Okay, I tried everywhere online to find tips for Extemp reading and couldn’t find anything. If you were on the speech team and have done Extemp. Reading can you please give me some tips??? Our teams really small (4 people) and I’m the only one doing this category so I’m unable to ask for help.
I literally looked up Extemp Speaking Tips on Google and found stuff… Ask an English teacher if there isn’t a director of the club.
@Anish14 There is a huge difference between Extemp Speaking and Extemp Reading. In speaking you have to write a speech on a specific topic and memorize it all within thirty minutes in reading you are given a suggestion of books to read and during the competition you draw a random story and have to be ready to perform it within thirty minutes. I have tried asking my speech teacher, but I also want some peer tips…
Sorry fam I gotchu next time
I just looked up Extemp Reading Speech Tips and found stuff. Are you kidding me.
bruh no you didn’t…lol clearly you’re not in speech
You clearly have no idea how to use the internet properly. Do you not have the common sense to ask an english teacher or the debate coach?
You must be challenged if I could find that in 30 seconds.
Ouch. How unkind. The hints you quoted would merely give the OP the vaguest of ideas as to what the event was about, not any real help in improving her performance.
I’m a former Speech coach( though there was no Extemp Reading when I stopped in 1998), and did Extemp Speech as a kid.
Probably the best advice I can give is to follow the punctuation. It will give you the opportunity to take the breaths you need, and to look up at your audience.
Use your time wisely. Learn where those breaths are-- it’s a killer to need one in the middle of a long sentence! And go over difficult pronounciations. Are you allowed to mark up the text? If so, re-write any difficult words phonetically. If it’s allowed, highlight any dialogue in contrasting colors. Like all the other Extempers, find a quiet hallway and practice your speech aloud. You need to hear how it sounds. Yes, you’ll look weird, talking to yourself. But every other successful extemper will be doing the exact same thing, so don’t sweat it.
You want to connect with your audience. Take special care to include ALL your audience in your eye contact.(if you make finals, there are sure to be others in the room-- this sounds like a great event to watch.)
Ask your coach to see an old or a blank critique sheet. It will tell you exactly what parameters are being used by the judges.
Don’t assume you’ll have the use of a podium. So ask your coach about the best way to hold your manuscript. If it’s not against the rules, I would suggest a binder full of plastic page protectors- you can certainly reuse them after each round. That will give you something to do with your hands (I’m guessing that, like OI, you can’t really use gestures, right???) and it will give you a more imposing presence.
Do you read a pre-written intro or write one yourself? If it’s the latter, there are probably some fairly standard themes you can develop. (My standard as an Extemper was to use a line from a song as a lead in for my intro. So, for example, I would quote Alicia Key’s line about “hunger for more than an empty fridge” in a topic about social programs or anything similar.
The next time you have the opportunity, watch a final round. Try not to get caught up in the actual piece, but watch the mechanics.
Pay particular attention to the critiques you receive from coaches who judge. It’s hard to know which judges know their stuff, but you can usually assume that a coach does.
OK, I just did a little research. You’re allowed to use a “teaser” as an intro, provided that the teaser is part of the piece. So, for example, you can read the first paragraph or so, stop, tell them what you’re reading and who wrote it, and then get back to your piece. It’s a really effective technique if you can learn to use it well.
Hope that’s at least a little help.
Oh, and look here http://www.blackhawk.new.rschooltoday.com/page/50442 You’ll have to scroll down a bit, but it tells judges what to look for.
Oh, and the best way to get someone’s attention is to LOWER your voice, not raise it. (And yet I just typed that in Caps… go figure 
) But effective use of volume can make a huge difference.
@bjkmom I suggested asking teachers and the debate coach FIRST. Of course they would know best…
OP- Sorry my responses were rude.
Oh, one more little thing that occurred to me.
When you say a funny line laugh before or after the line, not as you say it. It’s a speech contest; the judge needs to be able to hear the line.
@bjkmom Thank you so much!!!
You’re so welcome! I hope it helps!
Why so many prickly folks here today? Geez, if no one was allowed to ask a question at CC that couldn’t also be googled, we’d have to shut down the site.
@3idek3 My kid does extemp and much of his life is now consumed with filing as the qualifiers for Nationals get nearer. A big thing they did this year is invest in a technology that allows faster reading & filing…the only problem is that it was a pricey purchase. BUT a guy at Reddit created a great hack last year that a lot of kids try…check this out:
http://mnatu.re/1HYIjou
I could CERTAINLY be wrong, but it looks to me as though that’s more for Extemp speech-- current events-- than Extemp Reading. (I had never heard of ER until this thread.)