You have an hour to write a 5-7 minute speech with facts and sources. Go!

This is the rush that Senior Drake Berry lives for. Berry has been participating in NPHS Speech and Debate team for four years. The branch of speech is extemporaneous speaking. He does it for “the adrenaline rush,” and he has “become accustomed to it and its become second nature.” He said the feeling of “going on the stage is mortifying,” but he does his best to isolate himself, and it becomes fine.  His first extemp practice speech didn’t go so well “My very first extemp practice was pretty awful. I stared straight at the wall and monotonously spewed my facts and information.”

Extemporaneous speaking is an event in speech that you are given about 30 minutes to an hour to write a five to seven minute speech about the topic that you are given at the contest.  The speech will look similar to a 5 paragraph essay. Topics like according to speechgeek.com; “Is an ‘American first’ mindset in foreign policy a danger to U.S. national security?” or “Is the Catholic Church facing a global crisis of credibility?” and other political topics similar to those.

Typically how a competition goes is that the competitors will get some documents in order beforehand  in order to research your topic. After they go to their competition, they are given a number and then the competitors are given a topic.

They take their documents and start researching and write their speech. All the while they have about 30 minutes to an hour to do this. They also have to memorize their speech. “A single note card is permitted, but highly discouraged. Memorization is a major element of extemporaneous speaking,” Berry said. Afterwards, they go into a room with the judges and give they give their speech. “When they are done, the judge is thanked and they leave the room,” Berry said.

If you wanna start extemp Berry recommends “Really just persistence. Try to have fun. Keep pushing forward, practicing improvisation, watching the news, etc.”