| Extemporaneous speaking has justly acquired a | | | | and bring it to the tournament, because it is easy to |
| reputation for being one of the most difficult of the | | | | miss events while researching online, so you need the |
| competitive speech events. There is perhaps no | | | | broadened perspective that a print magazine |
| other event that requires as much preparation and | | | | provides. The Economist is an excellent magazine, |
| just plain hard work, but this article will show you | | | | though pricy, and Newsweek or the Wall Street |
| how to prepare for extemporaneous (commonly | | | | Journal are also good choices. |
| called "extemp") in such a way that you will not be | | | | You also need to be selective in your choice of |
| wasting your time, and will be able to perform your | | | | internet news websites. Try to stay away from sites |
| research as quickly and as efficiently as possible. | | | | that veer too far towards either the right or the left, |
| Extemporaneous is a limited-preparation speech | | | | and beware -- all news providers claim to be fair and |
| event where students speak about current events. | | | | balanced, but few actually are. Some good picks are |
| The speaker is given three topics, which can | | | | Reuters, the New York Times, the Economist's web |
| encompass both domestic and foreign affairs, and | | | | edition, CNN online, and ABC news. |
| then has thirty minutes to prepare a speech on one | | | | Do not, however, be selective in your choice of |
| of the topics. Speeches can be either informative or | | | | articles. As mentioned earlier, you want to get the |
| persuasive, and what makes this event so hard is | | | | broadest coverage possible, so that you have |
| that you have to do all of your research beforehand. | | | | information on all of your topics. You can usually |
| It pays to do as much research as you can, because | | | | safely avoid articles on celebrities, murders, and other |
| you can get some pretty obscure topics, and the | | | | such sensational reporting. You will rarely get |
| more facts you can bring to bear in preparing your | | | | questions on these topics. Usually, a quick glance at |
| speech, the better. | | | | the title will tell you if an article is good or not. If not, |
| Use of computers is usually not allowed in extemp, | | | | the lead paragraph should give you an idea, and if |
| so competitors print off news articles and bring them | | | | doubt just go ahead and print it. Read through your |
| to tournaments in containers, which are known as | | | | articles and highlight important sentences or |
| extemp boxes. Finding an article on the economy of | | | | paragraphs. Pick out nice quotes and highlight them |
| Tanzania when it is mixed in with 400 other articles | | | | too. This will save valuable preparation time down the |
| will burn up your prep time quickly, so organize your | | | | road. |
| box with file folders, according to different subject | | | | So, stick to these guidelines, research diligently, and |
| areas and countries. | | | | you will be on the fast track to quality speech |
| Do not rely solely on the internet, however. Try to | | | | making! |
| get a subscription to a print magazine or newspaper, | | | | |