Extemporaneous - Impacting
A quality Extemporaneous speech is 40% answering the question and 60% making the judge care. In 2024, I became the National Extemporaneous Speaking Champion, but I could not have done it without the science of impacting.
Often, the term "impact" is simply used to mean "the way the topic affects the judge." The problem is that not all Extemporaneous questions affect the judges. In fact, I would argue that the majority don't. How then can those questions be "impacted?" It all comes down to what an impact is; an impact is broader than finding a way to practically affect a judge's life; it is simply about making the judge care. There are three ways to make a judge care about any Extemporaneous topic: the lesson impact, the consequence impact, and the action impact.
The Lesson Impact - What is it?
The lesson impact is about extrapolating a principle from your answer to the question. The last Extemporaneous speech I ever gave was in NITOC finals. The question was about El Salvador's internal collapse due to President Nayib Bukele's authoritarian policies. My introduction, thesis, and impact all converged around four simple words: "Authoritarianism is never sustainable." I rode this lesson impact into the sunset. By explaining the "lesson of the question," I gave the judges something idealistic to grasp.
Pros:
A lesson impact is easy to craft and can be developed in a matter of seconds. It allows you to grandstand for thirty seconds or so with nice-sounding platitudes about democracy or human rights or the spirit of the American founding et cetera and it is easy to tie into your introduction and thesis.
The lesson impact models versatility; it can be used with any question. It comes in particularly handy when answering niche questions that have no practical effect whatsoever on your judge's life. The most obscure question I ever answered in Extemporaneous was: Why did the Russian conductor throw the cat off the train? Of course I explained the generics of the situation—the means, motive, and opportunity that the conductor had to throw a helpless house cat into the snow—but the speech went from a 4 to a 10 when I impacted it to a principle—the principle that people have a nasty tendency to blow issues out of proportion (after all, news organization around the world had been reporting on this single cat to such a degree that a homeschool speech and debate group in Tennessee ended up talking about it). This particular lesson impact was more creative than it was practically compelling, but it illustrates how lesson impacts allow you to present the judges with something when no tangible impacts readily come to mind.
Cons:
The lesson impact is the least compelling of the three impacts precisely because it is relatively easy to invent. Standing by itself, the judges recognize it as the easy way out. To make the lesson impact truly compelling, it should be combined with either a consequence impact or an action impact or both. When this is done, the lesson impact is supercharged. I recommend only using a stand-alone lesson impact as a last resort to help you out of a real pinch.
The Consequence Impact - What is it?
The consequence impact is what we typically think of when we hear the word "impact;" it tells the judge how the topic affects him or her personally.
Pros:
The consequence impact is uber-compelling and for obvious reasons. Judges care about themselves so telling them that the topic makes them worse or better off will always make them care. If a consequence impact naturally fits your topic, you cannot go wrong with it.
Cons:
The consequence impact can be hard to think of and one does not exist for every question. After all, how would you consequence impact a question about a Russian cat being thrown off a train without making a few tenuous links? While a consequence impact is good, it is better to go with a simple lesson impact than to draw a tenuous link chain for the purpose of inventing a non-existent consequence impact. Don't force a consequence impact where one does not readily show itself. A good rule of thumb is: If you have to think hard about how to make the question affect the judge's everyday life, then your consequence impact will probably end up looking like you forced it—because you did.
The Action Impact – What is it?
The action impact is when you call upon the judges and/or another actor to engage in a specific course of action, usually to remedy an adverse consequence that is occurring or will soon occur in the absence of the action. For example, if the question is "are President Trump's tariffs doing more harm than good?" and your answer is no, then, instead of simply leaving the speech at "prices will rise and you will have to pay more," go one step further and offer the action impact that logically flows from this consequence. You could say something along the lines of: "The adverse effects of these tariffs mean that President Trump needs to act now; he ought to completely abandon his tariff plan and indicate goodwill to the nations involved." Or, if you support Trump's tariffs you could give an action impact that encourages President Trump to increase tariffs on select nations. Either one would be a viable option, depending on your answer to the question.
Pros:
The action impact is bold and inspiring. The whole point of an impact is to show why your answer to the question matters. How better to do that than to outline the action(s) that your answer logically implies? Giving the judges a course of action for them to follow brings them to a decision point—will they do it or not? Giving the judges a course of action for someone else to follow still brings them to the same decision point and still makes them care—will they get behind your call to action or not?
Cons:
The action impact can be hard to think of and can eat away your prep time if you are not careful. However, these are not so much downsides to the action impact as they are hurdles to be overcome with practice. When done right, an action impact is a 10 out of 10.
The best strategy is to combine multiple of the three types of impacts into every single speech.
My final Extemporaneous speech combined a lesson impact and an action impact. I did not stop at the lesson "authoritarianism is never sustainable"—since the lesson impact is the least compelling of the three impacts after all—; I went on to call upon President Nayib Bukele to reverse certain policies and to bring his administration into compliance with the rulings of El Salvador's Supreme Court. These twin impacts gave me the persuasion of the lesson impact and the power of the action impact. They melded to produce one of my best Extemporaneous speeches.
One final tip:
Write your impact(s) at the beginning of prep time, not at the end. This means picking your question based on what impact(s) you think it will set up. If you see a question and you can already envision an easy consequence impact and a clear action impact, then pick that question and jot down those impacts before you forget them. If you see a question that looks like the best you will be able to do will be a lesson impact, perhaps consider one of the other questions. As a last resort, the lesson impact can still get you out of a pinch when you really need it to. Regardless of which impact(s) you choose to consistently go for, however, all of them have the power to make the judge care to one degree or another.
Deploy these tactics and your impacts will explode. If you would like to improve your Extemporaneous Speaking skills even further, please contact us about obtaining private coaching. We would be honored to assist you personally in your pursuit of excellence.
-Coach Benjamin