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BASICS OF IMPROMPTU SPEAKING

Points for discussion:

Ø You run a small bank. What is your policy in managing liquidity?

Ø You run a big bank. How would you manage liquidity?

Ø Assume your bank has the following assets. What are the total risk-weighted assets? What Tier 1 capital do you need to have at least?

BASICS OF IMPROMPTU SPEAKING

Webster's defines "impromptu" as "something done offhand, at the moment without previous preparation." Technically, that is what impromptu speaking is all about--speaking 'off-the-cuff'. But, in reality, impromptu speaking involves extensive preparation to increase your knowledge base so that you will have some useful material no matter what you draw as a topic.

In Impromptu Speaking, the speaker draws a slip of paper with three potential topics on it. The speaker then thinks about the topics, selects one, prepares some basic ideas on the topic, and then presents a five minute speech on that topic.

The most common type of organization used in impromptu speaking assigns 6 or 7 speakers to a room. The speakers report to the room where a judge is waiting with topics. The speakers are given a speaking position by the tournament committee. The judge will ask for the first speaker and present the contestant with a slip of paper containing three topics. From that time, the speaker has a few moments to select the topic, compose his/her thoughts and present the five minute speech. The judge then calls for the next speaker and repeats the process until all contestants have had an opportunity to speak. The judge then rates the speakers 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th. Ties are allowed for 4th place, but not for 1st through 3rd, except at the District and State Tournaments, at which no ties may be given.

This process is repeated for a number of rounds, most commonly three. Then the tournament committee selects the contestants with the best overall ratings. For example, a contestant receiving a rating of '1st' in all three rounds would have a total rating of '3' by adding the three ratings together. If the tournament includes semifinals, the tournament committee will select the 12 to 14 top contestants and place them in the semifinal rounds. The top contestants in each semifinal would then progress to a final round. Places in the final round would determine overall places in the tournament. Some tournaments base overall place on the final round only. Most base overall place on the scores of all preliminary rounds added to the scores of the elimination rounds.

TOPICS

There are a number of types of topics which are very common at tournaments. There really are no restrictions on what an impromptu contestant may draw for a topic at other invitational tournaments.

Wise Sayings are one category of topic. Examples are: "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen," and "A rolling stone gathers no moss." With this type of topic, the speaker must first decide what the topic means, not just on a literal level, but on an abstract level as well. For example, with the topic "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen," the literal meaning is that if the heat in the kitchen is too great for you to tolerate, you should leave the kitchen. But if that is all the impromptu speaker talks about, the rating would not be very good. In reality, the good impromptu speaker will try to determine the abstract meaning of the saying and use that meaning as the topic of the speech. On an abstract level, this topic really deals with how we handle stress and pressure. It suggests that you should not put yourself in positions of pressure if you aren't the type of person who can handle it. From this, a speaker might include discussion about the pressure to get good grades, the pressure on public figures, or the stress of leadership, as well as providing solutions for handling stress. Each of these areas would allow the speaker to use specific illustrations and examples, as well as other types of support materials. These would make the speech far more interesting than one which analyzed the topic only on a literal level.

Famous quotations are a similar type of topic. An example might be "That government is best which governs least"--Thomas Jefferson. Many of the quotations used are so common that this type of topic becomes confused with the wise old sayings. Again, the speaker must decide what the quotation means, and that meaning then becomes the subject of the speech.

One word abstracts are a third type of topic commonly used in impromptu speaking. These are topics like love, honesty. courage, integrity and success. These topics allow the speaker a great deal of range in the specific content of the speech. For some speakers, this is an advantage because it allows them to apply specific knowledge and content to build an interesting speech. For other speakers, this range becomes a disadvantage because it doesn't provide direction for the speech, so the speech tends to wander and ramble, without making a specific point. For example, with the topic "love," one speaker might ramble and talk about everything related to love which comes to mind. But a more focused speaker might choose to talk only about the difference between love and infatuation. This would be a much better speech.

One word topics can include any single word. Some examples include rock, tree, song, and blue. Again, some speakers will talk about everything which the topic calls to mind, while a more experienced speaker will tend to isolate a single thesis statement from the topic and concentrate only on it. With the topic "blue," I have heard a speech in which the speaker simply began listing all the blue things that came to mind. How boring and pointless! A stronger speaker with the same topic might choose to talk about the thesis: Pollution is robbing us of the ability to enjoy our blue skies. Or the speaker might interpret blue to mean "having the blues" and talk about depression. Again, these would be better speeches, because they are focused and each has a specific thesis.

Social value topics are another commonly used type of topic. These topics deal with current events, but in a general way. Examples might include "How can America's educational system be saved?" and "Are we winning the war on drugs?" These topics allow a speaker to call on some background knowledge of current issues, while adding an editorial slant from personal opinion. For many speakers, these are the toughest type of topics, because they lack current events knowledge--they aren't well-informed. But for speakers willing to do a little preparation, these topics can be a source of consistently strong rankings.

While those are the most common types of topics, they are by no means the only types. The Copper Classic Tournament, hosted at Bingham High School, always uses song titles for final round topics. The Weber State University Tournament has used political cartoons as topics. And a couple of tournaments have used objects as topics. The speaker would reach into a bag, pull out an object, and that object would become the topic. At least one tournament put fortune cookies in a bag and the topic inside the cookie was used as the topic for the speech!

These categories of topics suggest that impromptu speakers can draw just about anything for a topic. It is up to the speaker to decide the meaning of the topic and how s/he will structure a speech around that meaning.