Extemp Estuary: Cross-Examination

Extempers unite! The season is now on the verge of its final throes and nationals is peeking out on the horizon. Ahem. Please excuse the poetics, however, the truth is, now is the time to think about Nationals and how one’s extemp strategy plays into qualifying for that prestigious tournament. In this first February installment, we will be analyzing an aspect of extemp that becomes important primarily during the final part of the year: cross-examination. While traditionally left for debaters, cross-examination can separate two extempers from eachother if they are otherwise quite similar in, say, the qualifying round at the district tournament. So, we begin.

Cross-examination is not usually part of extemp. However, if you’ve ever done either cross-ex or Lincoln-Douglas debate, you will know how exciting and rewarding it can be. To cross-examine an opponent allows and encourages a certain amount of dialogue and discussion that otherwise only happens indirectly. This sort of engagement livens up the room and the round, and offers another opportunity to demonstrate one’s knowledge and thinking prowess.

There are, however, a few key caveats to discuss before we really get started. Cross-examination in the extemporaneous speaking context is quite different from debate cross-ex in one primary respect: the idea is not necessarily first and foremost to undermine the position of the opponent. This is sometimes difficult to understand and annoying to put into practice, however, in the world of extemp, the idea is more akin to a pair of ambassadors politely disagreeing, for example, rather than a pair of lawyers duking it out. Whatever else one thinks of this, the reality is that if you come across as overly antagonistic you will probably lose points in the eyes of the judges. This has always been a difficult thing to do for me because I have, as a debater, always wanted to rip into someone’s position during c-x. Not advisable. There have been several accounts of national finalists ripping into another national finalist in the final round during c-x and paying a big price, even though they were, otherwise, good, solid extempers.

Now for the breakdown. Cross-examination has a relatively simple format at the NFL level. There is a three minute period after the speech when the person who spoke immediately previously comes up and asks a series of questions from the speaker. It is a back and forth banter in which questions and answers are tossed back and forth like some sort of game of catch.

In terms of preparation, I suggest that you use your prep time wisely, in that you allocate approximately 3-5 minutes toward the end to reading through general information on the topic area. Ideally, you would develop a very basic, very general understanding of the topic as a whole in that very short amount of time. Hopefully, you will pick up a few key facts and bits of information. When being questioned, you will find that the more you read-up (either in or out of the prep room) on the topic, the more relevant information you will be able to offer the cross-examination discussion. In turn, you will appear (and be) more intelligent, and you will convince the judges that you not only are capable of giving a good speech, but you are capable of calling information and analysis to mind even more exptemporaneously–impromptu, in fact.

Realize, too, that cross-examination ought to be viewed as a time that can boost the effectiveness of your speech. If you do a good job speaking and look good in cross-ex, everything you said in your speech will be that much more credible and seem more accurate.

In terms of answering developing questions, stay away from deeply undermining, hostile questions. Don’t seek pud questions, ask after things that matter, but try to leave room for the opponent to come out looking decent–and, best of all, simply try to further the discussion. You, as the questioner, can make yourself look like a better extemper too, by promoting yourself as a fair, intelligent questioner who strengthens and enhances the discussion of any given topic.

Cross-examination can be your best friend or your worst enemy. However, a very simple (and relatively easy) bit of preparation can make it both enjoyable and anything but difficult.

For those of you who seek even more extemp enlightenment, order our “How to Extemp” and “Advanced Extemp” guides, written by the best. hanks everyone for your questions and don’t forget to send me any other questions you have…until next month!

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After placing second at Nationals in 2000, Jesse Nathan was the 2001 National Champion.

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This entry was posted on Monday, February 13th, 2006 at 3:37 pm and is filed under Extemp Estuary, Extemporaneous Speaking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.