. Speeches within a round are often highly varied, reducing pressure since no two speeches should be structurally identical. The skills developed in impromptu address common struggles for novice extempers, particularly filling analytical gaps between evidence and citations. The time constraint forces strong word economy, improving overall speaking ability within and beyond spontaneous events. Additionally, the high-pressure nature of impromptu helps speakers acclimate to the longer-duration stress of extemp.
Advice for beginners
Definitely watch a round of impromptu (including prep) to understand the norms of the event. If possible, observe rounds at your local tournaments to see typical point structures, and note what works in each speech. Pay attention to how prep time is used, whether prompts are memorized or referenced, and what kinds of examples speakers rely on. Adopt, or strategically break, these norms to strengthen your own speeches.
Additionally, maintain a collection of “cards” or examples, both written and memorized. Try to diversify them across media, historical events, and personal experiences that can be broadly applied thematically. When practicing, don’t just memorize examples—work through prompts and actively consider how you would shape narratives around them in different contexts.
Final Thoughts
A new event is like exposing yourself to a new perspective. While impromptu is not an exact duplication of extemp, it provides valuable insight into extemporaneous speaking, and vice versa.