E
vent Description and Rules
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Speaking events
Speaking Events are eight minutes long. You write (or in the case of Oratorical Declamation, choose) a speech at the beginning of the season and give the same speech throughout the season.
Original Oratory (OO)
In this event you give a persuasive speech on a current issue. You and a coach will choose a topic, take a side, do some research and write an 8 minute speech.
Informative Speaking (Info)
In this event, you and your coach will choose a topic and after researching it, write an eight minute speech informing your audience about the topic.
Oratorical Declamation
(OD or DEC)
In this event, you take an eight minute cutting of an editorial, article, essay or speech written by someone else and present it as your own. These are typically taken from TED Talks, memoirs, and commencement addresses.
Special Occasion Speaking (SOS)
In this event, you choose a current issue, choose a side, research it and write a humorous, persuasive speech that is eight minutes and addressed to a certain audience. You can think of this as an OO with a specific audience.
LIMITED PREP EVENTS
For each event, you come to the tournament with no speech prepared. You are given a certain amount of time (depending on the event) to prepare your speech.
Extemporaneous Speaking
(ES or Extemp)
In this event, you come to the tournament with files of news articles, and other resource materials that will help you write your speech. You are given three questions on political or social issues. After choosing one, you have thirty minutes to prepare a six minute speech that addresses the question at hand. At Nationals, you will have thirty minutes for a seven minute speech.
Impromptu Speaking
(Imp)
You will have two minutes to prep and six minutes to speak. You go to each round without a speech prepared. When you are called into the room you are given a topic (a proverb, quotation, phrase, or single word) and you have two minutes to prepare a speech analyzing the topic. When your two minutes are up, you present a six-minute speech on the topic.
Radio Speaking (RS)
In this event, you take world, national and local news as well as weather, sports and an advertisement and then cut and organize them into a five-minute radio broadcast. Organization, timing and delivery are important in this event. You will create your own program the night before the tournament to perform the next morning at the tournament. In late January and February, you will be given forty-five minutes AT the tournament to create a program.
Interpretation events
In Interpretation Events you perform an eight minute cutting of a play (or in the case of OC, an original play) and you play all the characters. No props, costumes, or make-up are used, but solely vocal quality, tone, range and physicality to differentiate between the characters. As with most events, you use the same piece at all tournaments.
In the Duet Acting Events, you and a partner act out an eight-minute scene or cutting of a play. No costumes, props or make-up are used, with the exception of two chairs and a table.
Humorous Duet Acting (HDA)
In this event, you, your partner, and your coach select a cutting of a play or a scene with two characters that centers around a humorous situation.
Dramatic Duet Acting (DDA)
In this event, you, your partner, and your coach select a cutting of a play or a scene with two characters that centers around a dramatic situation.
Dramatic Interpretation
(DI)
In this event, you and your coach select an eight-minute scene, or cutting of a play (or book) that centers around a dramatic situation.
Humorous Interpretation
(HI)
In this event, you and your coach select an eight-minute scene, or cutting of a play (or book) centers around a funny situation. In HI you will "pop" into multiple characters with different voices and postures to convey the story.
Original Comedy (OC)
In this event, you write an eight-minute humorous play. Like an HI, you will "pop" into the characters that you've created.
Book events
Book Events involve an eight-minute cutting of a piece of literature or poetry. You perform the piece using a small black binder. Good pieces are neither solely dramatic or humorous, but rather layered with funny and dramatic parts. As with most events, you will use the same piece at each tournament.
Prose Reading
(PR)
In this event, you and your coach select an eight-minute cutting of a story. You perform the story using your vocal skills and physicality to differentiate between the characters. Prose cuttings CANNOT be from plays. Typically, source materials include published short stories, memoirs, and other forms of literature published in print.
Poetry
(POE or PS)
In this event, you and your coach will create a program of multiple poems that convey a meaning.