Starter Kits
Our Starter Kits cover the basics of competitive events, including relevant skills, what to expect, video examples, and tips for preparing and competing. Members can download the resources and get started learning about or coaching new events!
Declamation Starter Kit
Declamation is a public speaking event where students deliver a portion or portions of a speech previously delivered. The speech the student delivers can be any publicly delivered speech. Commencement addresses, historical speeches, political speeches, and celebrity speeches are common examples that students may use to select their declamation. Speeches are up to 10 minutes in length.
Use this guide to get started with Declamation, including event basics, advice for cutting and delivery, and sample performances.
Extemp Commentary Starter Kit
Extemp Commentary, often simply called Commentary, is a public speaking event in which students deliver an original speech created as a result of a prompt such as a question, statement, or single word/short phrase. Topics for the prompt are drawn from historic, social, political, and popular contexts and students have limited time to prepare their speech. Students will learn to think on the fly and memorize quickly.
Use this guide to get started with Extemp Commentary, including sample prompts, tips for finding and memorizing sources, and delivery tips.
Impromptu Starter Kit
Impromptu is a public speaking event where students have seven minutes to select a topic, brainstorm their ideas, outline and deliver a speech. The speech is given without notes and uses an introduction, body, and conclusion. The speech can be light-hearted or serious. It can be based upon prompts that range from nursery rhymes, current events, celebrities, organizations, and more.
Use these notes on event structure, balancing time, and delivery, as well as practice activities and advice from National Tournament finalists to get started with Impromptu.
Poetry Starter Kit
Poetry is an interpretation event that requires students to preform one or more pieces of poetry. Poetry is different than Original Spoken Word Poetry in that students in Poetry will perform works written by others. Students can use poetry to both tell a story and develop a character, while also using language and form to elicit critical thought, reflection, or emotion from the audience.
Use this guide to get started with Poetry, including a sample annotated cutting and advice from national finalists.
Prose Starter Kit
Prose is an interpretation event in which students use acting skills to bring a story to life. If you read something that sounds like how people talk, it’s likely categorized as Prose! It may feature a narrative with a typical story arc, character development and dialogue, and even humorous elements. While many events have specific interpretation focal points, Prose Interpretation can feature a mix of many events and is very wide open.
Use this guide to get started with Prose, including event basics, sample performances, and advice from National Tournament finalists.
Storytelling Starter Kit
Storytelling is an interpretation event with a focus on child-like content, and a simple and complete plot. The majority of pieces are taken from children’s picture books, folk tales, and even adaptations of classic fables. The performances usually mimic characteristics of Humorous Interpretation as competitors employ the use of “pops,” voices, “tech,” fun faces/postures, and of course blocking into their performances to create the character and scenes. Storytelling is the only Interp event that has an optional use of a chair.
Use this guide to get started with Storytelling, including event basics, advice for using the chair and piece selection, delivery tips, and sample performances.