Broad Run Spartan Ron Richards Invitational
2023 — Ashburn, VA/US
Impromptu
Event Description:
Purpose of Contest: To encourage students to combine clear thinking, good speaking skills and interesting presentation in responding quickly to one of three topics with a clear, specific point in a well-developed speech.
1. Impromptu topics will include proverbs, ordinary objects, events, quotations and famous people. All competitors, in each section, will draw from the same list of topics. A different subject area will be used for each round.
2. Competitors will be assigned to a room with a judge present. All competitors assigned to the room will check in with the judge and then wait outside the room until called in for their turn to speak. When the competitor is asked to speak, they will be brought into the room, given three topics and asked to choose one. All students will choose from the same three topics.
3. The contestant shall prepare a speech without consultation and without reference to prepared notes or research materials. The student may make limited notes on both sides of one note card not exceeding 4” x 6” in size provided by the judge. Visual aids and/or props are prohibited.
4. There is NO minimum time requirement, but the contestant must cover the subject adequately. The maximum time for preparation and speaking is seven minutes. Time begins immediately after the three topics are drawn. The competitor may divide this time in any way he/she sees fit. Any contestant who exceeds the established time limit by more than 30 seconds may not rank first or score highest in the round. The judge is expected to provide the competitor with oral time signals, indicating the amount of time elapsed at one minute, two minutes, etc. until the student begins speaking. The judge should then provide the student with visual hand signals showing the progression of each minute, again at 6:30, and at the end of the seventh minute, indicate that time has expired. It is essential that a judge be consistent with start times and time signals, both oral and visual.
5. A competitor may not leave the Impromptu round until all competitors have finished speaking.
Judging Procedures:
1. Consider both content and delivery. Criteria for determining winners are relevance of theme to topic, thought content, freshness, depth, clarity of organization, sincerity of speaker, adequacy of support and development, use of language, voice and diction and control and use of body.
2. Use the ballot to write comments on the speaker’s performance. Your feedback is important to the competitors and coaches; these forms will later be given to the speakers.
3. After each speech, use the ballot to score the speaker. Decisions should be reached independently,without consulting other judges.
After all speakers have been heard, rank all contestants (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.) and score them between 100-70 in the same order in which they are ranked. Turn in your rating form to the tab room chairman who will tally them and assign a ranking (sum of each judge’s assigned ranking for that contestant) and a score (total of assigned numerical scores) to each speaker.
Important: Final results are based first on a student’s ranking. The lowest total is overall 1st place speaker, next lowest is 2nd and so forth.