Judging Instructions

Epidemic Extemporaneous Judging Instructions 

In extemporaneous speaking, commonly known as extemp, competitors revive three current event related questions and then spend thirty minutes preparing a seven minute speech answering one of them.  

Judging procedure: 

Being an electronic tournament, things are a little more complicated.  A Remind has been created for judges. Text @epijudge to 810-10 to get room assignments and other information by text.    You can also send text messages to the Remind thread if you have questions or concerns. Virtual judge training will take place at 5:00 Pacific time on April 23.  A link will be sent out with the Zoom meeting that will be used for training.  

Each competitor is assigned to a Zoom meeting.  At the start of the day, an email will be sent out with links to all of the Zoom rooms.  At the start of your judging, you will be told which room to enter. You will then be made the host of that Zoom room.  After about a ten minute wait, the first competitor should enter the waiting room. Ask them for their code (each speaker is given a 3 digit numeric identifier for tabbing purposes) and record it on the ballot.  Admit that competitor, unmute them, and watch their speech. Eight minutes later, another speaker should come into the waiting room. After speaker 1 is done, admit them and have them speak. While they are speaking, you are responsible for giving time signals.  A chart of time signals has been provided under resources. Speakers are allowed to watch the next speakers, provided they are muted, have their video turned off, and the current speaker is okay with spectators. We ask that you do not discuss speaker’s rankings with competitors or other judges.  

Prior to judging, print out 2 pages of paper ballots for each round you are judging.  You will be asked to watch 4-6 speeches and rank them in order of how good they were. While speakers are speaking, fill out a paper ballot for each speaker.  Fill out the front completely, with the speaker code, round number, ranking, checkbox feedback and speaker points. Speaker points are given on a scale of 15 to 30, and are awarded solely on delivery and organization.  15 means the speaker was speaking Klingon and 30 means they need to be elected into the Senate immediately. The vast majority of people receive points in the middle of that range. Write any additional notes or feedback on the back of your ballot.  After the round, input the information from the paper ballots onto an electronic ballot. The information will be shared with competitors after the tournament. The link to the ballots can be found under resources.  

Judging Criteria: 

Extemp requires both extensive knowledge and good speaking skills; content and delivery should be weighed roughly equally.  Keep in mind the following when evaluating speeches:

• Number of sources- a good speech should have at least six relevant citations that further the speech, and an adequate speech should have three

• Whether the speech fully and completely answers the question

• Quality of information

• Relevance of the introduction

• Clarity of information- extemp speeches are supposed to be able to be understood by a general audience

• Pace of delivery

• Gestures 

• Organization 

• Time allocation 

• Fluency (not stumbling, repeating or correcting themselves) 

• Memerization 

Rules to keep in mind:

If any of the following rules are violated, indicate it as an irregularity on your electronic ballot. 

• Speeches must be given without notes of any kind.

• Speeches are supposed to be 7 minutes long, with a 30 second grace period.  If a speech is longer than 7:30, indicate it as an irregularity.  

• Props are not allowed. 

Resources: 

Judge Sign-up Form

Paper Ballots

Electronic Ballots

Time Signal Chart

Example Extemp Speech (we don’t do questioning) 

Contact Epidemic Extemporaneous: 

If you have any questions or concerns, please text the Remind or email annesmith123456789@gmail.com.